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Five Best Tintin Books

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Hergé completed 23 Tintin titles in all, from Tintin in the Land of the Soviets (1929) to Tintin and the Picaros (1976). Here, a stack that will get you and your kids hooked.

The Blue Lotus (1936)

This detective story (best suited for older readers) traces a complex plot involving opium smuggling, pre–World War II geopolitics, and the rise of Japanese nationalism. The images of rain-soaked Shanghai at the height of its 1930’s decadence rank among Hergé’s most evocative.

King Ottokar’s Sceptre (1939)

Hergé conjures an entire country, the kingdom of Syldavia, out of thin air, giving us a three-page tourist “brochure,” national customs, even a convincing language (“Zrälùkz!”). Add deposed kings, jailbreaks, and shoot-outs, and it’s no wonder Hugh Grant named this his desert-island book.

The Crab With The Golden Claws (1941)

The colorful Captain Haddock is introduced in this wild adventure—and together he and Tintin crash-land a plane in the Sahara. Funniest moment: the captain, delusional from thirst, mistakes Tintin for champagne and tries to pop his cork—before Snowy clubs him with a dinosaur bone.

Prisoners Of The Sun (1949)

The riveting and beautifully drawn sequel to The Seven Crystal Balls sends our hero to Peru, where he encounters runaway trains, dog-stealing condors, avalanches, giant anacondas, hungry caimans—and, in the finale, the hidden temple of a lost tribe of Incas. Indiana Jones never had it so good.

Tintin and The Picaros (1976)

The final story takes place in the fictional republic of San Theodoras, from the capital’s slums to the snake-infested jungle. Hergé is at his wittiest: witness the climactic Carnival scene, in which Mickey Mouse, Snoopy, and Asterix show up to join the parade. They’ve got nothing on Tintin.

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