Two things before I really begin . . .
1. I am currently nosed completely under (like a mole, not a ship) working on a new book. This is why I haven’t been blogging (see, perfectly good excuse). But as I don’t work on Sundays, that excuse doesn’t apply right now. Thus, I blog.
2. I hope no one expects me to suggest amazingly original works in this new blog category of mine. Or particularly helpful recommendations. I can only be autobiographical. I can’t say that everything I mention here will be whole grain, wholesome boy-food. The meals I will recount here are meals that sated my appetite, filled me up, and/or left me curious to try new things. Some titles that I intend to trot out will be the literary equivalent of sliced dogs in mac ‘n’ cheese (and that’s no insult in my world).
Right. Down to it then. When I was in 5th grade, Tintin was a rare delicacy. The local library had a few of the adventures on hand (as did my school library). I and my friends caressed every page and squinted closely at every frame. Tintin was not a comic book. Not in our minds. Tintin was a strange world and a wonderful way of being (when a boy with knickers, tufted hair, and a tiny dog named Snowy comes off as the epitome of cool, you know you’re dealing with authorial achievement).
Anyhow, I read that battered old copy of Tintin in Tibet and the creased and taped Flight 714 (among others), and I always began and ended by studying the back cover of each volume, yearning for and admiring the array of tiny thumbnailed covers, hunching further and further over, studying each smudgy detail, trying to imagine what those unattainable stories might include. One in particular drew my eye: the mysterious and typologically unique King Ottokar’s Sceptre.
Yes, I could have begged my librarians to bring in more Tintin, but to be quite honest, I was in 5th grade. It didn’t even cross my mind. And I lived in Idaho, the land of not too many bookstores. And Amazon didn’t exist.
But a day came when my family and I were visiting the strange and distant East, land of my father’s childhood (Annapolis, MD). My sisters and I were trailing behind our parents, wandering up cobbled streets (so ancient!) from the harbor (virtually the ocean!) admiring doo-dads and knives (I bought a Swiss one), pressing our faces on glass and so on, when we came to a little shop window filled with inspiration. I could see a rack, and on that rack, I could see nothing but Tintin.
I had no money. But my parents have always been softies when it comes to books, and they handed me the necessary capital to acquire my very first Tintin.
I returned to the school in my home town, in my home state, and I brought King Ottokar’s Sceptre with me. The book was loaned out, read and reread, folded and rolled and sat on and read again. Currently, it sits on my shelf (along with a few others of its kind), held together with tape, and it has already begun to receive more love and battering from the next generation of Wilson (boy and girl alike).
I give you Tintin.
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June 15, 2009 at 3:17 am
Ben Hoyt
Billions of blistering blue barnacles! No wonder I enjoyed Leepike Ridge — its author likes Tintin.
BTW, when I read Tintin he didn’t wear knickers. Oh … reads Wikipedia on the subject … you mean “knickerbockers”. In British/NZ English, “knickers” are women’s undies.
June 15, 2009 at 7:40 am
Angie B.
My kids have recently discovered the joys of Tintin. Timberdoodle sells lots of them. (Tintin books, not kids).
June 15, 2009 at 8:06 am
Hannah
That sounds like a good book. *doesn’t think that the library will have it right off* *wails* The local library doesn’t have many good books.
So I’m going to be VERY suprised if they have Tintin right off….I’ll probebly have to wait a month to get it. *be wails that* At least they have 100 Cubords, Dandilion Fire, and Leepike Ridge.
June 15, 2009 at 8:53 am
Kailey
Writing a book is a VERY good excuse!!
I love Tintin! (and he never seemed like a comic book to us either)
June 15, 2009 at 2:38 pm
Hannah
Writing a book IS a good excuse to kinda hide for a while.
Which is why me and my freinds lock ourselves away, and only come out for school, using the bathroom, and eating during National Novel Writing Month (November) and Script Frenzy (April). 
*locks herself away even when it’s not November or April* Anywho…Writing a book is a good way to turn into a mushroom (a un-sociable person).
June 15, 2009 at 8:54 pm
Zachary Hurt
My experience with Tintin is almost identical. The part about poring over the back cover wondering what wonders the unread Tintins held rung very true with me. The Land of Black Gold was the one I always wondered about.
June 16, 2009 at 8:16 am
Jessica
We’ve been lucky enough to have a good supply of Tintin in our local library.
Random fact: In the Dutch version of Tintin, his name is ‘Kuifje’, meaning ‘cowlick.’
June 16, 2009 at 2:34 pm
Robert Treskillard
Nate,
Hopefully the Tintin movie will live up to the books! A 3D Tintin? Yes, the times have caught up with us. Oy.
My entire family is waiting with baited fishing poles to catch those blue barnacles.
-Robert
June 18, 2009 at 12:54 am
Thom Banks
I’m glad you wrote this. Tintin occupied a large part of my formative years as well. Sadly, I lost my books in some change of residence somewhere/somewhen. Oh well.
P.S.-
Does anyone here know the actual reason for why Snowy barks like that?
June 18, 2009 at 2:38 pm
Kailey
Don’t all dogs bark like that?!
We got a whole bunch of documentary-type books about Tintin from our library once. I don’t know if it had anything about why Snowy barks like that, or not.
July 4, 2009 at 9:04 am
Valerie Foucachon
I LOVED (and still love) Tintin ! We had a couple around the house, and it wasn’t hard to come by other copies in France. I think the barking referred to is simply the equivalence of “woof” in French.(“Ouah Ouah”, is that the one?) “Woof” is a bit awkward to pronounce in French.:)
July 7, 2009 at 5:23 am
SJR
Not commenting timeously, but simply cannot pass up an opportunity to plug Tintin. I read the Red Sea Sharks again last Easter, taking my time to really enjoy it. I think my favourite part of the book is where the airplanes come to kill our heroes on the sambuk, and Tintin gets very cross with them and shoots one of them out of the sky. And then they rescue the pilot, and it’s Skut! <3! Wonderful example of Christian behaviour, I thought
.
September 25, 2009 at 7:39 am
Charles VS
Not to dredge up an old post or anything, but I just thought I’d add my voice to the chorus of praise for Herge and Tintin, and mention the vast and fascinating world of Tintinology. One of the online hubs of this rich world is http://www.tintinologist.org/. Indeed, I used to participate a bit in their advanced researches, explaining both my dorkiness and certain grades.
June 28, 2010 at 6:30 pm
CB
Isn’t Tintin the Belgian Character from novels, with the dog Snowy? I think so… Christopher in later comments is wondering who he is. He has been asking forever!