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Destination Moon (Tintin #16)

by Hergé

4.09 of 5 stars 4.09 · rating details · 5,117 ratings · 84 reviews

The classic graphic novel. Professor Calculus is building a rocket, but Tintin quickly realizes that there are spies around every corner trying to steal the professor's design! When Professor Calculus' rocket finally takes off for the moon, Tintin and his dog Snowy are on board.

Paperback, 62 pages

Published September 30th 1976 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (first published 1953)

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Mar 23, 2009 Manny rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: french, children, science-fiction

A Swedish friend who speaks fluent French and is seriously into B.D. told me that this book was first to introduce the verb alunir (touch down on the Moon), formed by analogy with the verb aterrir (touch down). Then when the Apollo 11 astronauts did it in real life, French TV actually used Hergé's word! He was still alive then, and must have felt very proud...

6 likes · like · see review

Feb 19, 2012 David Sarkies rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: adventure

This used to be one of my favourites (namely because it involved Tintin and his friends travelling to the moon) but I am starting to grow a little less fond of the later of Herge's work simply because his earlier works seem to be a lot better, however this does not mean that this (or any of the other ones) are bad in that they are still classic Herge with his twisted sense of humour (particularly when the Thompson twins are brought into the base dressed in Greek costumes).
This story is about t...more This used to be one of my favourites (namely because it involved Tintin and his friends travelling to the moon) but I am starting to grow a little less fond of the later of Herge's work simply because his earlier works seem to be a lot better, however this does not mean that this (or any of the other ones) are bad in that they are still classic Herge with his twisted sense of humour (particularly when the Thompson twins are brought into the base dressed in Greek costumes).
This story is about the race to the moon, however it appears that it is only Tintin and his friends that are preparing for the trek. Obviously preparations to send man to the moon took a lot longer than this comic (it was 9 years between when Kennedy said that they plan on putting a man on the moon and when it actually happened – I notice Bush tried to do the same thing with Mars) as I guess that the whole project took about two years (and with the failure of the initial rocket, I suspect that they would actually attempt to build another one rather than going straight to a manned rocket).
This was written at the time when the space race was beginning to pick up. I believe that the Soviets had already launched satellites into space (and they could even have sent the dog, and even the man, up as well) so there was a lot of concern over the fact that the Soviets appeared to have pretty much conquered and claimed space. As such Herge begins to explore the space race, and the implications attached to it.
Throughout the comic there are references to a foreign power, and while we may think immediately that it is Syldavia's next door neighbour (the entire comic is set in the fictional country of Syldavia) having just reread it I am more convince that Herge is suggesting that it is the Soviet Union. The cold war was now in full swing, and the United States were beginning to purge their country of suspected communist spies (Reds under the beds). I have also noticed that Tintin's origins are vague as well, as they refer to 'the government' but do not actually suggest which country it is (it is Belgium, and it would have been better, in my books, for them to continue with this, but the editors did not).
Also, rereading it, I have noticed that Herge drops hints as to who the traitor is going to be (it's Wolf). We find that out near the end of the second part (Explorers on the Moon), however Herge does his best to be consistent, and to drop hints of the identity of the traitor. We know that there is a double-agent high up in the executive of the base, and when information is passed through to the spies outside the base, we notice that the people who are there are Captain Haddock, the Thompson Twins, and Wolf. Wolf's story sounds very dodgy, and made me realise that it is he that is the traitor (though we do not find that out until a lot later).(less)

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Feb 13, 2012 Dominick rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels, humour, science-fiction, children-s-lit

As Tintin books go, this one's pretty light on plot. Professor Calculus has disappeared, and it turns out he's simply been offered a job launching a top-secret expedition to the moon (several pages of manufactured suspense to get to this point, no doubt because the original serial publication required suspense even if common sense stands in the way). Most of the book is taken up with slapstick gags that fall flat as often as not, as well as with a pointless diversion into amnesia for Calculus fo...more

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Feb 15, 2013 Seth Gray rated it 5 of 5 stars

I read The Book Destination Moon Which Is about another adventure with Tintin and friends to Syldavia where they are pre-paring for the big launch of a space ship to the moon. After having thieves and robbers attempt to steal the Blueprint They kept on pushing through hardships and were ready to launch. My favorite part of the book was when they were getting ready to launch because It really got me on the edge of my seat and I just wanted to jump right into the book. I liked this because it actu...more

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Aug 03, 2011 Nicolas Walker added it

Tintin is at his best in this book. Him and Captain Haddock arrive one day to find that the Professor mysteriously leaves the house. They. shortly after, receive a telegram inviting them to meet the professor. Who is working on a Space Ship to take them to the Moon. However somebody else wants to get their hands on the ship, they sabotage and try desperately to get hold of pictures from the other side of the moon, but no worries. Tintin thought ahead and is ready for them.

My favorite book of the...more

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Aug 02, 2011 Dan rated it 5 of 5 stars

The Tintin stories for anyone who has read them and understands their history can't be viewed as anything other than groundbreaking. The beginnings of these stories have been around as long as the Lord of the Rings, the illustration and environments in the Tintin books are accurate and extremely detailed. Anyone who has spent even a little time exploring Herge (Georges Remi) can see the painstaking research and adversity he worked through to compose the world around Tintin. His ideas were ahead...more

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Jul 20, 2009 Sarah Sammis rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: borrowed, read-in-2009

In honor of the first moon landing that happened on this day in 1969, I'm reviewing Destination Moon by Georges Remi Herge. It was first written 19 years before the landing and translated a decade before.

Destination Moon starts where Land of Black Gold ends. Tintin is home but is soon sent to Syldavia to witness a test flight of a moon rocket that will go around to the darkside of the Moon and photograph it.

Destination Moon is better paced than Land of Black Gold, probably because it's not suffe...more

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Jul 31, 2012 Valerie added it · review of another edition

I first encountered Tintin in old issues of Children's Digest. But I'm pretty sure I first read this volume in a school library in Australia. The library had both the Tintin and Asterix books in several languages, apparently as an aid to learning the foreign languages.

I never really had much idea what Tintin's antecedents were. He just seems to have sprung forth fully-formed (Well, almost. He's still a child, after all). But every time I think of Tintin I think of Salman Rushdie describing the...more

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Nov 03, 2010 Sammy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: comic

My review, as posted in Tintin Books:

Ah, "Destination Moon". As a child, I didn't have a particular affinity with the moon albums. I guess I was more interested in character stories and less in science at the time, but I have to say looking back this - and its second half Explorers on the Moon - is quite an achievement.

Briefly, the cons: "Destination Moon" is all set-up and little pay-off since it was designed from the start as the first half of an adventure. On top of this, there's a fair bit o...more My review, as posted in Tintin Books:

Ah, "Destination Moon". As a child, I didn't have a particular affinity with the moon albums. I guess I was more interested in character stories and less in science at the time, but I have to say looking back this - and its second half Explorers on the Moon - is quite an achievement.

Briefly, the cons: "Destination Moon" is all set-up and little pay-off since it was designed from the start as the first half of an adventure. On top of this, there's a fair bit of filler since obviously Herge didn't want his heroes leaving Earth until the final pages. But unlike some of the earlier albums, where every page is a cliffhanger despite how ridiculous it may seem, this story is deliberately paced, filled with suspense and a genuine feeling of discovery.

On top of this, all the characters are given plenty to do. Calculus - who seems to have been the driving force in most of the albums from this era - has an ear trumpet to help him hear better (which of course, it rarely does) and his relationship with Captain Haddock is gorgeous. Note the scene where Haddock claims Calculus is "acting the goat". People love to draw Tintin and Haddock as a secret couple, but if anything it's these two!

Snowy also gets a lot of great sight gags, spending the first third of the album in an oversized outfit as he struggles to walk around the compound. And the Thompsons too, incompetence tempered by a genuine interest in the subject matter, are handled well. There's a lot of beautiful artwork evident in Herge's later middle period - the full-page shot of the rocket being prepared for take-off, for instance.

Sure, there are a few wrong notes: Tintin being mobbed by baby bears and then tricking them over a cliff seems both an unnecessary addition and a cruel resolution. But by and large, this is gold. (My favourite moment is Snowy somewhat self-referentially turning to the reader to join our excitement at the "sensational appearance of the Thompson twins!".

In some ways, these two albums are the end of Herge's middle period in which his insane amount of research was both the series' biggest blessing and its greatest curse. On the one hand, Herge's love for the subject matter really shines through - notably in the final few pages which feature several large drawigns of the rocket. In a possibly unique move, he donates an entire page to the rocket's blueprint! Because of this knowledge, the long stretches of dialogue in the early parts of the album are all the more meaningful and we come to feel the same level of anticipation and hope that the characters do, pushing us further into despair at the moments when all seems lost.

But countering this is the fact that, because he had so much knowledge to impart, Herge occasionally lets his storytelling skills lag. Even the Cold War villainy at play here is in the background, as most time is spent on discovery and knowledge. I should reiterate that the good elements far outweigh the bad, but one gets the impression that Herge had a long list of exciting facts and moments he just needed to convey, and plot could damn well come second.

All in all, "Destination Moon" is a labour of love for the artist. One could argue that a lot of the discovery (e.g. Haddock's testing of his spacesuit) had more weight in the '50s before this kind of thing was common-place. True, but Herge's passion bounces off the page, and I still feel genuinely enthralled by the politics and the sense of discovery. Four and a half stars.(less)

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Jul 25, 2011 Yves rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: bd

C'est définitivement un des meilleurs de Tintin. Dans ce tome, Hergé démontre tout son génie visionnaire en envoyant Tintin et ses compagnons sur la lune. Objectif Lune raconte toute la préparation de nos héros en vue d'aller sur notre satellite. Le tout est teinté d'une grande touche d'humour, surtout quand Haddock traite Tournesol de Zouave. Derrière tout cela se cache une histoire d'espionnage qui passe près de tuer Tintin. Un des meilleur de la série avec sa suite : On a Marché sur la Lune.

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Dec 19, 2012 Andrea rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics

What a daring and bold adventure thus far! Tintin, Captain Haddock, and of course the loveable Snowy along with Professor Cuthbert Calculus are on their way to making history, stay tuned for Explorers on the Moon and find out what happens. I love these tales with classic twists and turns as well as plenty of humor.

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Nov 20, 2011 Harish Kumar Sarma Challapalli rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: adventure, all-time-favs, fiction, read-more-than-once, short-stories, to-be-made-into-movie

This part and it sequel are one of the most interesting episodes of this franchise!!

This has a lot of scope for adventure along with scientific fiction!! Tintin is as usual awesome with his acute thinking and decision making! Snowy is as wonderful as ever!! Haddock gives some comic relief with his impatience!! Dr. Calculus has got some major share in this part! Thompson and thomson were hilarious!!

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Dec 28, 2011 Mostafa سليمان rated it 4 of 5 stars

one of the longest adv of TIN TIN and have 2ed part
but i'm in love with the
photos and the drawing and painting

يمكن واحدة من اطول مغامرات تان تان
وليها كمان جزء تاني
بس انا بحب الرسومات والاشكال بتاعتهم قوي
قوي بشدة حاجه مذهلة

:)

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Oct 28, 2012 Rami Samaha rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book nice and cool and something I love about it is rockets even though the book is not speaking about rockets.This book speaks about the moon that they are trying to go to it.Sometimes there is no captain haddock in the book so I don't like that.that is why I gave this book 3 star

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Jan 27, 2013 Jonathan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: childrens-and-young-people, graphic-novel, fiction

This book is interesting in its depiction of space exploration -- it was written a few years before Sputnik and a decade before the Apollo program. To think, when Herge wrote about this rocket photographing the dark side of the moon, no one had seen that yet! But, as a Tintin adventure, it is not the best.

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Nov 05, 2011 Richard rated it 1 of 5 stars

It's a picture book for kids. Considered against the other kids' books that were published at the time by Marvel and DC it compares well, and like them you can say "historically important in the development of the medium". But compared to modern adult comics it's crap.

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Jan 13, 2013 Paul rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: francais, graphic-novels, reviewed

J'ignore si ce l'est vraiment, probablement pas, mais je crois bien que ceci fut le premier Tintin que j'ai lu. J'ignore quel age je devais avoir, mais j'avais quelque part entre 8 et 12 ans.
Quoiqu'il en soit, ce tome a laissé une marque indélubile dans l'âme d'un jeune garçon qui a mené vers une vie rempli de passion pour la lecture de bande dessinées et de bouquin.

For those in the know, you might recognize the rocket as being the same as the mentally challenged boy's toy in volume 2 of Locke &...more

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Nov 30, 2009 Gina rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novel, pre-2009, 4-star

One of the things I love best about Tintin books are the ridiculous and improbable situations that Tintin finds himself in. A rocket is being sent to the moon? Let's send a teenager, his small dog, a retired alcoholic sea captain, and an old man!

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Aug 26, 2012 Nuril Basri rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

very detail. as usual. i read this one after "on a marche sur la lune"--the series after.
this one is good because you can see prof Lakmus got amnesia and how tintin got shot in his head but still alive. milou speaks very little though, :(

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Jun 10, 2012 Gabrielle rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2012

Malgré le caractère un peu lourd des explications scientifiques, je crois que c'est l'album qui me fait le plus rire de toute la série. Merci au Capitaine Haddock d'avoir toujours la bonne réplique pour alléger l'atmosphère!

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Mar 04, 2011 baggyparagraphs rated it 4 of 5 stars

I read it in Swedish after picking it up at Westside Books in Ann Arbor. Who can resist the chance to practice his Swedish by reading a comic book? So my version is titled Manen tur och retur, Del 1. (Part 2 still awaits.)

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Feb 12, 2012 Karhum Ghassan rated it 5 of 5 stars

I dont belive this book because the actual man that went to the moon is Armstrong but still fun after i read it i imagined it was the same but on sea to go to an unknown island in the Bermuda triangle.

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Aug 16, 2012 Norhan Omar rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The whole series of Tintin is very entertaining, thrilling and full of adventures with engaging stories and funny characters. My favorite is Captain Hadock

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Oct 04, 2011 Patrick Fisackerly rated it 4 of 5 stars

While mostly just setup for EXPLORERS ON THE MOON, this book does have a lot of amusing set pieces and gags. A better-than-average Tintin story.

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Oct 08, 2011 Anna rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: bd

Tout l'album consiste dans les préparatifs du voyage sur la lune. C'est donc, malgré les décors futuristes, un récit "quotidien" de la vie dans la station spatiale, avec pas mal de moments mémorables entre les personnages (particulièrement les disputes entre Haddock et Tournesol). Tintin est très peu mis en avant dans cet album, qui prépare surtout le terrain pour la grande aventure du tome suivant.

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Oct 02, 2010 George rated it 5 of 5 stars

Every Tintin adventure is a unique joy, not to be compared to any other. Nevertheless, not every Tintin adventure involves building a rocket!

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Mar 04, 2012 Chander rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It was a good book because it had a lot of funny parts especially Professor Calculus who is hard of hearing and that made it really funny.

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Feb 27, 2013 Ariadna73 rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

No es la mejor de las historias de Tin Tin, pero siempre quedan las viñetas para admirarse del cuidado que el artista tenía con su obra.

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Aug 28, 2012 David Pratama rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

seri inilah yang pertama kali saya baca... dan saya mulai merasakan sensasi yang unik. Sayang bukunya udah hilang :(

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Dec 28, 2010 Geoff Sebesta rated it 5 of 5 stars

Dick Cheney is the villain of this book. Seriously, look at the bad guy. He's the spitting image of Dick Cheney.

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About Hergé

Georges Prosper Remi (22 May 1907 – 3 March 1983), better known by the pen name Hergé, was a Belgian comics writer and artist.
His best known and most substantial work is The Adventures of Tintin comic book series, which he wrote and illustrated from 1929 until his death in 1983, leaving the twenty-fourth Tintin adventure Tintin and Alph-Art unfinished. His work remains a strong influence on comics...more

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Books by Hergé

Tintin in the Land of the Soviets (Tintin, #1)

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Destination Moon (Tintin #16)

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