The Adventures of Hergé, Creator of Tintin

by Michael Farr

Following on from his best-selling Tintin: The Complete Companion, Michael Farr portrays the little-known but fascinating life of Herge, the remarkable artist behind Tintin, the boy reporter who continues to thrill and delight an ever-widening audience. In seven separate sketches, he presents his picture of a man whose life is the key to his creation.

Genres: Biography, Comics, Nonfiction, Art, History, Graphic Novels

127 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2008

About the author

Michael Farr (born 1953 in Paris) is a former British journalist and an expert regarding the comic series The Adventures of Tintin and its creator, Hergé. He has written several books on the subject, as well as translating several others into English.

Reviews

[Harold Ogle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Recommendation: A good skim for Tintin fans.

Critique: This is simultaneously fascinating and frustrating. It is fascinating as a biography of Georges Remi, the Belgian cartoon strip artist who created Tintin, and he led a pretty interesting life: living through both world wars, the innovations of modern art, the evolution of cinema from silent pictures through talkies to modern film, the development of television, and the development of the space program through landing on the moon to the space shuttle. It is frustrating in its format: the book does not proceed chronologically through Remi's life from beginning to end. Or rather, it does so, but it does it multiple times, again and again in each chapter. As such it is very repetitious. Each chapter of the book is not on a particular period of his life, but rather a particular theme in his life, and each chapter is like an essay that was written separately from all the rest. So you get the presentation of the broad timeline of Remi's life again and again, often including the same or substantially similar language, as if each chapter was an essay written for a school project: "Talk about Remi's life as it relates to art," "Talk about Remi's life as it relates to China," "Talk about Remi's life as it relates to his relationships." It's a very weird format for a biography book; I could believe that each essay was written at a different time for a magazine article, and they were then later collated into this book. Effectively, the book is a compilation of 7 different biographies.

The other tension I experienced in reading this book was between delight and disillusionment. It was simultaneously interesting to discover all the influences and inspirations that Remi had in creating Tintin, and disappointing to discover how unoriginal his work was: every character was based on someone he knew in life or had read about, every scene was based on photographs or illustrations he had seen, every gag was inspired by (some were outright lifted from) stuff he had seen in movies. It's a strange thing to simultaneously be impressed at the craft and sad at the loss of wonder.

The book is filled with illustrations: excerpts from the comics, reference photos, and pictures of Georges himself in different periods of his life. These are excellent photographic records of his life and his work, but here again there's a weird repetition: each picture had a caption taken verbatim from the text of the adjacent page, as if they were displays in a museum with little plates explaining their context, rather than photographs illustrating a book's text.

However I feel about the book as a whole, I ended it with a fierce desire to re-read my collection of Tintin books, which is probably the author's desired outcome. Good for him!

Review: Georges Remi was born in Belgium in 1907 to his father Alexis Remi, who was a twin with his brother Leon. Growing up, Georges was unhappy with his family life at home and ended up joining the Scouts (which was an organization founded by a British man years earlier but which was just then expanding to other countries). In the Scouts he developed a passion for resourcefulness and an appreciation for the outdoors. In the more formal early 20th century, people would often call each other by their last names, which to our modern ears sounds militaristic. When the German occupation of Belgium began in 1914 (World War I), Georges was 7 years old, and already drawing cartoons (in the margins of his school books). After World War I, he had his first girl crush, Milou, when he was 11 and she was 13. They became friends and he drew illustrations for her as gifts over the next six years, but then Milou's father cut off the relationship in 1924 (when Georges was 17) before they could get serious about marriage. Georges left home as quickly as he could, turning a gig of contributing to Scout magazines into a full-time job working for a Catholic newspaper...in the subscriptions department. But he had a mentor in the editor Father Wallez, who both promoted him to cartoonist and encouraged him to court his secretary, Germaine. A foreign correspondent in Catholic Mexico sent clippings of Mexican and US cartoons back to Remi in 1925, which inspired him to be one of the first (if not THE first) cartoonists in Europe to use word balloons. Fascinated by modern art of Picasso, Malevich, Kandinsky, and others, Georges began to incorporate elements of modern art into his cartoons. In particular, Georges was inspired by Giacomo Balla's painting "Dog on a Leash in Motion" to start using repeating lines to convey a sense of motion when he was 21 (in 1929) in his first Tintin serial. "Tintin in the Land of the Soviets" is an adventure in which a boy reporter goes to Russia to expose many perils and abuses of the Soviet system along with his animal companion, a white fox terrier, whom he named after his lost love, Milou (Snowy in English). Tintin was physically modeled on Georges' younger brother, Paul, a military man who was ribbed by his fellow soldiers for the resemblance for years until Paul shaved his head...(at which point, Georges based the character of Colonel Sponsz on his brother's new appearance). As for Georges, he was impressed by Erte and the cleverness of his name, so he called himself "Herge" for much the same reason (the pronunication of his initials, R.G.).

When the "Land of the Soviets" serial ended, Georges wanted to bookend it with a critique of capitalism, but the politics in Belgium and its colonial relationship with Africa distracted him and he wrote "Tintin in the Congo." In 1931 he started the "Tintin in America" serial. In 1932 Georges married Germaine. Tintin's first three adventures had very stereotypical presentations of Chinese people (often as brutal torturers), but as he was finishing "Cigars of the Pharaoh" (1934) he was introduced to Chang Chong-chen, a foreign exchange student enrolled in graduate art in Belgium. Georges and Chang became fast friends, and "Cigars" became the 1st in a 2-part story. Chang helped with the art for the follow-up, "The Blue Lotus," particularly in drawing all the Chinese language elements.
Chang finished his studies while Georges was working on "The Broken Ear" and he left on a tour of Europe before he headed back to China. But while Georges was wrapping up "The Broken Ear" and starting to crank out strips for "The Black Island," Japan invaded China in 1937...the start of World War 2. Chang hurried back to China to be with his family, and Georges didn't know whether he made it home safely.

As the fascists started winning elections and rising to power in Europe, Georges wrote "King Ottokar's Sceptre," his critique of fascism. He followed that with the beginnings of "Land of Black Gold," but this adventure was interrupted by the German conquest of Belgium in 1940. King Leopold urged the citizens to not give up hope but to continue their lives rather than to flee their homeland, and this is what Georges did. The Nazis shut down as much of the Catholic church and all its enterprises as it could; this included Georges' publisher. He was hired by the biggest Belgian newspaper, Le Soir, and continued to publish Tintin stories all through the war...but he left off "Land of Black Gold" (for it was too political) and worked on pure escapist adventure stories instead: "The Crab with the Golden Claws," "The Shooting Star," "The Secret of the Unicorn," and "Red Rackham's Treasure." During the war, the book publisher Casterman completed a deal with Georges to publish Tintin's adventures compiled together in book form, starting with "The Shooting Star" in 1942. He'd started "The Seven Crystal Balls" when the war ended, but that was interrupted when everyone who'd been employed by Le Soir during the war was branded as "collaborators" and blacklisted by the new regime. Georges was out of work as a cartoonist for two years, until a veteran and successful entrepreneur who'd been a Tintin fan as a teenager, Raymond Leblanc, decided to create a Tintin magazine with Georges as chief. Leblanc pulled a bunch of strings to get Georges removed from the blacklist and he was able to finish "The Seven Crystal Balls" and follow it up with its sequel, "Prisoners of the Sun." In 1950, as Georges was finally finishing "Land of Black Gold," he created his own studio, Studio Herge, and employed a bunch of artists to provide support. With their help, he was able to produce the two space stories, "Destination Moon" and "Explorers on the Moon." It was while his studio was producing "The Calculus Affair" that 48-year-old Georges hired 20-year-old Fanny Vlamynck as a colorist. Over the next three years, they grew to spend more time together at work (as production on "The Red Sea Sharks" began), and in 1958 (when he was 51 and she was 23) they became lovers.

Worried about the fate of his friend Chang - whom he hadn't heard from in more than two decades - Georges started work on "Tintin in Tibet," in which Tintin tries to rescue his friend Chang who is lost in the Himalayas. Fanny and Georges moved in together in 1960, effectively a married couple even though Georges and Germaine had not divorced. Georges started taking more time for himself with his young lover, and they traveled the world together. His romance and advancing age provided many interruptions and in general slowed down his production of comics, and it wasn't until 1961 that he started "The Castafiore Emerald," followed by a four-year break until the beginning of "Flight 714." During the 8 years that passed between that serial and his last, "Tintin and the Picaros," and after 30+ years of inquiries, Georges finally found someone who was able to confirm that Chang had survived the war. "Tintin in Tibet" and the fact that Georges had traveled to Taiwan meant that Georges would not be allowed to set foot in China, but various officials and influential people in Europe worked tirelessly for years with Chinese officials to allow Chang to travel back to Belgium to be reunited with his friend Georges. "Tintin and the Picaros" completed in 1976, but it wasn't until 1981 that Chang and his son were allowed to leave China to visit Belgium. Georges and Chang had a tearful (and very public reunion), and then Chang defected from China and settled in Europe. Georges died in 1983.

[John Peel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have loved Tintin since I first read one of his adventures when I was about seven years old. There's just something so special about the Tintin books (especially the two Moon books!). So I was happy to find this biography of Herge, the creator of Tintin. There's a lot of interesting information and pictures in this volume, and it's a fun and easy read. My only reservation is that the author decided not to tell his biography in chronological order, but as separate subjects in each chapter, spanning his entire life. He talks about the influence of the Boy Scouts, for example, or Herge's love of China. Because of this, he repeats himself quite frequently, which can be quite annoying. Not annoying enough, though, to ruin the book, which is certainly an entertaining read otherwise.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Odd book, very strangely organized -- not exactly chronological, more like select episodes from Hergé's life that seem haphazardly thrown together. Much of the material is well-worn and found in greater detail or with more insight in other biographies of Hergé. Also a lot of repetitive material from chapter to chapter. And I wish there were more illustrations of scenes from the books that are discussed in this one. On the other hand, the book is beautifully designed and filled with wonderful photos and behind-the-scenes artwork. That alone makes it worth the read.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantastic companion to Farr's extensive 'Tintin: The Complete Companian', showing again why he is the English-speaking world's preeminent Tintinologist. Those looking for a more straight-forward and chronological account of Herge's life would be better served by Pierre Assouline's brilliant biography; here, Farr makes the odd, but ultimately-satisfying choice, of exploring his subject through a series of themes that defined his life, including Herge's love of scouting and his friendship with Chang.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

I couldn't make heads or tails of the different characters drifting in and out of its pages or even of the basic facts of Herge's life. The illustrations were no fun to spend time with, too spiky and kind of artless a rendering, by my taste. I would rather spend time rerearing old Tintins than finish The Adventures of Herge. I wish it were otherwise.

[I A · Rating 3 out of 5]

You havta know getting into this that this isn't a biography of Herge per se. It's more a look at different interests of Herge and how they influenced his Tintin books. For what it's meant to do, it's a fair book. The best parts are the historical photos of Herge and Tintin-related things.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit odd organizationally in terms of the order in which events are presented, and some of the figures are left randomly uncaptioned, but a good read overall!

[Melinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars Downgraded because of the way the book is organized- or not.
A friend took this out of the library and now libraries are closed so I borrowed it from her. I never read the Tintin books- why? I remember my kids reading them, but even then I didn’t. I found this biography interesting because Herge had been at the edge of my reading experience but without any information. He was Belgian and began writing the Tintin stories as fillers for a scouting magazine when he was young. He took the pen name Herge as a transliteration of his real initials: “R” “G”. The bio talks about his wishes to be a reporter and lifetime of scouting experience. The values and style of Tintin are explained through Herge’s own values and desires. Extensively illustrated with photos and drawings. Made me seek out the Tintin books!

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Often tries to be a little too insightful, leading to entire chapters speculating on things that MIGHT have influenced Herge's Tin Tin.

And the book does something I found extremely annoying---the captions under each photo or piece of art were exactly taken word for word from the text, so that as I read along, for instance, I'd look at a repo panel from Tintin and the Picaros with a caption of "In Tintin and the Picaros the streets of Tapiocapolis offer a setting for the sculpture of Marcel Arnould and---etc. etc. and then as I read the text for the page I'd run across the exact same passage. This would happen again and again.

Incidentally, the above example is from a chapter on Herge's passion for art, and it was a sad chapter in my mind. Herge had abysmal taste in art, falling in for the whole Warhol crowd, and "artists" like Lucio Fontana and Serge Poliakoff. Herge yearned to be as "important" as their like, which is so amazing to me, as the man (Herge) had more artistic talent in his nose hairs than the whole Warhol crowd had in their total possession.

Actually, I should back away from that. Warhol did have talent, as witnessed in his early illustration work, but he threw away Warhol the artist in order to become Warhol the Artiste. Shame, that.

Back on track, this book was middle of the road, often over-reaching into speculative boundaries, but when it stayed on track it was a worthy successor to Farr's more cohesive book, Tintin: The Complete Companion

[Relstuart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Always interesting to learn about significant people. This book is not a typical biography but rather a selection of topics that the author organizes stories or biographical details around to tell the life of Herge. So you will get some facts repeated multiple times.

His life long passion for art was interesting as is realizing how much of himself is reflected in Tintin.

[Sylvester (Taking a break in 2023) · Rating 2 out of 5]

The art itself was great - in the style of Herge. Herge himself, it turns out, was not so very interesting to me or admirable. As is so often the case - the author does not hold a candle to his creations.

[Mike Horne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hagiography! I love Tintin, but this book is clearly a "how wonderful is Herge." I thought this book better--Assouline, Pierre (2009). Hergé, the Man Who Created Tintin

[Kai · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely inspiring and worth looking through the history Herge and his beloved creation Tintin. His works never cease to inspire other writers and artists.