Thomson and Thompson

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Thomson and Thompson (Dupont et Dupond)

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This wooden toy depicts Thompson, albeit without his characteristic bowler hat. His moustache does not flare out like Thomson's. When the red string is pulled, his arms and legs move.

Thomson and Thompson (Dupond et Dupont) are a pair of detectives in Hergé's classic European comic strip The Adventures of Tintin. It is unclear whether the two are related; they have different names but are referred to as twins or brothers at least twice in the series. In any case, the two clumsy detectives look like twins and can only be told apart by the shape of their moustaches. They provide much of the comic relief throughout the series, as they are afflicted with spoonerism. They are thoroughly incompetent, and always bent on arresting the wrong character, but in spite of this they somehow get entrusted with delicate missions, such as ensuring security for the Syldavian space project or investigating arms dealing.

The detective with the flared moustache (troussée, hence Dupont) is Thomson (without a "p"), who often describes himself as "Thomson, without a 'p,' as in Venezuela!". The detective with the flat moustache (droite, hence Dupond) has described himself as "Thompson with a 'P,' as in..." and then used words with either a silent "P," or in which the "P" is combined with another letter, as to change the sound, such as Philadelphia, psychology and so on.

Character history

The first appearance of Thomson and Thompson was in Cigars of the Pharaoh when they came into conflict with Tintin on board a ship where he and Snowy were enjoying a holiday cruise. When this adventure was first published in 1932 they were referred to as X33 and X33bis (or X33 and X33b). On this occasion they showed an unusually high level of cunning and efficiency, going to great lengths to rescue Tintin from the firing squad in disguises that fooled even him, and saving Snowy from sacrifice.

In this and other stories like The Blue Lotus and The Black Island, they would spend most of their time pursuing Tintin himself for crimes he had not committed, although they later reconciled with him.

In spite of the codenames mentioned above, they remained nameless in the early adventures, including The Blue Lotus, The Broken Ear and The Black Island. It was not until King Ottokar's Sceptre, published in 1938, that Tintin mentions their definitive names when introducing them to Professor Alembick at the airport.

While the original version of Cigars of the Pharaoh came out in 1932, the rewritten and redrawn version was issued in 1955, and the English version was not issued until 1971. This resulted in some chronological confusion for new readers of the Tintin series, which is why the text hints that Tintin already knew the pair, and was surprised at their unfriendly behavior; however, on the original chronological sequence, this was indeed the first time they ever met.

In the next Tintin volume, The Blue Lotus, an unforgettable half-page drawing appears of Thomson and Thompson walking down a street in China "in disguise" (in fact wearing outfits for a Chinese opera), unaware that they are being followed by a large crowd of amused locals.

Thomson and Thompson also appear in a retcon on the very first page of the 1946 remake of Tintin in the Congo though they keep at a distance, looking on as Tintin, surrounded by admirers, sets off for Africa. A remark made by one of them implies that at that stage they do not even know Tintin by name, only reputation.

The detectives usually wear bowler hats and carry walking sticks, except when abroad: during those missions they insist on wearing the "costume" of the country they are visiting so as to blend into the local population (like in The Blue Lotus). But in general they only manage to find some ridiculous folkloric attire that actually makes them more conspicuous and leads to trouble, such as in The Calculus Affair when they are arrested in Swiss traditional outfits. In Destination:Moon, they even managed to be arrested in Syldavia while wearing Greek costumes, convinced they were wearing Syldavian ones, due to an error on the part of their tailor.

Another recurring joke in the early adventures was when they and Tintin would requisition fast cars, motorcycles or boats in order to pursue the villains: Tintin would start up so fast that the Thompsons would be thrown off while Tintin, unaware of this, would continue the pursuit warning them to hold on tight.

Thomson and Thompson were originally only side characters, but later became more important. In the redrawings of the earlier albums, especially The Black Island, the detectives gained their now traditional mannerisms.

In Land of Black Gold, the detectives mistakenly swallow some pills which cause them to sprout immensely long beards which frequently change colour. The condition wears off by the end of this adventure, but relapses in Explorers on the Moon, causing problems when the enormous beards threaten to fill the confined space of the moon rocket.

In the 19 books following Cigars of the Pharaoh (not including the unfinished Tintin and Alph-Art or the book of the film Tintin and the Lake of Sharks), Thomson and Thompson appear in 17 of them, not appearing in Tintin in Tibet or Flight 714, although in some books their role is minor; their appearance in The Shooting Star is confined to a single panel.

Inspiration and cultural impact

The detectives were physically based on Hergé's father and uncle, who were twins, both of whom wore matching bowlers. Another inspiration was a picture of two mustachioed, bowler-hatted, formally dressed detectives who featured on the cover of the Le Miroir edition of March 2, 1919. They were shown escorting a criminal — one detective was handcuffed to the man while the other was holding both umbrellas. In turn, the Thom(p)sons inspired the name of the British 1980s pop band, the Thompson Twins.

They (or at least their Roman-era ancestors) also make a brief cameo appearance in the Asterix book Asterix in Belgium.

Names

Translators of the series have tried to find in each language names for the pair that are similar or identical in pronunciation. Thus Dupond and Dupont in the original French become:

• Thomson and Thompson in English and Czech
• Schultze and Schulze in German
• Jansen and Janssen in Dutch
• Hernández and Fernández in Spanish
• Douponte, Doupone in Persian (دوپونت و دوپونت)
• Citserono and Tsicerono in Esperanto
• Skapti and Skafti in Icelandic
• Tik and Tak in Arabic.
• Dupont and Duvont in Japanese (デュポンとデュボン Dupon to Dubon)
• Uys and Buys in Afrikaans
• Johns and Johnes in Welsh
• Clodius and Claudius in Latin

The original Dupond and Dupont was kept in Swedish, Danish, Portuguese, Indonesian and Finnish.