In the realm of black gold

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In the realm of black gold ( French original title: Tintin au Pays de l'or noir ) is a comic from the Tintin series by the Belgian illustrator Hergé , which was first published on September 28, 1939 in Le Petit Vingtième .

action

More and more often, petrol tanks explode in Tim's homeland, including in Schulze and Schultze's cars . At the same time, the world situation is tense: the newspapers speak of the danger of war and mobilization. While Schulze and Schultze scrutinize the workshops as the beneficiaries of the breakdown series , Tim turns to the director of the petrol company Speedol . There, too, there is no explanation for the contaminated gasoline.

So Tim does research and soon hires Struppi incognito as a radio operator on the oil tanker Speedol Star . The two police officers also go undercover as sailors to get to the bottom of the disputes in the oil-producing Emirates. Upon their arrival in Khemkhah, Schulze and Schultze discovered that cocaine had been inserted into them. Falsified documents are found at Tim that report arms deliveries to the leader of the rebels, Bab el Ehr . As an alleged supporter, Tim is freed by the partisans shortly after his arrest and taken to the rebel leader. Meanwhile, Schulze and Schultze are freed. You hear about the reward of 2000 pounds that is offered at Bab el Ehr and set off with the jeep through the desert. Meanwhile, the rebels want to flee into the mountains with Tim as a hostage, with Tim being passed out on the way. The next night he witnessed an oil pipeline being blown up and followed one of the perpetrators. Tim realizes that it is the already known adversary Doctor Müller (see The Black Island ). After a fight Tim escapes and gets into a sandstorm in which he meets Schulze and Schultze.

Together they drive into town and Tim tries to get an audience with Mohammed Ben Kalisch Ezab . There he reports on the acts of sabotage and learns that as Professor Smith, Doctor Müller is blackmailing the oil sheikh in order to obtain production licenses. In order to emphasize these demands, the sheik's son Abdallah is kidnapped. The next day Tim discovers a lead that leads him to the merchant Senhor Oliveira da Figueira (see The Pharaoh's Cigars ). Because he is the supplier of Professor Smith, Tim manages to come disguised into his palace. There he finds a secret door, but is exposed by Müller and a fight ensues, from which Tim emerges as the winner. In a bunker Tim comes across the captured prince, but during a shootout, Müller is able to flee with his hostage. Tim takes over the chase through the desert with Captain Haddock, who suddenly appears . In the final argument, the two manage to free the prince and arrest Müller. A mysterious tube with tablets falls into Tim's hands, which Müller definitely does not want to give away.

Tim sends the tablets to Professor Bienlein for analysis : It is a product that increases the explosiveness of gasoline many times over. One tablet is enough to turn 10,000 liters of gasoline into dangerous explosives . A few weeks later, new revelations follow: In the event of war, secret agents would have made their opponents' petrol reserves unusable. The numerous explosions were a kind of dress rehearsal for this new war tactic. In the meantime it has also been possible to develop an antidote. Finally, Haddock should tell how he actually got into the matter. But a prank by Prince Abdallah dissuades him from doing so.

backgrounds

In the summer of 1939, Hergé began work on the ninth Tim adventure under the title Tintin au Pays de l'or noir ( In the realm of black gold ), which began to be published as a series at Le Petit Vingtième on September 28th. As in the Blue Lotus , the political background of the action was designed very realistically: We see Tim reading a newspaper in the morning studying headlines such as “The situation is serious” or “Partial mobilization”. Tim was soon caught in a conspiracy that was supposed to serve the unscrupulous oil procurement of an aggressive state. In this state, with its great need for “black gold”, Germany was easy to recognize.

After the occupation of Belgium by the German Wehrmacht , the magazine was discontinued on May 9, 1940. The story in which Tim got caught up in a dispute between a Jewish underground organization, the British occupiers and an Arab emir came to an abrupt end. In June, after the French surrender, Hergé started drawing Tintin again, but for his new employer, the daily newspaper Le Soir , he thought up a new adventure called The Crab with the Golden Scissors .

Only after more than 8 years and 5 other adventures did Hergé think about the incomplete story in the Middle East. On September 16, 1948, Tintin magazine began to print the now colored version of Im Reiche des Schwarzen Goldes , which had been remounted to a new format, under the title L'or noir . Now the captain Haddock , who was first introduced in The Crab with the Golden Scissors , also gets his appearance at the end. The series did not end until February 1950.

For the album edition that appears in the same year (now again under the title Tintin au Pays de l'or noir ) Hergé has to revise the already published pages again. So that Haddock's long absence does not result in a logical break in the plot, Hergé unceremoniously includes a picture on the first pages in which he reports on a secret mission. The opera singer Bianca Castafiore , who is now familiar to the readers , is also mentioned once. In addition, the scenes playing in the desert will be redesigned.

Faisal II inspired Hergé

Another revision took place at the end of the sixties, when the published historical background of the almost twenty-year-old history no longer seemed appropriate to the editors. It is about the rivalry between Jewish resistance fighters and Arab nationalists on the one hand and the British occupation forces on the other ( Palestine was a British mandate from 1920 to 1948 on behalf of the League of Nations ). So the real Palestine became the Emirate of Khemed and the people involved all became Arabs. In 1971 the album, modernized by more than 12 pages, was released in Belgium and France (only three years later in Germany).

Emir Ben Kalisch Ezab is based on Anton Zischka's biography of Ibn Saud , while Abdullah is based on Faisal II. Oliviere de Figuiera appears again in this volume.

Differences between the old and the new version

scene 1950s edition 1972 edition
The Arabic text Arises from the author's imagination. The words are pointless. Correct Arabic sentences.
The Schul (t) zes inform their boss that they will board the tanker Speedol Star . You should keep an eye out for spies on the ship. They wear dark sailor suits. You should go to Khemed and get an idea of ​​the situation. On the ship they wear blue clothes and hats that read Titanic .
The Speedol Star The ship is very simply furnished. Tim's radio is a big piece of equipment. The ship is shown in great detail, as is Tim's radio equipment.
The Speedol Star arrives in the Middle East. Tim and the Schul (t) zes are arrested. The ship arrives in Haifa . There it is searched by British authorities. The ship arrives in the Arab fantasy state of Khemed, in the port city of Khemkhah. There it is searched by Arab authorities.
Tim is kidnapped by the authorities and ends up as a prisoner in Sheikh Bab El Ehr's camp. The kidnappers belong to the Jewish terrorist organization Irgun . They mistook Tim for one of their own named Goldstein. Shortly afterwards they are attacked by Arab underground fighters who take Tim from them. The Irgun members are then arrested and interrogated by the British. Tim ends up as a prisoner in Sheikh Bab El Ehr's camp The men of Sheikh Bab El Ehr kidnap Tim from the violence of the authorities and he ends up as a prisoner in the camp of Sheikh Bab El Ehr
A Spitfire flies over the Bab El Ehrs camp and drops leaflets. The aviator is British and belongs to the Royal Air Force . Bab El Ehr warns his people that anyone who reads the papers will be shot. The aviator belongs to the Khemeds Air Force. Bab El Ehr laughs because none of his people can read.
Tim meets Emir Ben Kalisch Ezab and they discuss Bab El Ehr, Müller and the arguing oil companies. Sheikh Bab El Ehr wants to throw the British out of the country. Emir Ben Kalisch Ezab describes him as a fanatic and accuses him of sabotaging the pipelines.

Ben Kalish Ezab is a local tribal leader who has signed a contract with a British company. He doesn't want to negotiate with Müller's non-British company.

Bab El Ehr and Ben Kalish Ezab fight for power in Khemed. Ben Kalish Ezab is currently in power. He also believes the sheikh was behind the acts of sabotage. The rival companies are Arabex and Skoil Petroleum, with no mention of which countries both come from. The argument with Müller is the same.
Abdallah is kidnapped and a letter is sent to the emir. Bab El Ehr takes responsibility. The emir is supposed to drive the British out of the country. The emir is supposed to chase the Arabex out of the country.
Tim goes to Wadesdah, where Müller lives. Wadesdah is a small town. Wadesdah is the capital of Khemed.

German-language publications

From 1961, the version from 1950 appeared in Germany in two editions by Casterman Verlag . In the Hamburger Abendblatt there was parallel the adventure as a series from June 20, 1964 to August 14, 1965. After changing the publisher, Carlsen appeared in two editions from 1967 onwards.

The last (and current) version from 1971 was published there for the first time in 1974 as the third edition by Carlsen Verlag.

From May 1975 to June 1976 in Tim in the Swiss pharmacy magazine from Atar Verlag in Geneva .

Literature and Sources

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Michael Farr: In the footsteps of Tintin and Struppi . Carlsen Comics, Hamburg 2006, p. 130; 133