Tim in America

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Tintin in America ( French original title: Tintin en Amérique ) is a comic album from the Tintin series by the Belgian illustrator Hergé , which was initially published from 1931 to 1932 as a sequel in Le Petit Vingtième and in 1932 as an album in black and white. The colored version was completely revised in 1946 and revised again in 1973.

action

A picture of the Chanin Building in Chicago inspired Hergé to create a scene in which Tim climbs along the facade of a skyscraper

The reporter Tim travels to America with his dog Struppi and visits the city of Chicago to report from there. But Al Capone's criminals are already alarmed. Immediately after leaving the train , Tim is caught by the gangsters in a taxi and kidnapped. With skill he can free himself, but is soon kidnapped again, can free himself again and catches Al Capone in the process. But the policeman whom he asks for help apparently does not want to believe him and declares him crazy, and he has to flee from the police. Soon after, he catches another gangster and he notifies the police from his hotel room. The police take him to the supposed police station, which turns out to be a business of a criminal organization competing with Al Capone. The boss of this gangster syndicate in Chicago wants to recruit him. Tim is supposed to help him bring down Al Capone. Tim refuses, and the criminals try to kill him. Tim escapes again and this time, with the help of the police, manages to arrest the criminals of the organization. Only the boss of the gang can escape.

Tim learns through a telegram that gang boss Bobby Smiles has fled to Redskincity, a village on the edge of an Indian reservation . Tim follows the trail of the criminal who turns the Indians against Tim. Tim is caught by the Indians , but can also get out of this situation. But the Indians are tracking him down again and are driving him into an underground tunnel system. The Indians roll a huge stone onto the only exit, and Tim is trapped again. Tim uses the powder from his pistol cartridges for a detonation, whereby he creates a path to an oil well and at the same time is washed out by the oil flow. A few businessmen rushed up to him to buy the spring from him. Tim refuses to sell because the source belongs to the Indians. At the same time, a businessman pushes 25 dollars into the hand of the chief of the tribe, saying that the tribe has half an hour to pack and go. An hour later, the Indians are driven away by armed soldiers. Two hours later the construction of a city begins. The next morning the big city is finished. Tim leaves the city, goes back to the Wild West and follows the trail of the criminal again.

Tim is mistakenly arrested by two police officers and shortly afterwards kidnapped by cowboys who want to lynch him. After several attempts to lynch him fail due to weak ropes, the cowboys start an argument and Tim manages to escape. Tim now follows the trail of Bobby Smiles and manages to overwhelm him. He stows it in a huge box and sends it back to Chicago as fragile cargo, straight to the police.

Tim, who also traveled back to Chicago, is now becoming a celebrity in the United States too . Business people and lobbyists try unsuccessfully to hire him. While Tim is busy with these conversations, Struppi is kidnapped. Tim is supposed to pay $ 50,000. Tim finally manages to arrest this gang of kidnappers and hand them over to the police. But even in this case, the boss of the organization escapes, but thanks to Tim it doesn't last long.

So Tim has managed to put two of Chicago's dangerous underworld bosses behind bars. The head of the Central Committee for Supporting Gangsters in Need is upset and incites his members on Tim. Tim is kidnapped and supposed to be killed, but survives and overpowers these gangsters too. After this adventure, a radio reporter sums up that Tim managed to have 355 members of the Chicago gangster syndicate arrested at their headquarters. Further arrests are also to be expected. After a confetti parade and a series of receptions in Tim's honor, he embarks for Europe.

background

The work was created in 1931, at the time of American prohibition , in which the real Al Capone was also up to mischief. In the second half of the book, which deals with the Wild West , Hergé's sympathy for the Indians is clearly shown, although in the more recent version from 1946 the fate of these natives is no longer depicted as black as it was before. Like the Africans in the previous volume, the redskins are sometimes portrayed as naive and gullible. The scene mentioned in the plot, in which a city will be built out of the ground in 24 hours, is an exaggerated criticism of capitalist expansion within America. Despite some sharp criticism from publishers, Hergé never deleted this passage.

For the English and US-American translation in 1973, some text changes and image changes were made so that there is no longer a black person in this translation. Today's German color version corresponds to the images of this English version, although the aforementioned text changes have not been made.

Al Capone , the only criminal in the Tintin comics who really existed, was Tim 's opponent in the book Tintin in the Congo . The volume was adapted as a German radio play by Ariola Express in 1987 . In 1992 a half-hour cartoon version was also created.

The portrayal of the Indians is very precise and detailed, as should from now on become a trademark of Hergé in practically all volumes. Hergé mainly used three works as sources: First a book by René Thévenin and Paul Coze published in Paris in 1928, Mœurs et histoire des Indiens Peaux-Rouges (Customs and History of the Red-Skin Indians) , as well as Scènes de la vie future for their contemporary life ( Mirror of the Future ) by Georges Duhamel and a special issue of Le Crapouillot magazine (The Grenade Launcher) .

A comparison of the old and new editions

There are some differences between the old and new versions:

scene Old edition New edition
Tim is kidnapped and taken prisoner by Al Capone Al Capone speaks to Tim in a mask. Al Capone reveals himself to this.
Tim hears a baby screaming and thinks it's Struppi The mother and baby are African American. Mother and baby are white.
Tim is trapped and is about to be drowned. The gangster has two diabolical Chinese accomplices who plan to eat Struppi. The Chinese don't show up

continuation

Tim's archenemy Roberto Rastapopoulos , if not named, makes his first appearance in both versions of the album: He is a guest at the banquet and listens to Tim's speech. However, it will not make its big appearance until the next album The Pharaoh's Cigars .

In the original version as well as the original German version there is an allusion to Mary Pickford as Mary Pikeforth, this is completely missing in the new edition.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Compared to the French version
  2. ↑ See pages 34 and 36 of the corresponding volume
  3. ↑ The Internet Movie Database - Tintin - Tintin in America (1992)

Web links

literature