Tim and the Picaros

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Tintin and the Picaros ( French original title: Tintin et les Picaros ) is the 23rd Tintin and Struppi volume and thus also the last completed story by the Belgian illustrator Hergé . The album was first released in 1976.

action

The action begins on Schlossmühlenhof as Captain Haddock his beloved whiskey before Tim and Struppi declared unfit for human consumption. Then they see on television that the famous singer Bianca Castafiore has arrived in San Theodoros. The next morning they read in the newspaper that she had been arrested for conspiracy against the head of state. At the same time newspaper journalists come to the castle and say that Tim & Co. are also supposed to be involved in the conspiracy against General Tapioca. Tim, Haddock and Bienlein are amazed at this and think it is nonsense. Haddock reaches for the Loch Lomond whiskey again and is the only one who still considers it inedible.

The head of state General Tapioca invites Haddock, Tim and Bienlein to San Theodoros to clarify the affair. Tim senses a trap behind it. Haddock, however, feels his honor and travels to San Theodoros with Bienlein. Tim, who finds the whole thing strange, stays with his dog Struppi at Schloss Mühlenhof.

After the captain and the professor arrive at their destination, the two are welcomed by a reception committee and accommodated in a secluded villa for state guests. At first he is enthusiastic about the luxury and the friendly accommodation, but soon realizes that he and Bienlein are prisoners in a golden cage. The meeting with General Tapioca is being delayed by the authorities.

Behind the plan to lure Haddock, Bienlein and Tim to San Theodoros is the Bordurian Colonel Sponsz , who wants to take revenge for his embarrassment in connection with the Bienlein case . Tim was worried about Haddock and Bees, had followed them to San Theodoros and is now in the villa with Haddock and Bees. Pablo suddenly appears in the villa, an old friend of Tim who once saved his life in San Theodoros (see: The Arumbaya Fetish ). He reports of a plot: The Tapioca government wanted to have Haddock, Bienlein and Tim shot in a fictitious attack on the guest house and blame the Picaros for the crime. The Picaros are a guerrilla force under the leadership of the General Alcazar who fight against the Tapioca government from the jungle. He advises friends on a trip to the jungle (to Hergé Maya - pyramid -inspired buildings that are described in the text as a legacy of the fictitious Pazteken) to escape and join the Picaros.

After General Alcazar picks up the friends, Tim realizes that Pablo was acting as a double agent, luring him and General Alcazar into a trap. Tim is able to save himself and General Alcazar at the last second and flees with him into the jungle.

In the jungle, the group meets Ridgewell, whom Tim met on a previous trip, and spends a while with the Arumbayas. Finally the group reaches the Picaros camp. These are severely addicted to alcohol , and no revolution can be made with them. Professor Bienlein announces to Haddock and Tim why the captain no longer tasted his whiskey: he put a self-developed pill in Haddock's food that makes alcohol inedible. When Tim learns that Schulze and Schultze are to be executed as participants in the alleged conspiracy, he decides to support Alcazar in his coup . But he first made the general promise not to have anyone executed. Bienlein treats the Picaros with the pills to sober them up.

By chance, Fridolin Kiesewetter's carnival troop arrives at the Picaro camp. Alcazar is having a festival where the Picaros stay sober thanks to the pills. So you can set off for the capital the next morning by bus wearing the costumes of the carnival troupe, while the European guests sleep off their intoxication.

The next day, at Carnival, the Picaros sneak into the Tapiocas Castle in costumes and force him to hand over power. This action prevented the execution of Schulze and Schultze and the imprisonment of Castafiore was lifted. Alcazar rules again. Tim, Haddock and Bienlein return to Europe.

Emergence

Hergé Tim and his "family" have been drawing for 40 years now. The responsibility for his hero and son - Tim had become nothing else for him during this time, because Hergé had no children - had always been a great burden for him. Hergé was always expected to have more and better stories about his hero. This burdened him for a long time and was reflected directly in the deteriorating health of the draftsman. He had turned 60 during the previous volume, Flight 714 to Sydney . He was actually in no hurry to let Tim plunge into a new adventure.

Actually, this adventure should be called "Tim and the Bigotudos" (Spanish for mustache), because the guerrilla fighters in Cuba no longer trimmed their beards. The emblem of Bordurien is here equipped with beards.

The idea of ​​the new story had been floating around for a long time, but first he wanted to take a trip himself instead of just drawing it. He traveled to the American West to see the Sioux (whose disintegration through exploitation and alcohol he found out) and to Taiwan. He also traveled to various countries in Europe: England, Switzerland, Greece, Italy. Hergé has gone from being a world artist to a world traveler. His hero is the other way around: unlike in Tim in Tibet , this time, surprisingly, it is Tim who does not want to travel again.

Tim also wants to present himself a little “younger” and now wears long brown jeans instead of the timeless knickers from previous albums. He also practices yoga and wears a " peace" symbol on his moped helmet. Tim has also changed from a combative idealist to a realist, because he understands that he cannot defeat all injustices in the world. The volume contains various socially critical references, such as the totalitarianism of Borduria or the machinations of large international corporations. The "International Banana Company" supports Alcazar and the Wisky brand Loch Lomond takes over the patronage of the carnival in order to incapacitate the Picaros and the Arumbayas with alcohol - similar to what the immigrants had done with the American Indians, as Hergé had previously experienced himself would have. Hergé's criticism of these circumstances is obvious.

Hergé did not begin to actively work on the new story until 1973. In the meantime, he had supervised the revision of The Black Island and accompanied the development of the two cartoons for The Sun Temple and Tim and the Shark Lake . The implementation of the animation projects was rather disappointing.

In this story, many well-known people receive new honors. General Tapioca and Colonel Sponsz alias Colonel Esponja act as Tim's opponents. Ex-General Alcazar, whom Tim met a long time ago, plays an important role. This time he leads a guerrilla force. Alcazar has now married, conveniently the daughter of the weapon country Basil Bazaroff from The Arumbaya Fetish , which allegedly makes it easier for him to acquire new war equipment. However, this turns out to be a real dragon; with curlers in her hair and a big cigar in her mouth, she commands her husband around and complains constantly. Bianca Castafiore, on the other hand, always goes with fashion, who appears perfectly coiffed and dressed even after her release from prison. She is never stingy on jewelry either.

In his last completed adventure, Hergé also tried to depict the surroundings in his story as realistically as possible. The furniture in the “guest house” that the friends have to live in is based on a catalog by Roche Bobois and the magazine Maisons françaises . The fictional capital of San Theodoros, Tapiocapolis, is modeled on Belo Horizonte , which was built out of the ground in the jungle. As with all of his locations, Hergé had many records and images in his archive of this city. The sculptures by Marcel Arnould and the paintings by Serge Poliakoff can be found again.

Others

  • In this album, for the first and only time - as long as you don't count the unfinished album Tim and Alpha Art - Captain Haddock's first name is revealed: Archibald.
  • Hergé first drew the first two pictures in a summer landscape. However, since the action takes place shortly before the carnival, these scenes were later drawn into a winter landscape.
  • Asterix has an appearance in a Carnival crowd , as Schulze and Schultze later did in Asterix with the Belgians (Micky Mouse, Snoopy, Zorro and Groucho Marx continue)
  • To get to the 62 pages, Hergé removed a page: Here Sponsz is talking to Alvarez and accidentally damages a bust of Plekszy-Gladz. Sponsz, who does not want anyone to know, tells Alvarez not to report it to anyone and to fire the "sloppy cleaning lady who is responsible for this damage". The scene was later published by Hergé to demonstrate how a comic is made.
  • The Picaros go back to both the Tupamaros and the Contras . The Hallodris from Carnival were inspired by the "Gilles" from Binche.
  • The ITT company complained because the "TIT" emblem was enthroned on one of the roofs of the Arumbajas.

literature

  • Michael Farr: In the footsteps of Tim and Struppi , Carlsen Verlag, Hamburg 2006, ISBN 978-3-551-77110-0 , pages 188ff.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Michael Farr: In the footsteps of Tintin and Struppi . Carlsen Comics, Hamburg 2006, p. 189; 195
  2. ↑ Michael Farr: In the footsteps of Tintin and Struppi . Carlsen Comics, Hamburg 2006, p. 197
  3. ↑ Michael Farr: In the footsteps of Tintin and Struppi . Carlsen Comics, Hamburg 2006, pp. 196–197
  4. ↑ Michael Farr: In the footsteps of Tintin and Struppi . Carlsen Comics, Hamburg 2006, p. 197