|
|
The Adventures of Tintin: The Broken Ear / The Black Island / King Ottokar's Sceptre (3 Complete Adventures in 1 Volume, Vol. 2) (Hardcover)
by Herge
| Category:
Adventure, Fiction, Ages 9-12, Children's book |
| Market price: ¥ 208.00
MSL price:
¥ 198.00
[ Shop incentives ]
|
| Stock:
Pre-order item, lead time 3-7 weeks upon payment [ COD term does not apply to pre-order items ] |
MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
The adventures of Tintin which is full of mystery and comedy is a classic series. Tin-Tin will take you to another time & place. |
| If you want us to help you with the right titles you're looking for, or to make reading recommendations based on your needs, please contact our consultants. |
Detail |
Author |
Description |
Excerpt |
Reviews |
|
|
|
Author: Herge
Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers
Pub. in: May, 1994
ISBN: 0316359424
Pages: 192
Measurements: 9.3 x 6.5 x 0.6 inches
Origin of product: USA
Order code: BC00125
Other information:
|
|
Rate this product:
|
|
- MSL Picks -
Volume 2 of The Adventures of Tintin brings together a trio of stories by Herge from the late 1930s, right before World War II. This is noteworthy because at this point Herge is refining his attention to cultural detail in these stories, but also starting to get more fanciful and away from what is happening in the real world. You will still find allegorical elements in these stories, but none of the events ripped from the headlines that you saw in previous tales such as The Blue Lotus.
Some of these early adventures of Tintin have engendered criticism because of the way Herge draws a Negro in caricature and I certainly do not want to suggest that a white male European was not representative of the inherent racism of his culture, but I would point out that Herge, like Edgar Rice Burroughs writing at roughly the same time, relied heavily on stereotypes for many of his characters and that you will find "good" and "bad" types for every race and ethnicity Tintin encounters. Certainly the South Americans Tintin encounters in San Theodoros, with their heavy accents, fiery tempers and tendency towards extreme violence, are central to any such critique. But Herge also displays some sensitivity towards the native tribes of the area that is rather enlightened. If Tintin engaged in slurs or derogatory comments towards anyone, that would be something different, but our hero only thinks in terms of "good" and "bad," not "white" and "black". Anyhow, you can read these stories and decide for yourself where you stand on this issue.
Target readers:
Kids aged up 6
|
|
- Better with -
Better with
The Adventures of Tintin: Tintin in America / Cigars of the Pharaoh / The Blue Lotus (3 Complete Adventures in One Volume, Vol. 1)
:
|
|
Customers who bought this product also bought:
 |
The Adventures of Tintin: Tintin in America / Cigars of the Pharaoh / The Blue Lotus (3 Complete Adventures in One Volume, Vol. 1) (Hardcover)
by Herge
The adventures of Tintin which is full of mystery and comedy is a classic series. Tin-Tin will take you to another time & place. |
 |
The Adventures of Tintin: The Crab With the Golden Claws / The Shooting Star / The Secret of the Unicorn (3 Complete Adventures in 1 Volume, Vol. 3) (Hardcover)
by Herge
The adventures of Tintin which is full of mystery and comedy is a classic series. Tin-Tin will take you to another time & place. |
 |
The Adventures of Tintin - Red Rackham's Treasure / The Seven Crystal Balls / Prisoners of the Sun (3 Complete Adventures in 1 Volume, Vol. 4) (Hardcover)
by Herge
The adventures of Tintin which is full of mystery and comedy is a classic series. Tin-Tin will take you to another time & place. |
 |
The Adventures of Tintin: Land of Black Gold / Destination Moon / Explorers on the Moon (3 Complete Adventures in 1 Volume, Vol. 5) (Hardcover)
by Herge
The adventures of Tintin which is full of mystery and comedy is a classic series. Tin-Tin will take you to another time & place. |
 |
Peter And The Shadow Thieves (Hardcover)
by Dave Barry , Ridley Pearson , Greg Call (Illustrator)
Another adventure of classic Peter Pan and the spirit of adventure is high with the perfect touch of the bittersweet; Peter Pan has never yet been done as so human. |
 |
The Adventures of Tintin: The Calculus Affair / The Red Sea Sharks / Tintin in Tibet (3 Complete Adventures in 1 Volume, Vol. 6) (Hardcover)
by Herge
The adventures of Tintin which is full of mystery and comedy is a classic series. Tin-Tin will take you to another time & place. |
 |
The Adventures of Tintin: The Castafiore Emerald, Flight 714, Tintin and the Picaros (3 Complete Adventures in 1 Volume, Vol. 7) (Hardcover)
by Herge
The adventures of Tintin which is full of mystery and comedy is a classic series. Tin-Tin will take you to another time & place. |
|
|
Hergé (pseudonym of Georges Remi), Belgian author and illustrator, created Tintin in 1929 and produced 24 volumes of the internationally famous bande dessinée by the time of his death. Known as the father of the modern European comic book, Hergé's impeccable style and superb use of color won him international acclaim after the Second World War, and the books have been translated from the original French into some 40 languages.
|
|
The Broken Ear is from 1937 as our hero and his faithful companion Snowy go it alone through a series of perilous episodes, although there are brief appearances by the Thom(p)sons and Professor Calculus. The title defect belongs to an Arumbaya Fetish at the Museum of Ethnography which is stolen and then mysteriously returned. When Tintin notices the sacred tribal object now has two perfect ears and our hero is quickly in full Sherlock Holmes mode. However, Tintin is not the only one in search of the real fetish as his path starts crossing that of a pair of mysterious figures. After a series of incidents involving the search for a talking parrot, everyone finds themselves on a ship bound South American way for the Republic of San Theodoros, which happens to be where the Arumbaya tribe lives along the banks of the River Coliflor. There Tintin becomes involved in the political turmoil of San Theodoros and eventually gets around to traveling up the jungle river to find the Arumbayas. Meanwhile, poor Snowy finds that his tail becomes a sore point time and time again. In The Broken Ear the mystery takes something of a back seat to the repeated perils faced by Tintin. I went back and counted them up and on average Tintin faces death or severe physical harm once every three pages in this 64-page story, which might be a record for our intrepid reporter.
For the most part I do not like the early Tintin adventures where there is a lot of slapstick and every other page our intrepid reporter hero is either holding a gun or having somebody hold a gun on him as much as the latter adventures. However, The Black Island is certainly the epitome of this type of Tintin adventure and Herge really pours it on pretty much from start to finish. This might be slapstick but it is nonstop slapstick from Tintin trying to stop the Thom(p)sons from arresting him to Snowy getting the better of a gorilla (but not a spider). Tintin might end up unconscious more often in this story than all of his other adventures combined. The beginning is simple enough as Tintin sees a plane land with engine trouble. Noticing it is an unregistered plane he offers to help and is immediately shot (do not worry, the bullet only grazes his ribs). Of course Tintin wants to get to the bottom of this mystery but it is hard to collect clues when people are trying to kill you and you have no clue why. Besides, in this one Tintin gets to wear a kilt, not to mention a bonnie bonnet as the titular piece of property happens to be in Scotland. All things considered The Black Island has got to be the funniest of Herge stories.
In contrast King Ottokar's Sceptre is an adventure in which our intrepid hero gets to do a lot of deductive reasoning. Certainly there are more actual clues than Herge usually includes in his mysteries, which means you really have to pay attention as you play along this time. Tintin encounters Professor Alembik, who studies seals (no, silly, not the friendly little animals but the things you stamp into wax on official papers). This seems a harmless career choice but Tintin finds that both he and the good professor are embroiled with secret agents and a plot against the King of Syldavia. It turns out there is a major loophole in the laws of the monarchy, for if H.M. King Muskar XII, the present ruler of Syldavia, were to lose possession of King Ottokar's sceptre, he would lose the right to rule and have to abdicate. This would work to the advantage of the bad guys across the border in Borduria, where everybody seems decided Eastern European and probably pro-Communist or at least very much into Socialism, so it is up to Tintin and Snowy to save the day. They are aided in this endeavor by Thomson and Thompson of the C.I.D.; to be precise, they endeavor to aid. There is also Tintin's first meeting with Bianca Castafiore in this very solid offering from Herge. This is an actual mystery, where clues need to be solved and mysterious developments need to be explained.
|
Gagewyn (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-04 00:00>
Tintin is the best comic ever and here you have three of his adventures together:
The Broken Ear - A sculpture of the Arumbaya tribe at the Museum of Ethnology has a broken ear. When it suddenly has two pristine ears TIntin knows something is amiss. The real statue has been stolen and Tintin must journey through south America to solve the mystery. However two Spanish criminals are also interested in finding the statue. Tintin must solve the mystery while avoiding the criminals....
The Black Island - While on a walk in the countryside Tintin sees a small plane make an emergency landing in a field. When he approaches the pilot to offer help he is shot at. Later he returns to investigate and follows a trail of counterfeit money to Scottland. Tintin is suspicious about what is going on on the Black Island. Natives say that a monster lives on the island and that those who travel there never come back. But Tintin must investigate...
King Ottokar's Scepter - Tintin finds a briefcase in the ark. He returns it to its owner Professor Janus. The scholar will soon travel to Soldavia to study artifacts including the Royal Scepter, which must be in the possession of the king at a yearly ceremony, in order for him to remain in power. As Tintin leaves the professor's apartment he notices that he has been photographed. As he tries to find out why, he stumbles on a plot to steal the scepter...
These are all good stories and have jokes for adults as well as children. They are printed on smaller size paper than the separately bound stories, which is more economical but makes them harder to read and doesn't do the graphics justice. This is an economic edition for families, but invest in the larger separately bound stories if possible.
|
Nessiemonster (MSL quote), UK
<2007-01-04 00:00>
This standard hardback sized 3 in 1 is just the thing. Most adults find Tintin an excellent toilet book and the single adventure large versions just aren't right. This neat set of three: The Broken Ear, The Black Island and King Ottokar's Sceptre (the best 'early' Tintin, by the way - i.e. no Captain Haddock or Calculus ; though the Thompson twins are not in their first adventure) fits nicely into the bathroom alongside the other volumes. I'm not sure why they stopped at three - or, at least, I can't find volume 4, but it was high time a decent-sized version of Tintin appeared and this does the trick nicely. |
A reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-04 00:00>
I read my first Titin when I was 11 and read every single Tintin adventure since then. While I have my reservations about certain Tintin adventures I think they are excellent entertainment for everybody. Unlike many other popular comics, Tintin is packed with good clean humor and plenty of action without being horrific. |
A reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-04 00:00>
When my brother and I would save up our pocket money every month to buy used copies from local booksellers in the musty streets of Delhi. The books would be marked with pen and sundry stains, but, to us, they were a reminder of what lay just beyond our reach.
We would be fascinated by Tintin's travels through the most exotic places in the world (and beyond!). What colorful characters Haddock and Calculus are! For some reason, King Ottokar's Sceptre was always my favorite one, but almost all comics in this series are classics.
I would especially urge any one with young children to buy every Tintin comic book in existence, but, really, these comics will please all age groups.
|
|
|
|
|
