What famous(ish) comics folks love Tintin?

May 6, 2008 7:59 AM

What (semi-)famous artists (preferably still living) are stated Tintin fans? Comics-related artists especially sought.

I'm working on a column on bande dessiné for a North American comics magazine, and the third (or fourth) column is going to focus on Tintin -- one of the three pillars of bédé, and arguably the most familiar for English-language audiences.

But rather than just me blathering about Tintin, I'd love to find some other people in the comics field who are fond of Tintin and conduct brief interviews with them about Hergé, his work, and its influence on their artistic lives.

I know there are comics fans among the hive mind, so I'm hoping that some of you will recall interviews, conversations, essays and whatnot where established comics folks have stated their affection for everyone's favourite Belgian man-child. Ideas?

posted by Shepherd to media & arts (11 comments total)

I can't recall where (Comics Journal, maybe?), but I remember an article where Evan Dorkin talked about he loves Tintin, followed by something along the lines of, "And yes, it's pronounced Tin tin. If I was French, I would pronounce it TAN TAN, but I'm not French, so it's Tin tin."
posted by Greg Nog at 8:14 AM on May 6

Frank Madsen, the Danish comic strip artist
posted by Kirjava at 8:50 AM on May 6

PBS to the rescue... "Six contemporary comic artists, including Daniel Clowes and Chris Ware, talk about Hergé's influence, visual narratives and the art of cartooning. "
posted by ormondsacker at 8:57 AM on May 6 [1 favorite]

Steven Spielberg.
Michael Jackson.
But otherwise I'd guess that you could talk to any great comics or bd artist you could reach, and they would know and admire Hergé's work.
Hergé is for artists what Shakespeare is for English lit. majors or Bach for musicians: the much revered granddaddy of them all.
posted by bru at 8:59 AM on May 6

You might want to contact Garen Ewing. Not exactly famous (excpet in the UK small press scene) but he's a mine of information on all things Herge.
posted by Artw at 9:25 AM on May 6

The guy who draws "Get Fuzzy" occasionally adds characters from Tintin's world into crowd scenes and the like. I saw one a few years ago that had Captain Haddock in a doctor's waiting room.
posted by Mayor Curley at 11:01 AM on May 6

I'm guessing a bit, but it seems anyone doing ligne claire stuff owes a debt to him even if they're not explicitly stated fans, so there's Moebius & Geoff Darrow off the top of my head.

Heck, I bet the guy who does Where's Waldo is a fan.
posted by juv3nal at 11:26 AM on May 6

Love Tin Tin, but not such a big comics fan in general. Thought I could give you some linkage that though not comics related, is still intresting David Greig wrote the Tin Tin play, Tin Tin in Tibet He is a really good writer, the play is great and the linked article is intresting because it talks about how the play was written by people who came to like Tin Tin as adults.

Almost famous UK academic Tom McCarthy published an extended thesis [amazon link] in which he suggested that almost all literary themes and devices can be found in the Tin Tin books.

Frenchliterarytheory-filter: Aparently the Castafiori diamond is a clitoris and Castafiori herself is either a transexual or a hermafradite. Captain Haddock is the illegitamte sun of the Sun King, which inturn represents Herge's own cloudy (and possibly noble) parentage.

..When I read it, it was one of those, not sure if I ever really wanted to know moments, but thats just me.
posted by munchbunch at 11:28 AM on May 6

Alison Bechdel (of the Dykes to Watch Out For strip and Fun Home) is a Tintin fan, has blogged bits and pieces about Tintin and Hergé a bunch of times, and has even been known to emulate his hairstyle.
posted by clavicle at 12:39 PM on May 6

Les McClaine -- in particular, see Jonny Crossbones.
posted by Karlos the Jackal at 1:40 PM on May 6

Charles Burns is a fan and working on a send-off of Tintin. There's quite a bit about it (including a few panels) in the interview he did with The Believer back in the January issue of this year.
posted by Kattullus at 6:36 PM on May 6