Tintin: Destination Moon By Hergé
1953
Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/
Tintin: Explorers on the MoonBy Hergé
1954
Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/
Back when I was a kid there were two things I loved: Outer Space and Tintin. So it's hard for me to get any real objectivity when it comes to this book which - for a time - was simply the coolest thing that I'd ever read. The story of - just in case you couldn't tell from those titles - how that young boy reporter joins the crew (or - rather is the crew) of the first manned flight to the moon this is as epic as Tintin gets and the most cuddly depiction of Outer Space flight I've ever come across (although it does have plenty of nail-biting moments too).
Set in the fictional country of Syldavia (first established in Tintin: King Ottokar's Sceptre - which I would recommend you read before this to make sure you get all the proper background) Destination Moon is a relatively slow-moving prologue that does all the scene-setting - building up a convincing account of the ins-and-outs of how to send humans to the moon and back leaving the second book - Explorers on the Moon free to deliver all the suspenseful action and thrilling set-pieces (not to mention the slap-stick: gotta have some (ie lots) of slap-stick in a Tintin book).
Existing in a strange never never land between strict scientific accuracy (Hergé gets really stuck into the details of the nuclear powered rockets, spacesuits and effects of space travel) and the cartoony nature the already existing Tintin universe (when you're reading it you don't really think to question why they're sending Tintin and all his friends to the moon (including an old sea captain and a dog) - instead of - I don't know: trained astronauts): it exists in that strange ever-growing sub-genre of science fiction that tried to predict the future - but now reads like an alternative universe depiction of the past. Just in case you didn't see the dates up there - these book were written a full 15 years before mankind got there for real (Ho ho ho).
The artwork is - as always with Hergé - neat and orderly at all points and features some of his best design work (that red and white rocket is practically a knighted pop icon at this point). For a simple children's book it's uncommonly good full of wit, heart and lots and lots and lots of adventure.
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Links: The M0vie Blog Review: Destination Moon, The M0vie Blog Review: Explorers on the Moon, The Space Review Article: A Comic Book, the Cold War, and the Moon.
Further reading: Tintin: King Ottokar's Sceptre, Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn / Red Rackham's Treasure, Ministry of Space.
All comments welcome.
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