TinTin Books discussion

As The Secret of the Unicorn opens, Tintin purchases a model ship for Captain Haddock at a market, only to immediately be hit with two competing offers for it. Haddock identifies the model as the "Unicorn", a ship belonging to his seafaring ancestor Francis Haddock. Confusion is caused further when the ship is stolen, and Tintin realises it was only one of a set - each of which contained a parchment yielding clues to the long lost treasure of Red Rackham, a pirate who battled Haddock in the 17th century. As Thomson and Thompson battle a mysterious epidemic of wallet thefts, Tintin and his friends are led down a path of dead-ends and false-starts, taking them to the criminals' hideout at the stately Marlinspike Hall, and then to greater treasures.

Hergé considered this his greatest success to date when the 1942 serial was published in colour in 1943. Indeed, Tintin's 11th adventure would loom large in the memories of fans as a truly timeless tale. Herge was inspired to write a story for Haddock, but also was able to have complete reign over his creativity due to his new publishing situation at "Le Soir", and the fact that - for the middle of the war - his story had no political inclinations. This album also allowed him to do a two-part story for the first time since Cigars of the Pharaoh/The Blue Lotus.

This story introduces Marlinspike Hall and its long-suffering butler Nestor. While both here are in the employ of the sinister Bird brothers, Marlinspike will come to be the home of Tintin and Captain Haddock from the end of the next album - Red Rackham's Treasure - and Nestor will join them.

"The Secret of the Unicorn" has been adapted four times. In 1959, it was one of the albums produced as a series of five-minute TV episodes by Belvision. It was the second episode of the BBC 1992 Radio series, and was a two-part adventure in the 1990s animated series also. Along with "Red Rackham's Treasure" and The Crab with the Golden Claws, it will feature as the plot of the 2011 big-budget film "The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn", directed by Steven Spielberg and the first of a planned trilogy. The film will also have an accompanying video game, which will take its plot from the album.

Links:

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secr...

Tintinologist: http://www.tintinologist.org/guides/b...

24 Days of Tintin: http://tintinblog.com/2009/11/29/24-d...

Places visited or mentioned in "The Secret of the Union":

* Brussels, Belgium

Tintin doesn't actually leave Belgium in this story (for the first time), but much of the flashback tale of Frances Haddock occurs on various locations across the seas.

FACTS AND REVIEW

Facts, from Michael Farr's Tintin: The Complete Companion:

* The original English translation of this work, by Casterman, was generally considered a failure, but Methuen chose this duo as their second translation in 1959, to greater success.

* This was Herge's favourite for many years, and continues the trend of avoiding political discussion, given this was now in the height of WWII.

* By now, Herge was publishing "Tintin" daily due to the arrangements with "Le Soir". It hadn't been his preferred working method, but he had well and truly settled into a formula and was happy with his work.

* By the time of publication in 1943, a flurry of "Tintin" works were being prepared for colour printing.

* Also, it's worth pointing out that this s the first Tintin album where the contemporary scenes at least take place entirely in Belgium (as Merry mentioned above).

My Review:

There's no denying the feat that was "The Secret of the Unicorn" and "Red Rackham's Treasure". Gone is the padding of The Crab with the Golden Claws, and there are no wasted characters or moments, which follows logically on from the well-characterised The Shooting Star. The album opens with two mysteries - that of the model ship, and the Thom(p)sons' investigation into a spate of wallet thefts - and weaves them together in a tale which involves historical fiction, kidnap, and an adventure that intimately involves both Tintin and Captain Haddock.

Certainly the most captivating sequence is Haddock's retelling of his ancestor's tale: a pirate story which is vividly retold for us by Herge, who never lags even in the frames which feature Haddock retelling the story to an amazed Tintin. And it's great stuff - fast-paced, fantastical yet never implausible - but it's equalled by the rest of the tale. The mystery involving Tintin's model ship is truly intriguing, and full of characters who may or may not be involved in the plot. And the finale, as we race toward revelation amidst the kidnapping of Tintin and the introduction of Marlinspike Hall, is constantly engaging.

On its own, "The Secret of the Unicorn" merits five stars. Within the context of Herge's albums - where we know he has the insight to incorporate political satire into his fiction - it probably gets pushed down to four-and-a-half. Either way, this is definitely a peak that Herge had not yet reached, and it seems to have heralded a new era in his storytelling.