Book Description

"The Calculus Affair" (wyd. polskie Afera Lakmusa)

This is the eighteenth volume of The Adventures of Tintin, the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. Professor Calculus has invented a machine capable of destroying objects with sound waves, which gets the attention of the Bordurian secret services, and it is up to Tintin and Captain Haddock to help him.

Some, such as Benoit Peeters in his book Tintin and the World of Hergé, consider this as the greatest and most "detective-like" of the whole series. The story is set in the 1950s, several months after Tintin and his friends have returned from the Moon.

"The Red Sea Sharks" (wyd. polskie Koks w Ładowni)

This is the nineteenth volume of The Adventures of Tintin, the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. The "Coke" referred to in the original French title is a code name used by the villainous antagonists of the story for African slaves.

The Red Sea Sharks is notable for bringing together a large number of characters from previous Tintin adventures, going all the way back to Cigars of the Pharaoh: General Alcazar (The Broken Ear and The Seven Crystal Balls); Mohammed Ben Kalish Ezab and Abdullah (Land of Black Gold); Rastapopoulos (Cigars of the Pharaoh and The Blue Lotus); Oliveira da Figueira (Cigars of the Pharaoh and Land of Black Gold); Dr. Müller (The Black Island and Land of Black Gold); J.M. Dawson (The Blue Lotus); Allan (Cigars of the Pharaoh and The Crab with the Golden Claws); Bianca Castafiore (King Ottokar's Sceptre, The Seven Crystal Balls and The Calculus Affair); Jolyon Wagg (The Calculus Affair). Additionally, Patrash Pasha (Cigars of the Pharaoh), Bab El Ehr (Land of Black Gold), and General Tapioca (The Broken Ear) are all referred to but don't appear.

"Tintin in Tibet" (wyd. polskie Tintin w Tybecie)

This is the twentieth volume of The Adventures of Tintin, the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. Originally serialised from September 1958 in Tintin magazine, it was then published in book form in 1960. An "intensely personal book" for Hergé, who would come to see it as his favourite of the Tintin adventures, it was written and drawn by him at a time when he was suffering from traumatic nightmares and a personal conflict over whether he should divorce his wife of three decades, Germaine Remi, for a younger woman with whom he had fallen in love, Fanny Vlaminck.

The plot of the book revolves around the young reporter Tintin who, aided by his faithful dog Snowy, his friend Captain Haddock and the sherpa Tharkey, their treks across the Himalayan mountains to the plateau of Tibet, having arrived by way of India and Nepal, in order to look for Tintin's friend Chang Chong-Chen whom the authorities claim had been killed in a plane crash over the mountains. Convinced that Chang has somehow survived, Tintin continues to search for him despite the odds, along the way encountering the giant Himalayan ape-man, the Yeti.

Released after the publication of the previous Tintin adventure, The Red Sea Sharks (1958), Tintin in Tibet would differ from the other stories in the series because many of the core characters from the series, such as Thomson and Thompson and Cuthbert Calculus, were wholly or almost absent, whilst at the same time it was the only Tintin adventure to not pit Tintin against an antagonist. Tintin in Tibet is highly thought of by prominent Tintinologists (as well as by writers on the art of the comic-book), with Michael Farr calling it "exceptional in many respects" and Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier describing it as "arguably the best book in the series". It has also been publicly praised by the Dalai Lama, who awarded his own Truth of Light award to the book and to Hergé. Adaptations of Tintin in Tibet have been made in various media, including an animated television series, a radio series and a video game in the 1990s, and then for the theatre in the 2000s.

About the Author

Georges Prosper Remi (22 May 1907 - 3 March 1983), known by the pen name Hergé, was a Belgian cartoonist. His best known and most substantial work is the 23 completed comic books in The Adventures of Tintin series, which he made from 1929 until his death in 1983. He was also responsible for two other well-known series, Quick & Flupke (1930-40) and Jo, Zette and Jocko (1936-57). His works were executed in his distinct ligne claire drawing style.