Customer Reviews

The Adventures of Tintin, vol. 7: The Castafiore Emerald / Flight 714 / Tintin and the Picaros (3 Volumes in 1)

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I have to admit I was a bit disappointed that none of the three tales collected in Volume 7, the final set of "The Adventures of Tintin," constitute classic examples of Hergé's beloved comic book stories. But that seems a minor concern when you consider the epic scope of Hergé's body of work. It is not that these are bad stories, especially compared to the ones collected in Volume 1 of this series, but rather that Hergé so often provided classic tales, with Tintin traveling to the Moon or diving beneath the sea, that these final three adventures do not measure up.

"The Castafiore Emerald" begins with Tintin and Captain Haddock out for a walk and discovering a band of gypsies camped near the rubbish dump. This offends the good captain, who offers the gypsies the use of a large meadow near his hall. However, no good deed goes unpunished and he receives a telegram announcing the imminent arrival of Biana Castafiore, the Milanese Nightingale. Meanwhile, the broken step on the front staircase earns Haddock a badly sprained ankle and the opportunity to roll around the adventure in a wheelchair. The diva and her entourage then descend upon the hall, literally adding insult to injury by giving the captain the gift of a parrot. But as Castafiore repeatedly points out, she has brought along her jewels, including an emerald given the signora by the Maharajah of Gopal. The gypsy fortuneteller had already predicted the theft of the jewels and we expect her prophecy to come true, even though Castafiore is constantly yelling about her jewels missing. "The Castafiore Emerald" derives its comedy from the clash of characters with Tintin staying out of the way for the most part. Of course, by this time in the series Hergé is completely comfortable with his cast of characters, which shows in the interplay, Hergé also does a delightful take on that new fangled invention, the television.

"Flight 714" is sort of the generic Adventure of Tintin, with a little bit of everything that . A Qantas Boeing 707, Flight 714 from London touches down at Kemajoran Airport in Djakarta, java, last stop before Sydney, Australia. Disembarking is our hero, Snowy, Captain Haddock, and Professor Calculus. As they stretch their legs the good Captain spots a forlorn figure and slips a $5 bill into the man's hat. Once again no good deed of Haddock's goes unpunished and it turns out the old man is Mr. Carreidas, "The millionaire who never laughs." Well, Professor Calculus quickly takes care of that and Carreidas insists on flying Tintin and his friends to Australia on his special jet. Haddock is looking forward to a pleasure trip, an ordinary flight and no adventures, but fate has something else in mind, to wit: a hijacking, a cutting edge prototype means of transportation, an exotic island in the middle of nowhere, an evil scientist with truth serum, a gigantic stone head pagan idol, a threatening lava flow, the return of an old familiar villain, a space ship, and Tintin running around a lot with a gun. Pretty much all of these elements have popped up in the previous twenty Adventures of Tintin that Hergé had told over the previous decades. For that reason this particular adventure strikes me as more of a curtain call for Tintin and his friends than anything else, even though this is the penultimate tale and the Thom(p)sons are no place to be seen.

"Tintin and the Picaros" is the final adventure of Tintin, although there is not any sense of this being the end of the road (except for the surprising discover that suddenly Captain Haddock can no longer stand the taste of alcohol). As the story begins the Captain and Tintin are discussing the state of affairs in San Theodoros, when General Tapioca's dictatorship continues to rule in place of their old friend Alcazar. Then news comes that prima donna Bianca Castafiore has been arrested by Tapioca as part of a conspiracy to over throw the government. But when Tapioca charges Haddock, Tintin, and Professor Calculus as being part of the conspiracy a series of charges and countercharges, as well as outright insults, fly back in the forth in the headlines between Haddock and Tapioca. Finally the Captain agrees to accept Tapioca's "invitation" to come to San Theodoros to discuss the matter. Haddock is pretty much trapped into agreeing, and Calculus insists on going to Madame Castafiore's rescue, but Tintin refuses to go, knowing this has to be a trap. The title of the book refers to the Picaros, which is the name of the rebels in the mountains who want to take back the government of San Theodoros and return Alcazar to power. In this final Adventure of Tintin we are back on familiar ground for the most part, both in terms of the geography and the characters. We know, of course, that Tintin has not abandoned his friends and eagerly anticipate some clever way of arriving upon the scene at a most opportune moment. However, this turns out not to be the case, and when Tintin does arrive on the scene you know that Hergé is providing a standard adventure for his hero and his friends, and not something special.

But while "Tintin and the Picaros" and the other two tales found here are average adventure at best, there can be no doubt that taken together these 21 stories (23 if you count the two earlier "flawed" adventures) are a major accomplishment in the field of comic books. I only wish I had made a point of reading these classics two or three decades earlier, because with "The Adventures of Tintin" Hergé created one of the landmark comic book series since Cortes discovered pre-Columbian picture manuscripts in 1519. In terms of owning these stories your choice is between these smaller, hardbound books collecting three stories each, or the larger softcovered versions. I admit I first read most of them in the larger format but have the smaller hardback versions for the comic book section of my library.

I read all the Tintin adventures that were available in the school library, I missed some that they did not have. Now 20 years later, I thought that I should have all the Tintin adventures. The 3 book series is a great way to collect and its also economical, but does not really bring the real flavor like individual 12 x 9.

Anyway, I got started with this one since Flight 714 was one of the best, besides the land of the black gold. I must say that most of the adventures that were dominated by Calculus were not very interesting, even though I have enjoyed Calculus' parts in all the adventures. Also, all the adventures that were space related were extremely boring. The rest are just terrific, the cigars of pharos, fligh 714, land of black gold, picaros, are one of the best work by Herge, who died a few years back.

My wife became a life-long Tintin fan 30-odd years ago when my son was growing up. When I saw this 3 for 1 book advertised, I thought it would make a nice Christmas gift for her. As others have stated, the print and pictures are much too small to enjoy compared to the originals. Granted, Amazon specifies the book size, but who checks that? I just mailed it back for a refund.

Volume 7: The Castafiore Emerald (1963), Flight 714 for Sydney (1968), Tintin and the Picaros (1976). This is the last instalment of my reviews of each of the seven volumes.

"Hergé influenced my work as much as Disney," said Andy Warhol. Tintin, hardly known in the USA, nevertheless makes his influence felt here, with Spielberg (in one episode, Haddock risks his life for his captain's cap) and Lichtenstein among his admirers. Among the reasons Tintin is not well-known in the USA is that certain minority sensibilities risk being offended. Some will argue that it's because Tintin is too sexless, though I doubt that's it. Tintin's somewhat bland, unassuming sense of duty propels him and the stories, while the cast of supporting characters give the series its wonderful colour, liveliness and effervescence. It is, thankfully, not a superhero comic, these reserving their appeal to male adolescents and collectors, and not graduating into durable art until efforts such as Alan Moore's superlative Watchmen burst onto the scene in 1986-87. It is also not a comic strip like the great Peanuts or Calvin and Hobbes: it is an adventure series. We would have to revisit Terry and the Pirates for something comparable, but even so, Tintin has acceded to the summit of its art form, its worldwide appeal unabated, while Terry and the Pirates and the other great adventure strips this side of the pond are all but forgotten.

Volume 7 begins with The Castafiore Emerald, where the artwork is almost psychotically draftsman-like, some would say even antiseptically so. But for me, it's the quintessence of Hergé's clean line style and the panels are glowingly beautiful. The wheelchair crash into the doctor's car is a great slapstick panel. There are a couple of departures from the Tintin adventure mode, the more obvious being that it is all set at the home base, Marlinspike. The other departure, a tour de force, is left to the reader who, if s/he doesn't get it then s/he doesn't get the story. Bianca Castafiore's domineering personality is shown in all its glory, with paparazzi infestations, colour television developments, gypsy settlements, prejudice, tabloids, roses, birds and of course, the Emerald.

Flight 714 for Sydney is a departure from the quintessentially clean line style and the artwork is a little more cluttered, but again, for me it works, for example by giving more detail to Haddock's rich store of expressions. The book came out the same year as Von Daniken's Chariots of Fire, but the story came out in serial form a couple of years earlier. Again, I don't want to give away the story, but we are treated to another great adventure involving Calculus' savate kick, a superbly detailed aircraft, a memorable scene blurring the lines between the good and the bad, a Pacific island, ancient sculptures, and what it all means - by the end of the story, you know and I know, but it remains a secret in Tintin's world.

The final complete volume (Hergé died before completing its successor, Tintin and Alph-Art, which is available in its uncompleted form) is Tintin and the Picaros, which brings us back to the Amazon, with Alcazar, the Arumbaya, and the clean line which has, however, thickened a tad too much for my tastes. In my opinion a weaker effort than the previous five, a bit of a let down. There is a sense that Hergé felt that this might be his final album and gave the Thom(p)sons a little too much dignity, maybe to make amends for the countless indignities they suffered in the past. Some panels and dialogue are stilted and the story isn't as tight and fluid as in its predecessors. There are still some ironies, such as the first and last panels. And we get to learn Haddock's first name.

I love Tintin, and I would reccomend that you buy this book. It is the last three books in the Tintin seiries. If you are a Tintin maniac like me, then you would definately buy this. Even if you aren't a maniac, I would still reccomend it. Tintin in the Picaros is very good, and Flight 714 is verry funny. Even though they say Tintin is a reporter-slueth, I think he is more like a detective because he always has a gun. This book is soooo good. It won't take that long to read all three adventures, but you can always read them again. GO TINTIN!

Volume Seven of the Adventures of Tintin contains the last three stories completed by Belgian artist Herge. They feature Herge's cartoon hero, the youthful reporter Tintin, his faithful dog Snowy, and a host of the recurring characters of the series. Herge's fully mature artwork is the perfect complement to three very different yet entertaining storylines.

"The Castafiore Emerald" is almost unique among the Tintin adventures. The story takes place at Captain Haddock's home of Marlinspike; Herge never quite gets around to framing up a real adventure. Instead, this one is played for laughs. A damaged staircase becomes a trap for the unwary; an injured Captain Haddock suffers the sudden descent of Opera Singer Bianca Castafiore and her entourage, and becomes the hillarious object of tabloid speculation. The other elements of the story: a mysterious band of gypsies, prowling reporters, a missing emerald, and the hysterically funny filming of a television special.

"Flight 714 to Sydney" is a perfectly mad adventure featuring an eccentric millionaire, a kidnapping, some of Tintin's oldest foes, a remote island in Southeast Asia, and a truly bizarre ending. As the story opens, Tintin, Snowy, Captain Haddock, and Professor Calculus fall into company with the millionaire Carreidas, who offers them a lift from Indonesia to Australia aboard his experimental corporate jet. The travelers are kidnapped in mid-air and diverted to a small island. Tintin and his friends manage to escape, but where to run from the bad guys on a small island with an active volcano? The ending is nothing if not unexpected.

"Tintin and the Picaros" takes Tintin, Snowy, Captain Haddock, and Professor Calculus back to the coup-torn Latin American Republic of San Theodoros, there to attempt the rescue of opera diva Bianca Castafiore. Tintin and his friends evade a deadly trap and fall into company with a group of guerrilla fighters. With the help of the rebels, Tintin will attempt his own coup. An hilarious sub-plot finds Captain Haddock mysteriously unable to consume his favorite whiskey.

Volume Seven of the Adventures of Tintin is very highly recommended to Tintin fans of all ages.

Tintin...a classic. As usual my 3rd grader loves it. It's a great size, not too large like the original books, so we can carry it everywhere easily but not too small either to read. The 3 stories in one book is an advantage. If you want to allow your kids to read comics but also want them to learn something intelligent then try Tintin. You'll be glad you did!

My first order got lost in shipment, Amazon immediately sent me the replacement for free. Really happy with the service from Amazon...

The Castafiore Emerald was the first Tintin I ever read or owned. I lost it when some "borrowe" it. So, I was really happy when I finally owned this one (with two others) again.

This book is a highly recommended read for young and old minds that love the 1930s-1970s world.

Tintin is a great comic book ... funny, witty, adventurous, and with clean language. These are classics! I used to read them growing up in Europe, and I am glad that I can have my children read them too.