Customer Reviews

Tintin and the Picaros (The Adventures of Tintin)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Many years ago when my love of Tintin books began, I always found this book made me a little sad. I had always figured this emotional reaction was due to the fact that Tintin and the Picaros is the last of the wonderful series. However, after reading the excellent book Tintin and the World of Herge by Benoit Peeters, I understood that the great Herge himself was reaching the end of his rope. This book took him eight years to complete. Within its pages some of Herge's weariness can be discerned, as his characters often reflected not only the times in which Herge lived but the emotional state of the author as well.

The most glaring example of this reflection is Tintin's unwillingness to be a part of the adventure. It is Captain Haddock rushing off to South America while Tintin only follows him at a later date. This book places the Thompson Twins and Castafiore in danger; it is up to Tintin & Co to stage a coup to free them. This book contains some great Calculus moments. General Alcazar's pushy wife provides the best comic relief.

It's advisable to read The Broken Ear before Tintin and the Picaros in order for the reader to become acquainted with the politics of San Theodoros and the characters Pablo and Dr. Ridgewell. This isn't one of the better Tintins, but it's part of a truly amazing series all the same.

I have been reading Tintin books for a long time, and this book is one of the better ones of the collection. Altough it doesn't have all the humor and adventure as some of the other ones it still is loaded with lots of fun.

I have been an avid Tintin fan years before I could read. This one is one of the ones that I can read over and over again and feel like I'm reading it for the first time.

Bianca Castafiore, the 'Milanese nightingale' is arrested in San Theodoros, for allegedly plotting against the regime of General Tapioca, who goes on to accuse Tintin, Captain Haddock and Professor Calculus of working with Castafiore to overthrow his government in support of their friend, General Alcazar.

Tapioca lures our friends to San Theodoros by inviting them to come there and prove their innocence.
There the plot thickens and they are forced to flee their hosts and join up with Alcazar and his band of rebels: The Picaros, in the heart of San Theodoros' tropical jungle.

Behind the machinations of the Tapioca regime is the henchman is the sinister Colonel Sponsz, henchman of Tapioca's ally, and the Bordurian dictator, Marshall Kurvi Tasch.

With much humour, excitement and colour, Herge captures well the flavour of a Latin American Banana Republic.

Interesting to note is his play on the relationship of Borduria to her satellite, the Tapioca dictatorship in San Theodoros, resembling the relationship of the old Soviet Union to Cuba.

Bianca Castafiore, the `Milanese nightingale' is arrested in San Theodoros, for allegedly plotting against the regime of General Tapioca, who goes on to accuse Tintin, Captain Haddock and Professor Calculus of working with Castafiore to overthrow his government in support of their friend, General Alcazar.

Tapioca lures our friends to San Theodoros by inviting them to come there and prove their innocence.
There the plot thickens and they are forced to flee their hosts and join up with Alcazar and his band of rebels: The Picaros, in the heart of San Theodoros' tropical jungle.

Behind the machinations of the Tapioca regime is the henchman is the sinister Colonel Sponsz, henchman of Tapioca's ally, and the Bordurian dictator, Marshall Kurvi Tasch.

With much humour, excitement and colour, Herge captures well the flavour of a Latin American Banana Republic.

Interesting to note is his play on the relationship of Borduria to her satellite, the Tapioca dictatorship in San Theodoros, resembling the relationship of the old Soviet Union to Cuba.

Sadly, Tintin's Swan Song was performed by this turkey; and though, granted, the spectacular FLIGHT 714 was a tough act to follow, PICAROS is a nosedive flop on all counts: lame plot, based on a weaker premise, and closed with an even duller finale. The entire thing feels forced and tired; even the characters themselves acknowledge this in the last frame. Quite a letdown, and sadder still because the unfinished ALPH-ART promised to be the inspired curtain call to mend all wrongs.

It seems to me Hergé's heart was not into this album. My guess is he was running on empty after a lifetime of interesting topics explored. In the late sixties, due to the Régis Debray affair, the fad in Europe was Che Guevara and all things Banana Revolution; and though Hergé wasn't a leftie, he went with the trend in order to find a story for his hero. Not a good choice by any standard; critics bashed him for his political naďveté, and diehard fans felt somewhat shortchanged.

Contrary to the norm, the album's all-star cast is more a liability than an asset. Too many characters doing cameo bits, none adding much to the plot. As for the meatier parts, they seem out of character. Tintin -no longer in his traditional plus fours- shows up in flared jeans, Alcázar sports a long haired mane, and Jolyon Wagg pops up out of the blue (out of the green, actually) to save the day. Even Colonel Sponz manages to look less sinister. As for the book pluses, we finally get to know Tapioca, Haddock's first name (Archibald), and Alcázar's harpy American wife Peggy, the best character in the book and among the greats in the entire strip.

What's left to say? If PICAROS was just another entry in the series it would merely be ranked as below-average. As if one could pat Hergé on the back and say "Don't worry, better luck next time!". But since there was no next time, this half-baked episode weighs heavier; like a bad dessert after a great feast.

P.S.: Many things feel out of place in this story. Even the term "pícaros" rings false, since in Spanish it means "cute naughty rascals". Who's to rally after a name like that?

Interestingly, Hergé followed one of his strongest Tintin adventures with one of his weakest (this is a relative term, of course - Hergé is consistently stunning). Tintin and the Picaros opens in Marlinspike with a few new oddities - Tintin on a motorcycle, a portable TV (sample of groovy 70s design), Tintin doing yoga, as well as Haddock reacting violently to alcohol (a mystery that is carried through half of the book). There's international intrigue when Bianca Castafiore is arrested in San Theodoros. Insane diplomacy appears between Tapiocopalis and Marlinspike, and there we go - on to more civil war intrigues in Central America with our old friend General Alcazar (who has a new wife, an American monstrosity called Peggy) and who has appeared in various Tintin adventures starting with The Broken Ear; besides Alcazar, there is also the shifty Pablo, also from The Broken Ear and General Sprodz, from The Calculus Affair. Tintin and Haddock approach the scandal differently for a change - when Castafiore has been framed, Haddock is the one who wants to charge into battle while Tintin wants nothing to do with the whole stinky business. The setting changes to Central America, but before long Tintin is there and we get a crazy pyramid adventure, more amnesia, a walk through the jungle, and crazy drunk revolutionaries. What is the world coming to!?! Of course, no Broken Ear reunion can be complete without anthropologist Ridgewell, whose jungle village is also having problems with too much free jungle whiskey. Again, the "local" lingo is a strangely masked phonetic version of cockney English - just read it aloud to see how far English spelling is from the literal sounds. Since we're in the jungle, there's plenty of mucking about with crazed wildlife, such as alligators, anaconda and an electric eel (last seen in Tintin in the Congo), which our hero saintily returns to the pond (he's quite different lad from the big game hunter in Tintin in the Congo, where he massacred a tribe of antelope and assassinated chimpanzees). And when things settle in the jungle, what else could possibly happen than Jolyon Wagg, an associate from Marlinspike, entering the scene, a coincedence that helps our heroes win the day. And why not - coincedences are what this is all about anyway!! And what a wonderful grand finale - Thompson and Thomson are to be executed, only to be saved by a floating head and some gunmen ('70s hallucinatory imagery, of course), with lots of "HEY NONNY NO, HEY NONNY NO."

Unusually, Tintin appears in this book with full pants, not the knee-length leggings we've seen in practically every frame he's been in (except for when he's in costume, such as in The Blue Lotus, The Black Island or Explorers On The Moon). I guess this would have been a new look for Tintin had Herge lived long enough to give us a few more adventures.

Fantastic comedy on page 47-48, when Bianca Castafiore is on trial with Thomson and Thompson. The kangaroo court is absurd, as is Castafiore's howling of "MY BEAUTY PAST COMPARE", which blasts the local transmitting station into submission! And then there is the exchange of Thompson and Thomson when they think that their final hour has approached: "Can you perhaps think of some famous last words?" "Er... What about `Kiss me Thompson"... Will that do?" Absurd.

Tintin's last album (not considering the unfinished Tintin and the Alph-Art) is not among the very best of the books but it still remains a good addition to the series. Published in 1976, it took Herge almost ten years to finish it; though he was only in his sixties at the time, he was probably tired of the character he has been involved with for half a century. The plot is fine: In San Theodoros, General Tapioca has overthrown once again General Alcazar, who has flown to the jungle with his Picaros. Tapioca is secretly advised by Colonel Sponz (of the Calculus Affair) who wants to take revenge from Tintin, Haddock and Calculus. He first arrests Bianca Castafiore (who was in a tour there) and then the Thompson Twins, hoping to lure the trio to South America. Tintin is hesitant, smelling a trap, but soon his desire to save his friends prevails. After an official welcome that is clearly a trap, Tintin, Haddock and Calculus barely escapes to the jungle, where they find Alcazar's Picaros done in by their drunkenness. Nevertheless, Calculus and Tintin figure out a plan to reverse Alcazar's fortunes (and save Castafiore and the twins). Many more things happen, and it is suggested that Haddock (whose name is revealed to be Archibald for the first time) might be cured of his drunkenness. At any case, this is the only album in which you see Tintin wearing blue jeans (instead of the golf trousers he sported in many of his early albums).

It was the final Tintin adventure to be completed, "Tintin and the Picaros", in 1976. I didn't think that much of it as a kid, but like a lot of the later Tintins, I like it a lot better now that I understand everything going on in it. Brings together a lot of threads that been running through the later comics, and it's interesting.

Tintin is a famous world reporter, and has made many notable friends, many notable enemies, knows many celebrities, been exposed to all sorts of confidential information, and has had access to all the latest technology and wealth, thanks to his friends Captain Haddock and Professor Calculus. Now, someone has turned these connections against him. There has been a revolution in San Theodoros, and now General Tapioca runs the place. He has arrested opera singer Biance Castafiore and her crew, who were on tour there (as she said she was going to be in "The Castafiore Emerald") and accused her of conspiring with his rival General Alcazar, the former leader of the nation. General Tapioca also accuses Tintin of being in on the conspiracy, as he is friends with General Alcazar (Tintin first met him in "The Broken Ear"), and also links Captain Haddock, since Bianca had been staying in his mansion just recently (in "The Castafiore Emerald"). It's all over the news, and once again the Marlinspike Hall estate where Captain Haddock lives is swamped with the media, wanting to know what the Captain feels about these accusations. Words are exchanged, back, forth, and finally General Tapioca invites Tintin, the Captain and the Professor to his country, to talk things through. Tintin suspects a trap, and refuses to go, but the Captain (who is insulted) and the Professor (who wants to rescue Bianca) head off without him. Will Bianca and her crew be rescued? Why does the Captain suddenly hate the taste of whisky? Why did General Tapioca really invite the three of them there? Will Tintin join in on the adventure? Will it all be worth it in the end?

It's fascinating, this story, that the consequences of Tintin's actions finally catch up with him. He had been getting himself deeply into political conflict in so many adventures, and I thought it was an interesting angle for Herge to take. It's a simple story and yet its complicated, and yet its simple. It's got a very interesting texture that way.

It's got a lot of allusions to past Tintin stories, and being the twenty third comic in the series, is probably not the first one for newcomers to get. It is worth a read after you've read a few other adventures though.

This Tintin adventure is a good grand finale. (It is the last Tintin comic.) Splendid and amazing are the only words that I can come up with to describe it. You have to read it to believe it.