Tintin in the Land of the Soviets (The Adventures of Tintin: Original Classic) Paperback – Illustrated, December 1, 2007

I think most reviewers here on Amazon did a good job on clarifying the context in which this work was created. A minority, however, seems to be composed of apologists for communism who don't like the true colors of bolshevism exposed.Judging this work by today's standards would be akin to criticizing Destination Moon for the way it portrays rocket ships and space travel.This is a comic strip, not a faithful representation of reality - expect exaggerations and simplifications to convey a greater point of view: that the Soviet Union's foundations were based on lies told by the communists, and that to maintain those lies a lot of work was done in the form of suppression, intimidation, misdirection and propaganda. Did Hergè perhaps go a bit too far? Yes - Tintin would've been thrown in a gulag somewhere and that would be the end of it. Not too much of a story, then. But the overall context becomes very clear once you read Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago, which I highly recommend.If you like Tintin, this is a must-have for your collection, period. For kids, I'd suggest at least 9 or 10 y/o, preceded by some context about what communism is, as it can be quite difficult to understand the things that happen throughout the story if you're born and raised in freedom.

This early example of a graphic novel is not only an interesting and entertaining read by itself, but it also, perhaps unintentionally, reveals the author's, and pretty much all Western ideas, thoughts and fears of Communist, Soviet dominated Russia. It cynically, critically and entertainingly illustrates the folly inherent in a government run bureaucracy that claims benefit and celebrate the common man, but instead runs roughshod over all the hopes, dreams and freedoms that are basic rights of every human being. The reader is taken on a delightful visual journey that reveals the early artistic efforts of Herge, and hints at the direction and heights that his brilliantly artistic efforts would take him in the future.

This was one of the few that took a while to get released because of its content. I hadn't been able to read it years ago so I bought when it became available. Since it's Tintin's first adventure it can be a little dull at times, but he beats up a lot of bad guys in this one! You can certainly tell the translator was British from the speech, makes it more enjoyable for me honestly. Only downside is since it's a compilation of Hergé's news comic strips it gets read very fast, I finished in maybe 15 minutes or so. Since this is the very first of Tintin's adventures It's also a slightly different art style from Hergé's more modern Tintin books and is in black and white instead of color.

For a long time I owned all the Tintins depicted on the back cover of âaeThe Adventures of Tintinâ and thought I had it all, until I learned about the existence of 3 other titles: âaeTintin in the Congo,â âaeTintin Et Lâ(tm)Alph-Artâ (his very last unfinished work), and this one, which happens to be his very first Tintin Adventure. Naturally, I quickly obtained all three.This being the very first Tintin ever, it is a remarkable work and is a must have for any Tintin lover. However it is not the Tintin you would expect. First of all, this hardbound edition contains a photocopy of the original black and white strips. There is no color edition. It contains almost twice the number of pages as regular Tintins, so it is a good deal for the money. The Tintin and Snowy look somewhat different from the ones we know. In fact, Tintin starts out this adventure without his famous tuft of hair, so you need to read it to find out why his hair sticks up like it does now. The artwork is less detailed and less elaborate than weâ(tm)re used to. Nevertheless it retains a air of elegant simplicity that makes it a masterful work of art.Another major difference is the rapidity of the action. At that time, Herge was writing this adventure strip by strip for a weekly Belgian newspaper, unlike later adventures when he created it page by page. The adventure therefore moves much more quickly in order to keep readers interested in getting the next edition. Because of this some of the action appears unreal and much is left to impossible coincidences. Nevertheless, nearly all the action âaetricksâ that Herge uses to rescue Tintin in later adventures can be found here. Police chases, encounters with trains, mobsters, etc. are also prevalent. In fact many of these action incidents are reworked almost exactly in Tintin in America.As far as the content, one must keep in mind that this Tintin was written in the 1920s â" a time when Europe felt threatened by Communism, and also written for an anti-Communist church-run newspaper. The Russians are therefore depicted in the most unfair way, a bias that Herge had to apologize for later in life. Unlike his thorough research for later adventures, Herge bases Tintinâ(tm)s Soviet experiences on just a single book he had read, written mostly for propaganda purposes. Despite this major weakness, I would highly recommend this Tintin adventure. The political views therein are merely a sign of the times.

Muy linda, buenos dibujos, tamaño perfecto y la historieta super divertida y entretenida

With the exception of "Tintin and ALPH-ART, i know have the complete set. at the age of 61 years old, still love love and read Tintin and his adventures.

Tintin is awesome, This is the first one so be ready for black and white and a bit fuzzy on the art compared to the other books. Still totally worth it if you like Tintin.

My book arrived a bit worse for wear from bad packaging, but the content was great! My 7 year old son read it in one sitting.