Yesterday in Slate, Sam Adams reviewed two new biographies of Georges Remi, better known as Hergé, the creator of Tintin—a cartoon reporter who is also the star (as voiced by Jamie Bell) of Steven Spielberg’s new movie The Adventures of Tintin.
The first of those new books, Hergé, Son of Tintin, by Benoît Peeters, is a traditional biography; it draws on interviews—the last Hergé ever gave—to craft a picture of a man who both shaped and was shaped by his creation. The Adventures of Hergé, meanwhile, takes comic form: It pays homage to Hergé by telling his story using his own “clear-line” drawing style, or something like it. (You can read an excerpt of that one right here on Brow Beat.)
If two Hergé biographies aren’t enough for you—or if you prefer the screen to the page—there’s yet another option: the documentary Tintin and I, by Danish filmmaker Anders Østergaard. According to Christopher Campbell, writing at Spout, the film is built around audio interviews that Hergé did in 1971. Østergaard does a lot with voiceover and animation—Campbell compares Tintin and I to recent hybrid documentaries like Waltz with Bashir and Chicago 10.
Though the DVD isn’t available in the US, you can watch the whole thing thing on YouTube. The first 15 minutes are below. Enjoy.
