Tintin in the Congo Review

Rating: 2/5

Synopsis: Tintin is sent to the Belgian Congo to report on events in the country. While there, he encounters an illicit diamond smuggling ring.


My Thoughts: After years of searching, I've been finally able to get my hands on this volume (courtesy of my local book shop American Book Center) along with Tintin in the Land of the Soviets and Alph-Art (both of which I also reviewed), and it certainly did live up to its notorious reputation. The book is plagued with dated depictions of African people as black-faced naifs and the continent as a savage jungle land. Tintin also took his brutishness an entire flight of stairs forward from in the first book, shamelessly game pooching and tormenting animals at his cruel, sadistic pleasure. One scene in particular that caught me off guard was Tintin shot and killed a chimpanzee before wearing its fur and tricking another chimp. It got to the point that he strayed between the threshold of mischief and plain evil even more so than the smuggling ring Tintin was unraveling. While I would consider this the worst Tintin story, I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it at all. The coloring was pretty solid and the art was more consistent and polished than in the series's first entry. Plus, some of the slapstick gags were amusing and though this is by no mean a praise-worthy attribute worth striving for, the misinformed racial/ethnic portrayals could get so ridiculous and over-the-top that I couldn't help but laugh at them.

Final Thoughts: Tintin in Congo isn't the best demonstration of Hergé's artistic talent and was very much "of its time". For these reasons, I would only suggest reading it for historical reference to the attitudes of the period and hardcore Tintin fans.