The Adventures of Hergé

Georges Remi, who wrote and drew under the name Hergé, was best known for his comic strip "The Adventures of Tintin," which was originally intended to inspire young Catholics in Belgium. However, thanks in no small part to Remi's knack for sophisticated storytelling, the appeal of his creation spread to readers of all ages. The Adventures of Hergé, written by José-Louis Bocquet and Jean-Luc Fromental, recasts many of the highlights of Remi's life as a comic adventure, with art by Stanislas Barthélémy that imitates Remi's ligne claire style and four-row layouts. The story begins in Remi's youth where, while working at a newspaper, he conceives of the character Tintin, a young, red-haired journalist who possesses the same resourcefulness and daring as his creator. As the narrative chronicles the rise of the Tintin empire, which gradually expands beyond print into stage plays and movies, Bocquet and Fromental show how Remi's life and art came to imitate each other. In one chapter, Remi is arrested and nearly executed for collaborating with the Nazis for having created a Tintin strip for a Third Reich-controlled newspaper. His rescue from the firing squad is later echoed in "The Adventures of Tintin: The Broken Ear." In another instance, Remi is pursued by thugs for suggesting in his Tintin comic "The Blue Lotus" that the Mukden Incident—a railroad bombing that Japan blamed on China—was actually a frame-up by the Japanese. Though a scant 64 pages, The Adventures of Hergé is an enjoyable homage to a controversial artist and his internationally loved comic.