''Cigars of the Pharaoh'' (french: link=no, Les Cigares du pharaon) is the fourth volume of ''
The Adventures of Tintin
''The Adventures of Tintin'' (french: Les Aventures de Tintin ) is a series of 24 bande dessinée#Formats, ''bande dessinée'' albums created by Belgians, Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, who wrote under the pen name Hergé. The series was one ...
'', the series of comic albums by Belgian cartoonist
Hergé
Georges Prosper Remi (; 22 May 1907 – 3 March 1983), known by the pen name Hergé (; ), from the French pronunciation of his reversed initials ''RG'', was a Belgian cartoonist. He is best known for creating ''The Adventures of Tintin'', ...
. Commissioned by the conservative Belgian newspaper ''
Le Vingtième Siècle'' for its children's supplement ''
Le Petit Vingtième'', it was serialised weekly from December 1932 to February 1934. The story tells of young Belgian reporter
Tintin
Tintin or Tin Tin may refer to:
''The Adventures of Tintin''
* ''The Adventures of Tintin'', a comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé
** Tintin (character), a fictional character in the series
** ''The Adventures of Tintin'' (film), 2011, ...
and his dog
Snowy, who are travelling in
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...
when they discover a pharaoh's tomb filled with dead Egyptologists and boxes of cigars. Pursuing the mystery of these cigars, they travel across
Arabia
The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Pl ...
and
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...
, and reveal the secrets of an international drug smuggling enterprise.
Following on from ''
Tintin in America'', ''Cigars'' was a commercial success, and was published in book form by
Casterman
Casterman is a publisher of Franco-Belgian comics, specializing in comic books and children's literature. The company is based in Brussels, Belgium.
History
The company was founded in 1780 by Donat-Joseph Casterman, an editor and bookseller ...
shortly after its conclusion. Hergé continued ''The Adventures of Tintin'' with ''
The Blue Lotus'', the plot of which followed on from ''Cigars''. The series itself became a defining part of the
Franco-Belgian comic tradition. In 1955, it was re-drawn and coloured by Hergé and his assistants at
Studios Hergé
The Studios Hergé were, between 1950 and 1986, a SARL company consisting of Belgian cartoonist Hergé and his collaborators, who assisted him with the creation of ''The Adventures of Tintin'' and derived products. Over the years, the studios ha ...
to match his distinctive ''
ligne-claire'' style. Critical analysis of the story has focused on its innovation, and the ''Adventure'' introduces the recurring characters of detectives
Thomson and Thompson and villain
Rastapopoulos. The comic was loosely adapted by Hergé and
Jacques Van Melkebeke
Jacques Van Melkebeke (12 December 1904 – 8 June 1983) was a Belgian painter, journalist, writer, and comic strip writer. He was the first chief editor of Tintin magazine and wrote scripts and articles anonymously for many of their publicatio ...
for the 1941 play ''
Tintin in India: The Mystery of the Blue Diamond''; a more faithful adaptation was later made for the 1991
Ellipse
In mathematics, an ellipse is a plane curve surrounding two focal points, such that for all points on the curve, the sum of the two distances to the focal points is a constant. It generalizes a circle, which is the special type of ellipse in ...
/
Nelvana
Nelvana Enterprises, Inc. (; previously known as Nelvana Limited, sometimes known as Nelvana Animation and simply Nelvana or Nelvana Communications) is a Canadian animation studio and entertainment company owned by Corus Entertainment. Founded ...
animated series ''
The Adventures of Tintin
''The Adventures of Tintin'' (french: Les Aventures de Tintin ) is a series of 24 bande dessinée#Formats, ''bande dessinée'' albums created by Belgians, Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, who wrote under the pen name Hergé. The series was one ...
''.
Synopsis
Holidaying on a
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...
cruise ship, Tintin and his dog
Snowy meet wealthy film producer
Rastapopoulos and eccentric
Egyptologist
Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , '' -logia''; ar, علم المصريات) is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religiou ...
Sophocles Sarcophagus
This is the list of fictional characters in ''The Adventures of Tintin'', the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. The characters are listed alphabetically, grouped by the Main characters, the Antagonists, and the Supporting characters. ...
. When two policemen (
Thomson and Thompson) accuse Tintin of
opium
Opium (or poppy tears, scientific name: ''Lachryma papaveris'') is dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy '' Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which ...
smuggling, he escapes the ship and joins Sarcophagus on his search for the undiscovered tomb of the
Pharaoh
Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: '' pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until th ...
Kih-Oskh, near Cairo. Tintin discovers that the tomb is full of mummified bodies (egyptologysts who tried to find the tomb), and boxes of cigars labelled with the mysterious symbol of Kih-Oskh. Sarcophagus disappears inside the tomb and Tintin and Snowy fall unconscious after an unseen enemy gasses them. They are then taken aboard a ship inside wooden
sarcophagi, captained by smuggler
Allan, but to avoid the coastguard Allan orders the sarcophagi thrown overboard.
Tintin and Snowy are rescued by a
gunrunner
Arms trafficking or gunrunning is the illicit trade of contraband small arms and ammunition, which constitutes part of a broad range of illegal activities often associated with transnational criminal organizations. The illegal trade of small arm ...
who sails them to
Arabia
The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Pl ...
. Travelling by land, Tintin meets Sheikh
Patrash Pasha, a big fan of his, and encounters Rastapopoulos filming a movie. Escaping Thomson and Thompson again, who believe Tintin is part of the gunrunners, Tintin and Snowy travel through the desert, eventually reaching a city. The local army drafts Tintin and then arrests him as a spy, after he finds more cigars labelled with the symbol of Kih-Oskh. Thomson and Thompson rescue him from execution in order to arrest him. However, when the army storms their hideout, Tintin manages to elude the authorities and escapes Arabia boarding a plane.
Tintin runs out of fuel over
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...
, crashing into the jungle. After saving a sick
elephant
Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantida ...
, Tintin discovers Sarcophagus, who has become insane. While seeking for help at a nearby village, Sarcophagus attempts to kill Tintin on command by a
fakir. Tintin then interrogates the poet Zloty, who is visiting the village. He reveals that there is an international drug smuggling ring determined to kill Tintin. Before he can reveal who the boss is, he is injected with Rajaijah juice, "the poison of madness", by the fakir. Meeting the
Maharaja of Gaipajama, the two become friends, with the Maharaja revealing that his family has long been fighting a criminal
opium
Opium (or poppy tears, scientific name: ''Lachryma papaveris'') is dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy '' Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which ...
-smuggling gang, and in the process his father and brother went mad.
The fakir appears and Tintin follows him, discovers the drug cartel's hideout. After successfully capturing all the members of the gangs (except the fakir), the Thompsons arrive and explain to Tintin that the Cairo police managed to discover the hideout of the drug smugglers in Egypt. They also realise Tintin is innocent. The fakir escapes, and with the masked leader of the conspiracy kidnaps the Maharaja's son. Tintin pursues them in a sports car, rescuing the boy and capturing the fakir, while the leader falls into a
chasm
In geology, a rift is a linear zone where the lithosphere is being pulled apart and is an example of extensional tectonics.
Typical rift features are a central linear downfaulted depression, called a graben, or more commonly a half-graben w ...
, seemingly dying. Tintin returns to Gaipajama, where his return is celebrated. Unwrapping one of the cigars with the mysterious Kih-Oskh symbol, Tintin explains to the Maharaja how opium was smuggled across the world in the cigars.
History
Background
Georges Remi—best known under the pen name
Hergé
Georges Prosper Remi (; 22 May 1907 – 3 March 1983), known by the pen name Hergé (; ), from the French pronunciation of his reversed initials ''RG'', was a Belgian cartoonist. He is best known for creating ''The Adventures of Tintin'', ...
—was employed as editor and illustrator of ("''The Little Twentieth''"), a children's supplement to ("''The Twentieth Century''"), a staunchly Roman Catholic,
conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
Belgian newspaper based in Hergé's native Brussels which was run by the
Abbé Norbert Wallez
Abbé Norbert Wallez (19 October 1882 – 24 September 1952) was a Belgian priest and journalist. He was the editor of the newspaper '' Le Vingtième Siècle'' (''The Twentieth Century''), whose youth supplement, ''Le Petit Vingtième'', first pu ...
. In 1929, Hergé began ''
The Adventures of Tintin
''The Adventures of Tintin'' (french: Les Aventures de Tintin ) is a series of 24 bande dessinée#Formats, ''bande dessinée'' albums created by Belgians, Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, who wrote under the pen name Hergé. The series was one ...
'' comic for , revolving around the exploits of fictional Belgian reporter
Tintin
Tintin or Tin Tin may refer to:
''The Adventures of Tintin''
* ''The Adventures of Tintin'', a comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé
** Tintin (character), a fictional character in the series
** ''The Adventures of Tintin'' (film), 2011, ...
. Wallez ordered Hergé to set his first adventure in the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
to act as
anti-socialist
Criticism of socialism (also known as anti-socialism) is any critique of socialist models of economic organization and their feasibility as well as the political and social implications of adopting such a system. Some critiques are not directed ...
propaganda for children (''
Tintin in the Land of the Soviets
''Tintin in the Land of the Soviets'' (french: link=no, Tintin au pays des Soviets) is the first volume of ''The Adventures of Tintin'', the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. Commissioned by the conservative Belgian newspaper as ant ...
''), to set his second adventure in the
Belgian Congo
The Belgian Congo (french: Congo belge, ; nl, Belgisch-Congo) was a Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960. The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1964.
Colo ...
to encourage colonial sentiment (''
Tintin in the Congo
''Tintin in the Congo'' (french: link=no, Tintin au Congo; ) is the second volume of ''The Adventures of Tintin'', the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. Commissioned by the conservative Belgian newspaper for its children's supplemen ...
''), and to set his third adventure in the United States to use the story as a denunciation of American capitalism (''
Tintin in America'').
For his fourth ''Adventure'', Hergé was eager to write a mystery story. The 1930s saw mystery novels flourish across Western Europe with the success of authors like
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictiona ...
and
Ellery Queen
Ellery Queen is a pseudonym created in 1929 by American crime fiction writers Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee and the name of their main fictional character, a mystery writer in New York City who helps his police inspector father solve ...
. The decision to create a scenario around the tomb of Kih-Oskh was influenced by the 1922 discovery of Pharaoh
Tutankhamun
Tutankhamun (, egy, twt-ꜥnḫ-jmn), Egyptological pronunciation Tutankhamen () (), sometimes referred to as King Tut, was an Egyptian pharaoh who was the last of his royal family to rule during the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty (ruled ...
's tomb by
Howard Carter and the surrounding tabloid claims regarding a
Curse of the Pharaohs
The curse of the pharaohs or the mummy's curse is a curse alleged to be cast upon anyone who disturbs the mummy of an ancient Egyptian, especially a pharaoh. This curse, which does not differentiate between thieves and archaeologists, is claime ...
. Hergé returned to this theme for ''
The Seven Crystal Balls
''The Seven Crystal Balls'' (french: link=no, Les Sept Boules de Cristal) is the thirteenth volume of ''The Adventures of Tintin'', the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. The story was serialised daily in ', Belgium's leading francoph ...
'' (1948). The name Kih-Oskh was an allusion to the
kiosk
Historically, a kiosk () was a small garden pavilion open on some or all sides common in Iran, Persia, the Indian subcontinent, and in the Ottoman Empire from the 13th century onward. Today, several examples of this type of kiosk still exist ...
s where was sold. The Kih-Oskh symbol was described by Hergé as a distortion of the
Taoist
Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the ''Tao'' ...
symbol of the
Taijitu
In Chinese philosophy, a ''taijitu'' () is a symbol or diagram () representing Taiji () in both its monist ('' wuji'') and its dualist (yin and yang) aspects. Such a diagram was first introduced by Neo-Confucian philosopher Zhou Dunyi (; 1017 ...
, with biographer
Benoît Peeters
Benoît Peeters (; born 1956) is a French comics writer, novelist, and comics studies scholar.
Biography
After a degree in Philosophy at Université de Paris I, Peeters prepared his Master's at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales ...
thinking that it foreshadowed the "Yellow Mark" that featured in the ''
Blake and Mortimer
''Blake and Mortimer'' is a Belgian comics series created by the writer and comics artist Edgar P. Jacobs. It was one of the first series to appear in the Franco-Belgian comics magazine '' Tintin'' in 1946, and was subsequently published in boo ...
'' comic ''
The Yellow "M"
''The Yellow "M"'' (french: La Marque Jaune ("The Yellow Mark")) by the Belgian artist Edgar P. Jacobs is the sixth comic book in the ''Blake and Mortimer'' series. It was first published in ''Tintin'' magazine between 6 August 1953 and 3 Novemb ...
'' (1952–54) authored by Hergé's later collaborator
Edgar P. Jacobs. Hergé was aided in the production of ''Cigars of the Pharaoh'' by his assistant Paul "Jam" Jamin, who was heavily influenced by British magazines ''The Humorist'' and ''
Punch
Punch commonly refers to:
* Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist
* Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice
Punch may also refer to:
Places
* Pun ...
''.
Hergé took influence from the published works of French adventurer and gunrunner
Henry de Monfreid
Henry de Monfreid (14 November 1879 in Leucate – 13 December 1974) was a French adventurer and author. Born in Leucate, Aude, France, he was the son of artist painter Georges-Daniel de Monfreid and knew Paul Gauguin as a child.
Monfreid was ...
, particularly his books ''Secrets of the Red Sea'' and ''The Hashish Cruise''. Having lived through the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, Hergé disliked arms dealers, and used Monfreid as the basis for the gunrunner character in ''Cigars''.
The idea of mummified bodies being lined up along a wall was adopted from
Pierre Benoît's 1919 book ''
L'Atlantide'' (''Atlantis''), which had recently been made into
a 1932 film by
Georg Wilhelm Pabst
Georg Wilhelm Pabst (25 August 1885 – 29 May 1967) was an Austrian film director and screenwriter. He started as an actor and theater director, before becoming one of the most influential German-language filmmakers during the Weimar Republic.
...
. The wall paintings depicted on a cover of was based on a bas-relief of
Hathor
Hathor ( egy, ḥwt-ḥr, lit=House of Horus, grc, Ἁθώρ , cop, ϩⲁⲑⲱⲣ, Meroitic: ) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion who played a wide variety of roles. As a sky deity, she was the mother or consort of the sky ...
and
Seti I
Menmaatre Seti I (or Sethos I in Greek) was the second pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt during the New Kingdom period, ruling c.1294 or 1290 BC to 1279 BC. He was the son of Ramesses I and Sitre, and the father of Ramesses II.
The ...
housed in the
Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
, Paris, while the throne featured in Tintin's dream was adopted from that found in the tomb of Tutankhamun. The inclusion of the secret society operating the smuggling ring was influenced by right-wing conspiracy theories about
Freemasonry
Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...
, with Hergé likely gaining information on the brotherhood from a 1932 article by Lucien Farnoux-Reynaud in the radical magazine ''Le Crapouillot'' (''The Mortar Shell'').
Original publication, 1932–34
On 24 November 1932, ''Le Petit Vingtième'' published a fictional interview between Jamin and Tintin in which the reporter announced that he would be travelling to China via Egypt, India, Ceylon, and Indochina. Later on 8 December, the story began serialisation in the supplement under the title of ''The Adventures of Tintin, Reporter, in the Orient''. As the story began in Egypt rather than China, Hergé briefly renamed the story to ''The Cairo Affair''. The story was not following any plan or pre-written plot, with Hergé as usual devising the story on a week-by-week basis.
In Autumn 1934, the adventure was published in a book. ''Cigars'' was the first of the ''Adventures'' published by
Casterman
Casterman is a publisher of Franco-Belgian comics, specializing in comic books and children's literature. The company is based in Brussels, Belgium.
History
The company was founded in 1780 by Donat-Joseph Casterman, an editor and bookseller ...
, with whom Hergé had signed a contract in late 1933, although much to his annoyance, they delayed publication until the autumn of 1934, after the culmination of the summer holidays. In 1936, they successfully requested that he produce several colour plates to be inserted into the reprint of the book.
''Cigars of the Pharaoh'' saw the introduction of several characters who would gain a recurring role in ''The Adventures of Tintin''. The most notable are the two detectives, who were initially called "Agent X33 and Agent X33 ". In his 1941 Tintin play co-written with
Jacques Van Melkebeke
Jacques Van Melkebeke (12 December 1904 – 8 June 1983) was a Belgian painter, journalist, writer, and comic strip writer. He was the first chief editor of Tintin magazine and wrote scripts and articles anonymously for many of their publicatio ...
, ''
Tintin in India: The Mystery of the Blue Diamond'', Hergé named them "Durant and Durand", although he later renamed them "Dupont and Dupond". The series' English-language translators, Michael Turner and Leslie Lonsdale-Cooper, renamed them "Thomson and Thompson." They were based on a combination of the stereotypical Belgian policeman of the 1930s with Hergé's observations of his father and uncle, Alexis and Léon Remi, who were identical twins.
The series introduced Tintin's adversary Roberto Rastapopoulos in ''Cigars of the Pharaoh'', here depicted as a famous
Hollywood film director. It is only in the successor volume, ''The Blue Lotus'', that he is also revealed as the head of an international criminal organisation. His name was developed by one of Hergé's friends; Hergé thought it was hilarious and decided to use it. He devised Rastapopoulos as an Italian with a Greek surname, but the character fitted
anti-Semitic
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
stereotypes of Jews; Hergé was adamant that the character was not Jewish. A fourth recurring character introduced in this story was the Portuguese merchant
Oliveira da Figueira
This is the list of fictional characters in ''The Adventures of Tintin'', the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. The characters are listed alphabetically, grouped by the Main characters, the Antagonists, and the Supporting characters. ...
, who would reappear in both the subsequent ''Adventures'' set in the
Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
, ''
Land of Black Gold
''Land of Black Gold'' (french: link=no, Tintin au pays de l'or noir) is the fifteenth volume of ''The Adventures of Tintin'', the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. The story was commissioned by the conservative Belgian newspaper fo ...
'' and ''
The Red Sea Sharks
''The Red Sea Sharks'' (french: link=no, Coke en stock) is the nineteenth volume of ''The Adventures of Tintin'', the comic series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. The story was initially serialised weekly in Belgium's ''Tintin'' magazine from ...
''. One of the core characters of the story was Sophocles Sarcophagus, an Egyptologist who is the stereotype of an eccentric professor. In this respect, he is a prototype for the character of
Cuthbert Calculus, whom Hergé would introduce later in ''
Red Rackham's Treasure
''Red Rackham's Treasure'' (french: link=no, Le Trésor de Rackham le Rouge) is the twelfth volume of ''The Adventures of Tintin'', the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. The story was serialised daily in , Belgium's leading francophon ...
''.
It was during the serialisation of ''Cigars'' that Wallez was embroiled in a scandal after he was accused of defaming the Bureau of Public Works. The accusation resulted in a legal case being brought against the newspaper, and in response its owners demanded Wallez's resignation, which was tended in August 1933. Without Wallez, Hergé became despondent, and in March 1934 he tried to resign, but was encouraged to stay after his workload was reduced and his monthly salary was increased from 2000 to 3000 francs. Jamin subsequently took over Hergé's responsibility for the day-to-day running of ''Le Petit Vingtième''.
Second version, 1955
In the 1940s and 1950s, when Hergé's popularity had increased, he and his team at
Studios Hergé
The Studios Hergé were, between 1950 and 1986, a SARL company consisting of Belgian cartoonist Hergé and his collaborators, who assisted him with the creation of ''The Adventures of Tintin'' and derived products. Over the years, the studios ha ...
redrew many of the original black-and-white Tintin adventures in colour using the ("clear line") drawing style he had developed so that they visually fitted in with the new Tintin stories being created. The Studios reformatted and coloured ''Cigars of the Pharaoh'' in 1955; it was the last of the early works to undergo this process.
In cutting down the length of the story, Hergé removed various isolated scenes that added nothing to the development of the plot, such as those in which Tintin confronts a bat, a crocodile, and snakes. The Arabian city that Tintin and Snowy searched for in the story was no longer identified as
Mecca
Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red ...
, while the Maharajah's three advisers were removed. New elements were also inserted; Hergé added a depiction of ancient Egyptian pyramids into the background. Hergé also added the character of Allan, who had originally been introduced in the later, 1941 adventure ''
The Crab with the Golden Claws
''The Crab with the Golden Claws'' (french: link=no, Le Crabe aux pinces d'or) is the ninth volume of ''The Adventures of Tintin'', the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. The story was serialised weekly in , the children's supplement ...
'', and also appeared as Rastapopoulos' henchman in later albums. Hergé inserted an allusion to his friend and collaborator Edgar P. Jacobs into the story by including a mummified professor named E.P. Jacobini in the Egyptian tomb.
Whereas the original version had included Sheikh Patrash Pasha showing Tintin a copy of ''Tintin in America'', in the 1955 version this was changed to the earlier ''Tintin in the Congo'', and Hergé would change it again in 1964 for subsequent printings, this time to ''
Destination Moon'' (1953), an ''Adventure'' set chronologically after ''Cigars''. Benoît Peeters exclaimed that with this scene, the reader can imagine Tintin's surprise at encountering an adventure he had not yet had and which included the characters of
Captain Haddock
Captain Archibald Haddock (french: Capitaine Archibald Haddock, link=no, ) is a fictional character in ''The Adventures of Tintin'', the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. He is one of Tintin's best friends, a seafaring pipe-smoking ...
and Cuthbert Calculus whom he had not yet met. Another anachronism in this version appears only in the English version, when Snowy refers to
Marlinspike Hall
Marlinspike Hall (french: Le château de Moulinsart ) is Captain Haddock's country house and family estate in ''The Adventures of Tintin'', the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé.
The original French name of the hall, ''Moulinsart'', ...
, the ancestral home of Captain Haddock, from the much later volumes of the series.
Harry Thompson
Harry William Thompson (6 February 1960 – 7 November 2005) was an English radio and television producer, comedy writer, novelist and biographer. He was the creator of the dark humour television series '' Monkey Dust'', screened between 2003 ...
opined that the most important changes to the book were artistic, for in the late 1950s Hergé was at the peak of his artistic ability.
Later publications
Casterman republished the original black-and-white version in 1979 in a French-language collected volume with ''The Blue Lotus'' and ''The Broken Ear'', the second part of the collection. In 1983, they then published a facsimile version of the original.
Critical analysis
Jean-Marc Lofficier
Jean-Marc Lofficier (; born June 22, 1954) is a French author of books about films and television programs, as well as numerous comics and translations of a number of animation screenplays. He usually collaborates with his wife, Randy Lofficier ( ...
and Randy Lofficier considered ''Cigars of the Pharaoh'' to be graphically between ''Tintin in America'' and ''The Blue Lotus'', as Hergé was expanding his "visual vocabulary" and making use of "unforgettable moments" such as the dream sequence in the tomb. Although recognising that Hergé was still devising his plot on a week-by-week basis, they thought that the work was an improvement on his earlier stories because of the inclusion of "mystery and fantasy".
Awarding it three stars out of five, they thought the book was a "surreal thriller, drenched and atmospheric". Believing that the work not only dealt with madness, but also was madness, they thought the book evoked "a sense of dreamlike suspension of disbelief". They also highlighted the inclusion of the Kih-Oskh symbol throughout the book, describing it as being akin to a recurring musical theme, stating that it added "a note of pure
oneirism
Daydreaming is the stream of consciousness that detaches from current, external tasks when attention drifts to a more personal and internal direction. This phenomenon is common in people's daily life shown by a large-scale study in which partici ...
".
Harry Thompson considered ''Cigars of the Pharaoh'' "almost completely unrecognisable from its predecessors", praising its "inspired comic characters" and "observed character comedy", which he thought escaped the sheer slapstick evident in the earlier ''Adventures''. He also praised the elements of mystery and suspense that Hergé introduced, opining that it created "a genuine sense of fear without recourse to a ''
deus ex machina
''Deus ex machina'' ( , ; plural: ''dei ex machina''; English "god out of the machine") is a plot device whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem in a story is suddenly and abruptly resolved by an unexpected and unlikely occurrence. Its function ...
''". More critically, he thought that the plot's "glaring flaw" was the immediate transposition of events from Egypt to India, also believing that the inclusion of British colonialists as the antagonists made "partial amends" for the colonialist attitude displayed by Tintin in ''Tintin in the Congo''.
Michael Farr
Michael Farr (born 1953) is a British expert on the comic series ''The Adventures of Tintin'' and its creator, Hergé. He has written several books on the subject as well as translating several others into English. A former reporter, he has also ...
thought that Tintin was "a maturer hero" in ''Cigars'', being more of a detective than a reporter. He thought that the dream sequence was "one of the most imaginative and disturbing scenes" in the series, illustrating Hergé's "growing virtuosity with the medium". He also praised the scenes set in the Indian colonial bungalow, commenting that it was "claustrophobic and sinisterly dramatic" and worthy of the work of Agatha Christie, opining that the car chase provided "a highly cinematic ending". Overall, he thought it to be a narrative "rich in mystery and drama" which was as much of a landmark in the series as ''The Blue Lotus''.
Hergé biographer Benoît Peeters thought that with ''Cigars'', Hergé was engaging in the "novelesque", and that the opening scene had echoes of
Rodolphe Töpffer
Rodolphe Töpffer ( , ; 31 January 1799 – 8 June 1846) was a Swiss teacher, author, painter, cartoonist, and caricaturist. He is best known for his illustrated books (''littérature en estampes'', "graphic literature"), which are possibly ...
's ''Mr Pencil''. He also thought it the first of the ''Adventures'' to have a "semblance" of "narrative unity". Fellow biographer Pierre Assouline thought that the story was difficult for the reader to follow, because the exoticism of the backdrop faded amid the fast pace of the narrative.
Literary critic
Tom McCarthy Thomas McCarthy (also Tom and Tommy) may refer to:
Academia
*Thomas A. McCarthy (born 1940), American professor of philosophy
*Thomas J. McCarthy (born 1956), American professor of polymer chemistry at the University of Massachusetts
*J. Thomas Mc ...
highlighted the prominent role of
tobacco
Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
in the story, drawing on the ideas of French philosopher
Jacques Derrida
Jacques Derrida (; ; born Jackie Élie Derrida; See also . 15 July 1930 – 9 October 2004) was an Algerian-born French philosopher. He developed the philosophy of deconstruction, which he utilized in numerous texts, and which was developed t ...
to suggest the potential symbolism of this. He also suggested that the inclusion of mummified Egyptologists in the story warns readers of the "dangers of mummification through interpretation".
Adaptations
''Cigars of the Pharaoh'' was adapted into a 1991 episode of ''
The Adventures of Tintin
''The Adventures of Tintin'' (french: Les Aventures de Tintin ) is a series of 24 bande dessinée#Formats, ''bande dessinée'' albums created by Belgians, Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, who wrote under the pen name Hergé. The series was one ...
'' television series by French studio
Ellipse
In mathematics, an ellipse is a plane curve surrounding two focal points, such that for all points on the curve, the sum of the two distances to the focal points is a constant. It generalizes a circle, which is the special type of ellipse in ...
and Canadian animation company
Nelvana
Nelvana Enterprises, Inc. (; previously known as Nelvana Limited, sometimes known as Nelvana Animation and simply Nelvana or Nelvana Communications) is a Canadian animation studio and entertainment company owned by Corus Entertainment. Founded ...
. Directed by Stéphane Bernasconi, Thierry Wermuth voiced the character of Tintin. In 2010, the television channel
Arte
Arte (; (), sometimes stylized in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European public service channel dedicated to culture.
It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based European Economic Interest Grouping ARTE, plus ...
filmed an episode of its documentary series, ''Sur les traces de Tintin'' (''On the track of Tintin''), in Egypt exploring the inspiration and setting of the ''Cigars of the Pharaoh''.
References
Notes
Footnotes
Bibliography
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External links
''Cigars of the Pharaoh''at the Official Tintin Website
at Tintinologist.org
{{Portal bar, Belgium, Comics
1934 graphic novels
1955 graphic novels
Ancient Egypt in fiction
Comics set in deserts
Comics set in Egypt
Comics set in India
Comics set in the 1930s
Egypt in fiction
Jungles in fiction
Literature first published in serial form
Methuen Publishing books
Tintin books
Works about the illegal drug trade
Works originally published in Le Petit Vingtième