Tintin in "The Blue Lotus"

The Adventures of Tintin, by Hergé, is a charming comic with many facets. The story “The Blue Lotus,” may be a children’s comic, but Hergé deals with some very mature issues throughout the story. Racism had almost always played a large part in comics throughout the early and middle 20^th century, but here the author decides to confront some of those stereotypes – especially those dealing with the Chinese – and dispels them. Tintin comes across as a very mature, clear-sighted boy who is not afraid to go against a person he knows to be in the wrong, even if that person is an adult. On top of the very “grown up” theme of cultural ignorance, “The Blue Lotus” focuses on the main character’s struggle to thwart a drug dealer, further deepening the already rich subject matter of the narrative. The storyline is anything but a line drawn between Point A and Point B. There are several plot twists that good investigative stories demand. The illustrations of the comic are simple, with little or no shading, bright colors, and easily, simply drawn characters. The backgrounds are abstracted to a level of easily understood cartoons of the real-life objects being depicted. That is not to say that the drawings are childish or unattractive in their simplicity, there are some exceedingly beautiful large panels, especially those used as establishing shots when new cities were introduced. The Adventures of Tintin: “The Blue Lotus,” by Hergé, was a pleasantly surprising reading experience with even more charm than I expected to encounter in this comic.