TAC - 04 - The Broken Ear

The Broken Ear

Alllllrighty. This here is, along with America, one of the [very] few Tintin books that I can really consider a "least favourite". I was much more adamant about it as a child. My brother has reminded me many times about a particular occasion when we sat down to watch Tintin, and for whatever reason (maybe because we'd seen it one too many times, or because I REALLY didn't like it that much) I grumbled, just as the opening credits came to a close, "This better not be Tintin and the Broken Ear..." (which is what I always called it) And up popped the title, followed by my indignant, exasperated cry of "TINTIN AND THE BROKEN EAR!" D8<

This album no longer causes me to explode into a fit of rage, but it remains pretty low on my list. Can I really pinpoint exactly why this is the case? Well...I've already made it pretty clear that I'm not a fan of the early "rambling" adventures, but this one actually doesn't fall into that trap as much as I remembered. Tintin actually does some nice detective work, rather than stumbling headlong into answers. Perhaps it's the pacing-- the very abrupt resolution sort of irks me, particularly when you look at how many pages are dedicated to that obnoxious (but occasionally amusing) parrot in the beginning.

Bah, I don't know. There are a few things that can be said of this book that make it stand out more than America. The villains are a pretty good mix of inept and menacing ("A leetle more to the left"), and boy do they get a send-off! o_O Actually, that said, there are an awful lot of deaths in this book, including poor Corporal Diaz (whose death may be the most graphic example of dark humour in a Tintin book). We meet General Alcazar for the first time, adding to the small but slowly growing cast of recurring characters, and whose coming to power provides some highly amusing political satire.
...And, well, Tintin gets drunk. Need I say more?

While my favourite scene is not necessarily the one that prefaces the panel/scene I drew, I LOVE the designs of the villains' tattered outfits. Silly me for cutting off the image so you can't really see Ramón's pantlegs, but believe me, it's funny. And what a challenge this was to draw! It's basically the same panel, but from a different angle. Not sure if I'll be trying THAT again. x_x


_{This one just doesn't tickle me the way other adventures do.}

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The Adventures of Tintin is © HERGE/MOULINSART S.A. estate; I will not be personally profiting from ANY of this art