The Adventures of Herge [Hardcover]

The only problem with this book is that Hergé is dead and Tintin is gone. The author, Michael Farr, perhaps now *the* top ranking European Tintinologist, after his splendid "Tintin - the complete companion" (available at Amazon for under 20 dollars), continues to develop his très fantastique tintinesque series about everything tintin: all the characters, all the stories, but above all, ALL THE PHOTOS, ALL THE GLORIOUS GLOSSIES EVER TAKEN OF FATHER HERGÉ AND HIS MERRY MEN ! There were women, too - if not in the albums, where the female element is either heavily caricatured, or inexistent, the tintin-producing drawing-inking staff included lots of gorgeous feminine personnel - one of which, naturellement, Hergé fell in love with and married as soon as his divorce was granted. In a way, Michael Farr designs the sociology around the albums, with the visual documentation care of an anthropologist. Everybody is here: Hergé's lovely second wife, a fabulous photo of his first wedding, all his collaborators, his boy scout friends, his brother (model for Colonel Sponz),
mom and dad, a unforgettable shot of Hergé in a tuxedo, many photos of Chang (see Tintin in Tibet) when young and when old, the premises in Brussels, reproductions of his contemporary art collection (with some pix with Warhol, and the Warhol silk screen portraits) - it's quite complete, as "Complete Companion" had been not too long ago. As most fans realize, the posthumous "Tintin and Alpha-Art" is really bittersweet, but this 120 page tribute is not. Of course, we all wish that Hergé had not died, even if in his last adventure (Picaros) the world-reporter-detective had had his golf pants exchanged for jeans. From this angle the tribute is sad, and all the incredible photos of the lively man, and of his lively team, will certainly bring a tear, either metaphorically or the real mccoy. Still, n'importe: Tintin lives forever, even without Hergé. IF YOU ARE INTO COMICS, YOU HAFTA BUY THIS BOOK ! ! ! ON THE MIRTH-ENNUI SCALE, IT'S RATED A TEARY TOP MARK. But no boring interpretation comes with the package, for it reads like a Tintin album, sweet and mainstream, a bit conservative, and tremendous fun. A MUST REALLY. LONG LIVE MICHAEL FARR !

I have love Tintin for the last 15 years. At the moment I am studying Film and Media production at Griffith Film School. For an elective I pick Animation, Society and the Web (basically watching cartoons from early 1900's till now). For one of the assignments we were allowed to choose a topic of our own choice which would relate to the techniques or history relating to aniamtion. I choose Tintin of course and Herge. Now of course the Tintin series was made after Herge's death. But as he was the author of the comic strips and books he was an important contributor to the story and drawings. This book is pack of fascinating information on Herge's life and the relationship to the development of Tintin. The author Michael Farr has done a wonderful job of researching and presenting of the research. When I showed this book to my lecture, she was gobsmacked by the amount of information that was in the book (especially Herge's friendship with Andy Warhole. She straight away wrote down the title and author of the book. Basically it is the best book on Herge. 100% happy with this purchase.

The biography is interesting and well written in the sense that it allows a tintin fan to discover more about his author George Remy and his life and passions. However, the style is somewhat different and moves back and forth between present and future- the arrangement of all events in Herge's life is not exactly chronological which I myself did not quite fancy.