The Adventures of Tintin: The Broken Ear (Paperback)

Although first published in England in the 1975, "The Broken Ear" was created by Herge in 1935 between "The Blue Lotus" and "The Black Island" and represents a step towards increasing sophistication which was first prompted by Herge's real life friend Chang during the creation of "The Blue Lotus".

Most of the events in "The Broken Ear" have a basis in reality. The main source for inspiration appears to have been the Gran Chaco war (which Herge turns into the Gran Chapo war). In the real Gran Chaco war two oil companies set Bolivia against Paraguay in 1932. They were desperate for drilling rights on disputed territory and the war was a convenient means to an end. The companies inflamed what was an already existing dispute resulting in 100,000 dead over three years of fighting before an armistice was signed in 1935.

Herge's character, the arms dealer Basil Bazarov is most likely based on the real Basil Zaharoff who in the first world war made a fortune by selling arms to both sides. In "The Broken Ear" the character Bazarov sells equal quantities of a gun to both sides.

Although the sophistication in the story telling is on the increase I still count "The Broken Ear" as being within Herge's early period the end of which was marked by "The Black Island" which was the story after this one. Although the events are based on reality there is still a crudity in the story telling which was to disappear after this work. But the genius of Herge is already very self evident.

Tintin revisits San Theodorus again in Herge's last complete work "Tintin and the Picaro's". General Alcazar pops up again in a number of future stories though his character is more developed then in this story.

Overall in "The Broken Ear" the mystery takes something of a back seat to the repeated perils faced by Tintin. I went back and counted them up and on average Tintin faces death or severe physical harm once every three pages in this 64-page story. That might not be a record for our intrepid reporter, but it has to be close. This adventure of Tintin has engendered some criticism because of the way Hergé draws a Negro in caricature and I certainly do not want to suggest that a white male European was not representative of the inherent racism of his culture, but I would point out that Hergé, like Edgar Rice Burroughs writing at roughly the same time, relied heavily on stereotypes for many of his characters and that you will find "good" and "bad" types for every race and ethnicity Tintin encounters. Certainly the South Americans Tintin encounters in San Theodoros, with their heavy accents, fiery tempers and tendency towards extreme violence, should be more central to any such critique. Herge also displays some sensitivity towards the native tribes of the area that is rather enlightened. If Tintin engaged in slurs or derogatory comments towards anyone, that would be something different, but our hero only thinks in terms of "good" and "bad," not "white" and "black". "The Broken Ear" is not a great Tintin Adventure, but you can see how the pieces are starting to come together with Hergé 's work.