Tintin and the Culture Wars, II

A reader, John Halton, writes in response to my comments on Tintin in the Congo :

“I think the reason why Tintin in the Congo has ‘suddenly become controversial’ is fairly simple: a new paperback edition of the book has just been released in the UK.

“As long as I can remember, Tintin in the Congo has been singled out for opprobrium, but until recently it has been out of print and very difficult to get hold of. The recent controversy mainly focused on whether it should be stocked among children’s books: most bookshops have (very wisely in my view) stocked it in the “graphic novels” section instead.

“I’ve not read any of the Tintin books you reference, but my understanding of why Tintin in the Congo is singled out in this way is (a) the stereotyping is particularly crude and pervasive in the book, and (b) Belgian oppression in the Congo (and Herge was, of course, Belgian) was exceptionally cruel and unpleasant, far beyond the worst excesses of other colonial powers in Africa.

“So in that context, perhaps a better comparison would be a German comic book from the 1930s that depicted Jews in a crude and stereotypical fashion.”