Tintin -vs- Asterix

[craner]

I actually really rate Magic Carpet: it's a lovely, rollocking round-the-world yarn, with some of Uderzo's most beatiful art work, and a fitting central role for the wonderful Cacofonix. Some great elephant jokes, too. And a sexy pre-Bollywood princess!

Uderzo knew how to draw women.

I used to be agog at Geriatrix's wife!

 

[Don Rosco]

I loved them both as a nipper, but Asterix is the clear winner. I never really understood the desire to battle between them, but as my mate once said - 'If there's a war, I know which side i'm on'. It was tintin for him, the fool.

 

[craner]

The Tintin books are just so fucking boring, though, aren't they? Apart from everything else.

 

[craner]

Mrs. Geriatrix.

 

[mixed_biscuits]

Asterix all the way!

 

[craner]

The Isle of Pleasue

More Uderzo babes!

 

[jenks]

I was always Asterix and interestingly older son collects the Tintin books but enjoys the Asterix books much more. I think he enjoys the design aesthetic of Tintin but likes the stories and characterisation in Asterix much more. obviously they are funnier - Capt Haddock has a limited appeal and Tintin himself is a prig whereas Obelix is funny for all seasons.

Every french holiday is spent trawling through toy shops hunting down little plastic figures of more and more obscure characters from Asterix - he nearly wept the day he found one of Cacofonix bound and gagged!

And I do second teh comment made earlier - the translations into English are so damn good - the puns and intricate linguistic turns - marvellous.

Anyone see the Tintin stage show a couple of years ago - that was visually very good indeed.

 

[IdleRich]

"Was this ever in doubt? Most of any fond memories I have of Tintin relate to the TV show more than the books."

Really, I could never get on with the TV show - Tintin wasn't how I imagined him I guess.

"And I do second teh comment made earlier - the translations into English are so damn good - the puns and intricate linguistic turns - marvellous."

Yeah, amazing stuff. How do they make the names all have the same endings and yet have a meaning that still (presumably) corresponds to the original meaning?

"Tintin himself is a prig"

I think that's the nub of the matter. He basically looks (and acts?) a bit Hitler Youth. I like the one with the opium smugglers or something though. And the one where the world might end which with hindsight appears to be loosely based on The Day The Earth Caught Fire. Sometimes the Tintin world did kind of hint at extra stuff which made it more interesting..... but yeah, it's still Asterix really for me despite my half-hearted attempts to argue for the other side.

 

[crackerjack]

Every french holiday is spent trawling through toy shops hunting down little plastic figures of more and more obscure characters from Asterix - he nearly wept the day he found one of Cacofonix bound and gagged!

If only we could do that with his Dissensus incarnation

 

[craner]

Oi!

 

[Woebot]

Also, this is a great film. Really worth getting hold of this, if you're an Asterix fan. Trust me, I wouldn't send you down a wrong path. All the other Asterix films are shit. This is genius.

great tip oliver.

-

delighted theres so little support for Tintin

 

[craner]

There you go.

 

[craner]

The Day the Earth Caught Fire is a fantastic film, by the way, better than anything Herge managed.

 

[IdleRich]

The Day the Earth Caught Fire is a fantastic film, by the way, better than anything Herge managed.

Yep.

 

[massrock]

Anyone remember this?

http://bookshelves.co.nz/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=70_71&products_id=51

 

[matt b]

delighted theres so little support for Tintin

I was a great Tintin fan- the art is so crisp and sophisticated compared to Asterix, the books were narrative driven, whereas in Asterix books doing stuff was just a backdrop to jokes (which are funny- the translations are amazing).

Also you can clearly see Herge's development as an artist/story teller as the series progresses. Not that the characters age.

Herge's own life story is interesting, if unpallitable.

the cartoons are rubbish though, unless re-dubbed:

(contains swearing)

 

[Woebot]

obelix and co spotted in bookmarks (the marxist bookshop)

 

[Don Rosco]

Which reminds me, the hardcore lefty take on tintin is a cracking read, and can be found in full here:

http://tintinrevolution.free.fr/pages/image001.html

 

[Tentative Andy]

I voted for Tintin but I meant to vote for Asterix - durr, I'm an idiot.
They are both great though, I reckon, both played a v important part in my childhood at one stage.

 

[petergunn]

I was a great Tintin fan- the art is so crisp and sophisticated compared to Asterix, the books were narrative driven, whereas in Asterix books doing stuff was just a backdrop to jokes (which are funny- the translations are amazing).

Also you can clearly see Herge's development as an artist/story teller as the series progresses. Not that the characters age.

Herge's own life story is interesting, if unpallitable.

the cartoons are rubbish though, unless re-dubbed:

(contains swearing)

reading this thread was dire until i saw SOME tintin support...

i read em both as a child, but, yeah Asterix seemed like the same thing over and over again... same Fat Oblisk jokes, the same shot of Romans being punched 200 feet into the air, the big feast at the end of EVERY book... i mean, i liked them, but they didn't really speak to me... i couldn't really imagine them as real... (maybe b/c as an american i didn't really know where Gaul was...)

tintin seemed alot more interesting, the mysteries, the sort of Indiana Jones feel to his various treks to various corners of the globe... somehow it made one feel sophisticated as a 7 year old... i liked seeing various charectors reappear in books...

certain books really stand out... Flight 714 with the weird UFO abduction stuff, the amazing trip to the moon, tintin in america (first one i read...)

also, you simply cannot deny Capt Haddock... nothing like Whiskey jokes in children's books...

and yes, i prefer the simple line style of tin tin to the busyness of Asterix... all the design work is so great on tintin...