INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY OF BRUSSEL
Tintin (pro nounced “tan-tan) is the greatest comic-strip hero of the French-speaking world. From Nice to Quebec City, he remains perpetually young to fans who play hardball at auc tions for Tintin memorabilia. His creator, Georges Remi (whose pen-name Herge is his initials pronounced backwards) sent him to the Kremlin, Shanghai, the Congo, outer space, and the wilderness of Chicago. Countless dissertations and novels have been written about Tintin’s possible androgyny; many also say that Indiana Jones was Tintin made into a man. When former French president Charles de Gaulle was asked whom he feared the most, he replied, Tintin is my only international competitor.
