Theme : Tintin (Kuifje) - 01

Tintin

Tintin (Kuifje in Dutch), is a reporter living in Brussels. His first assignment is to the former USSR. Later he also visits Africa, Tibet... He's a passionated boxer too. His best friend, captain Haddock, who's lost without his whiskey, a would-be-hero, but always on Tintin's side and the smart dog Snowy (Bobby in Dutch)
Tintin was created by the Belgian designer Georges Rémi (Her-gé).

Hergé was born in 1907, and  grew up during the first World War.  He grew up in a middle class family, and was much influenced by his catholic background. His interests in politics, combined with the politic situation of Europe at that time made his albums subject to discussion. Most of his albums have a political undertone and should be placed against a more right-winged background. In the album 'The blue Lotus' he was inspired by the Chinese-Japanes war in 1934. In 1942, 'The mysterious Star' was released, knowing that the newspaper he worked for (Le Soir) was under nazi-German influence. The vilains are the Americans and a jewish oil tycoon. In a reviewed version, the names were changed into more neutral ones. On the other hand, the album 'King Ottokar's Sceptre' which was released before the second World War, can be seen as a protest against nazi-germany. His first album, Tintin in the USSR was released in 1929, the last album : 'Tintin and the Alph-Art' in 1986, 3 years after Hergé's death.

Hergé always tried to design his albums with a high sense of perfection, realistic backgrounds, cars, .... but on the other hand, with lots of stereotypes as well. This led to a 18+ rating for the album 'Tintin in Africa' since it was considered to be racist - of course all faced to the time and the ideas of that era.

As Tintin is one of the few Belgian heros, several stamps and commemorative coins were dedicated to Hergé and Tintin. Not only in Belgium, although the sheet of 25 stamps, released in 2007 is truly among the best sheets ever emitted in Belgium.