Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Teaser Tuesdays: Tintin & The Secret of the Unicorn by Herge



TItle: Tintin & The Secret of the Unicorn
Author: Herge
ISBN: 978-0316358323
Publisher: Little, Brown Books/1974

Pages: 62

Tintin buys a boat model of an old ship for Captain Haddock, but soon after, two man try to buy it off him. The first is a Mr. Ivan Ivanovitch Sakharine, and the second is, Barnaby. Sakharine calls on Tintin at his flat, seeking to convince him to sell his ship, and leaves his card. Sometime later,the mainmast of the model ship gets broken, thanks to Snowy, and Tintin repairs it.

When the Captain visits Tintin, he sees the ship and reacts with astonishment. Haddock takes Tintin back to his apartment and shows him a portrait of one of his ancestors, Sir Francis Haddock, the captain of a 17th century naval vessel. In its background is the very same ship, called "the Unicorn". When Tintin and the Captain return to Tintin's flat, they find that the model boat has been stolen. Tintin visits Sakharine, accusing him of having stolen it and discovers an identical ship in Sakharine's collection, but it is a different one, as the mast has not been broken. This ship too carries the letters "Unicorn" on the back. When Tintin returns home, he finds that his flat has been ransacked, and while cleaning up he finds a mysterious parchment. He realizes that it must have been hidden within the mainmast broken by Snowy, and subsequently rolled out onto the floor. He guesses that the parchement holds the clue to finding treasure and rushes back to the Captain's flat.

The boat model which was stolen is just one of three constructed by Sir Francis for his three sons. Each one holds a parchment which, when placed together, will give the treasure's location. Tintin and Haddock then visit Mr. Sakharine, hoping to examine the parchment in his model, but find him unconscious in his apartment and the parchment taken from the model. Sakharine's description of his attacker matches Barnaby.

Tintin is later kidnapped by the perpetrators of the shooting, by two unscrupulous antique dealers who believe that he possesses the parchments. They are behind the theft of Tintin's model, having discovered the third parchment and have figured out that they needed all three to decode the clue to the treasure's location.

Tintin later escapes. Captain Haddock and Thompson and Thomson arrive to help their friend and they capture one of the kidnappers. As their prisoner confesses, which ultimately enables them to capture the fugitive at the national border. This was one of the favourite albums of Herge too. Very adventurous, hilarious and rollicking fun! Go for it!

14 comments:

Brooke from The Bluestocking Guide said...

Is this a series? I think you posted a clip from another book in the series.

Here is my teaser

Veens said...

That clip is funny and cute!i really need to read Tintin :)

jlshall said...

These Tintin books are a lot of fun. Very cute teaser! Here's mine.

CeeCee said...

How fun!

Jennifer said...

Fun teaser! My TT: http://www.rundpinne.com/2010/01/teaser-tuesdays-knit-purl-die.html

Susan said...

Cute teaser this week - what a fun read!

My teaser this week is creepy but funny! Here's a link.

Nan said...

These are wonderful, wonderful books. I recently had to throw away all ours because they had been in a closet which was occupied by mice. :<( I'm going to begin buying them again in order. Just terrific! My teaser this week was a little scary. :<)

pussreboots said...

I'm reading through the Tintins that my library has. I haven't read the one you're reading yet. My teaser is from Brideshead Revisited.

Kaye said...

looks like a lot of fun. My teaser is here

Unknown said...

Love Tintin - read them during my teenage years :)

Anonymous said...

That piece is cute.

Bryan R. Terry said...

Love the visual Teaser! Great idea. I read Tintin in my misspent youth ... perhaps it is time to get back to those roots.

My Teaser is HERE

Bryan R. Terry said...

Love the visual Teaser! Great idea. I read Tintin in my misspent youth ... perhaps it is time to get back to those roots.

My Teaser is HERE

Shannansbooks said...

I liked the teaser. How did you go about posting this? I have not read the series but it looks interesting. I reading quite a few graphic novels this week based on classics.