The Blue Lotus (The Adventures of Tintin)
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 741.59493
EAN: 9780316358569
ISBN: 0316358568
Label: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Manufacturer: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 62
Publication Date: July 30, 1984
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Reading Level: Ages 9-12
Studio: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Features:- ISBN13: 9780316358569
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Editorial Review:Amazon.com Review:Picking up where he left off in the Egyptian adventure
Cigars of the Pharaoh, Tintin travels to China in
The Blue Lotus, a tale which is generally considered Herge's first masterpiece. It's also Tintin's only foray into actual history, specifically the Sino-Japanese conflicts of the early 1930s. The political tensions combined with the chilling threats of drugs give the story an especially high and realistic sense of danger. Herge's interest in China was spurred by a friendship with a young Chinese student named Chang Chong-chen, a relationship that Tintin mirrors with a Chinese boy also named Chang Chong-chen. Herge paints a vivid picture of China and takes the opportunity to denounce ethnic prejudices (though ironically his artistic depiction of the Japanese businessman Mitsuhirato is quite grotesque). Years later, Tintin's relationship with Chang would become the basis of
Tintin in Tibet.
--David Horiuchi
Product Description:Tintin travels to Shanghai where he and his dog, Snowy, encounter Japanese spies, sabotage, and opium smugglers.
Average Rating:
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This book, which was created in 1934 and redrawn in 1946, is visually not quite as together as "Cigars of the Pharaoh", which had originally been written a year before but redrawn in 1955. It picks up from the end of "Cigars of the Pharaoh," and Tintin is seen making his way from India to China after getting a message from a mysterious stranger, who only manages to tell him that he is needed in Shanghai before he succumbs to Rajaijah juice, the poison of madness. In Shanghai he meets corrupt Westerners and evil Japanese, Snowy is poisoned, and Tintin is kidnapped by patriarch Wang Chen-yee who enlists him to help fight corruption and foreign invasion. Using the house of a Chinese gentleman and scholar as a base, Tintin seeks to bring terrorists, opium smugglers and anti-government agents to justice. He gives the bad guys a good thrashing, while also witnessing the disgraceful Mukden Incident of 1931, a major military and diplomatic incident between China and Japan that set off Japanese imperial expansion into the rest of Asia. Tintin evades authorities in the international settlement trying to bring guilty parties to justice. He is captured, nearly executed, he saves the life of and befriends a young Chinese called Chang Chong-chen, a character based on Herge's real-life friend Zhang Chongren (Chang later reappeared in Tintin in Tibet and is mentioned in The Castafiore Emerald). There is a great scene where the two men exchange notes on their various cultures' mutual prejudices and the generalisations of each's respective culture towards each other. Of course Thomson and Thompson show up in disguise, where they fool no-one. By the end of the book, they finally make their peace with Tintin, Rastapopoulos is brought to justice, and all ends well.
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Historically very good, and an entertaining read. My two boys, ages 10 and 9, LOVE Tintin!
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Belgian artist Herge wrote "The Blue Lotus" as an adventure for his cartoon hero, the young journalist Tintin, in the early 1930's. Of the many Tintin adventures, this one cuts the closest to historical events, capturing a moment in time in which China struggled with civil war, with the intrusive presence of Europeans, and with a Japanese military invasion. The context supports an intense story in which Tintin battles a drug-smuggling conspiracy with the help of a secret Chinese society.
As the story opens, we find Tintin in India, where we left him at the conclusion of "Cigars of the Pharoah." A Chinese visitor, who goes mysteriously insane before he can pass more than a few words of a message, prompts Tintin to travel to China with his faithful dog Snowy. Once in China, Tintin's willingness to stand up for the Chinese makes him both friends and enemies, and puts him on the trail of an opium smuggling ring.
Tintin will be hunted by the Japanese Army, by a corrupt police chief in Shanghai, and by the drug smugglers themselves, whose leader will turn out to be an old enemy. He will be befriended by a young Chinese orphan and by a secret society of Chinese patriots; the story will circle back on itself to a thrilling conclusion.
"The Blue Lotus" features a first-rate storyline. The artwork isn't quite up to Herge's later standards, and Herge deals in some blatant stereotypes of the period, but those minor blemishes need not deter dedicated fans of the series. "The Blue Lotus" is highly recommended to Tintin fans of all ages.
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Tintin, still in India helps out a Chinese family having problems with a bunch of Japanese military gangsters, in a rather cross-cultural extravaganza.
Said gangsters would like to test out their sword sharpness on the young reporter's neck. The Blue Lotus itself turns out to be an opium den of iniquity kind of joint.
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Herge, The Blue Lotus (Methuen, 1936)
Herge here continues the story arc that started in The Cigars of the Pharaoh, with Tintin and Snowy headed off to find the antidote for the madness-inducing poison that played such a prominent role in their last adventure and, of course, finding themselves in even more danger than they were the last time. This is still early work for Herge, and newbies to the series might want to start with one of the later volumes (anything published during World War II will likely make you a fan for life) and come back to this. And, of course, you don't want to read this one without having read The Cigars of the Pharaoh first, or a number of references will make less sense than they otherwise would. ***
Copyright ©2003, Mark Carey.
