“Blistering barnacles! We are
trapped!”
You can almost hear Captain Haddock
shout as he leads Tintin and Snowy down the fire exit of a tall building. As
always, they have landed themselves in trouble while trying to solve The Calculus Affair. A few miles away you
find Tintin clinging to the wall outside his hotel in Chicago in a bid to get
to the goon’s room. While the scene is from Tintin
in America, it is being played at the Zuidstation in Brussels. You also see
him perched up along with snowy over a multistoried building, smiling at the
passerby, and walking along his entire entourage at an underground station in
Stokel.
Tintin can be found everywhere in
Brussels – on the walls, at underground stations, along the streets, in the
marketplaces; in museums and even inside hotels, which have special Tintin
themed rooms. And why not, Brussels after all is home to the world’s favorite
reporter in baggy pants.
Tintin was first seen boarding a
train to Russia from the Brussels station on 10th January 1929 in
his debut strip, in the youth supplement of a weekly. During this time, a young
boy dressed as Tintin could be found roaming at the Zuidstation greeting the
passengers. The antic worked and the tiny cartoon strip soon metamorphosed into
an iconic series we now know as The
Adventures of Tintin.
“If you are a fan of comics,
Brussels won’t disappoint you. Often called the comic strip capital of the
world, Belgium is home to many popular characters like Gaston, Smurfs, Lucky
Luke, and Tintin. All of them are loved in Belgium but Tintin is popular across
the world. There is no better place than Brussels for a Tintin lover.” Françoise Flamente, an elderly lady, tells me as
she walks me along the Tintin trail in the Belgian capital.
The starting point
of the trail is the Belgian Comic Strip Center set by Tintin’s creator, Hergé.
A large prototype
of the red and white rocket from Explorers
of the Moon stands tall in the lobby ready to take off. You can almost hear
Professor Calculus say “That’ amazing! That’s tremendous! That’s incredible!”
It indeed is incredible to see so
much of Tintin in one place. Books in multiple languages line the shelves,
collectables of all possible characters stand in glass cabinets, life size posters
and exhibits are displayed all over. A series of sketches trace Tintin’s origin
from a black & white line drawing to the dapper ginger head with the
trademark quiff. It also outlines the evolution of Snowy, Tintin’s wire fox
terrier modeled after the dog at Hergé’s favourite café, the loud mouth Captain
Haddock, whose name came from the curses that the creator’s wife often hurled
at him, and the famous glass-shattering opera star Bianca Castafiore, who, it
is believed, is a dig at the creator’s opera-loving wife.
The imposing grey and cream
building of The Royal Palace can transport anyone back in time, for a Tintin
fan however, it has only one significance: it formed the backdrop of King Ottokar’s Sceptre. You feel like a detective yourself as you trace
Tintin’s footsteps through the Brussels Park, to the exact spot where he finds
the suitcase that helps him solve the mystery.
A short walk from the Palace leads to Boulevard
Adolphe Max, home to Hotel Metroplole. The street and the hotel are seen in The Seven
Crystal balls when Mark Falconers
taxis his way to 26 Labrador Road, Tintin’s home. If you stand across the road
with the comic book in hand opened to page 20, you’d almost find yourself
inside the book.
The flea market at the Place du
Jeu de Balle that features in the opening sequence of The Secret of the Unicorn is a few miles away. The market, where Ivan Sakharine tries to persuade the Unicorn off
Tintin, turns out just how Hergé had depicted it – an exciting mass of
bric-a-brac and antiques laid out on the streets and tables. As you walk
through the market, rubbing shoulders with the locals and tourists, you
secretly wish to find the Unicorn, or perhaps Tintin, trying to guard the
Unicorn from Sakharine.
The Tintin trail.
1. A mural of Tintin and Captain
Haddock on Rue de L’Etuve from the
book The Calculus Affaiar.
2. The Comic Strip House on Boulevard
de l’Impératrice, depicts the evolution of the characters.
3. La
Monnaie is the theatre that inspired Hergé’s drawings of the opera in The Seven Crystal Balls.
4. Park
of Brussels at the Royal Palace, where Tintin finds an abandoned suitcase in
King Ottokar’s Sceptre.
5. Across the park, is the Royal Palace, which inspired the home
of the king of Syldavia in King Ottokar’s
Sceptre.
6. Stockel Metro Station has two
colourful murals with several characters from Tintin’s adventures.
7.
Place du Jeu de Balle flea market featured
in the Secrets of The Unicorn
8.
Gare du Midi, the Brussels South
Railway Station, features a Tintin mural at the entrance.
9.
The first publishers of the Tintin books, Editions du Lombard, have a giant Tintin and Snowy sign
on top of their office building.
10.
The Tintin Boutique at Rue de la Colline 13, right in center of the town, stocks a host
Tintin products including figurines, comics, stationary, and apparel.
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