Saif Shakir - The Adventures of Tintin: Cigars of the Pharaoh

 Summary

*WARNING SPOILERS*

The Adventures of Tintin: Cigars of the Pharaoh written by Hergé, is an adventure fiction comic about a young reporter named Tintin, and his dog Snowy. Tintin is the main character, and he is a young man who is always trying to solve a crime. This story starts out with Tintin and Snowy being on a cruise ship which is headed to Egypt. While Tintin is on the ship, he meets a strange Egyptologist named Sophocles Sarcophagus. Sophocles has been searching for a hidden tomb for the Pharaoh in Cairo, and invites Tintin to join him on his journey. Tintin hastily agrees to go with him, but is set back when twin detectives Thompson and Thomson find drugs which were planted in his cabin. When Tintin is confronted by the detectives, he gets away and finds the location of the Pharaoh’s tomb with Sophocles. While Tintin was inside the Pharaoh’s room, he found cigars placed in a box with a unique symbol. However, before he was able to inspect it further, a mysterious smoke came out of the room, and Tintin passed out. Both Sophocles, Tintin, and Snowy are placed into coffins by anonymous people, and wake up in the middle of the ocean. 

Luckily, Tintin and Snowy are saved by a nearby sailor who transports fake goods. Coincidentally, both Thomson and Thompson bump into Tintin again, leading them to believe that he is both smuggling drugs and selling fake goods. Once again, Tintin is able to escape these detectives, but finds himself lost in the desert with no hope of life. Somehow, Tintin comes across a lake near a camp, but when he enters
their city, he is forced into joining their army. After Tintin struggles to follow the orders of the general, he is put in jail, and he soon starts searching the drawers of the cell. He finds the same brand of cigars in a box with the same special symbol he saw in the hidden tomb room. However, he is quickly taken to be interrogated when a prison guard sees him, and thinks that he is a hired spy. His punishment for being a so-called spy is a public death, meaning that he will be shot. Luckily for Tintin, Thompson and Thomson disguise themselves as locals, and take Tintin to their hideout before he will be killed. However, their safe spot is soon raided by the local police. Tintin quickly runs out of the hideout and manages to find an airplane which he uses to escape while being hunted down by the police.

After an hour of flying, Tintin runs out of fuel and is forced to land in the forest of India. After Tintin landed, he spots Sophocles in the jungle, and is surprised to see that he has lost his mind. Tintin then goes to the nearby village, and finds out that somebody is trying to kill him. He immediately starts investigating and finds out about the fakir and how the fakir injects his victims with the Rajaijah poison. This poison is known as “the poison of madness” as anybody who is injected goes mad. After learning about this poison, Tintin soon learns that the Maharaja (word for prince) is also in danger of being killed. When Tintin finds the fakir, he follows him into his secret hideout, and spies on the cartel. After capturing the gang members, and turning them in, Thomson and Thompson finally believe Tintin is innocent and they let him off the hook. However, it is not over because the fakir escaped and he kidnaped the Maharaja’s son. Tintin follows them and uses his skills to capture the fakir and save the Maharaja’s son. The story ends with the Maharaja and Tintin partying, and then Tintin moving to go on his next journey.

Review

This comic had a lot of action, and a fast-paced plot which kept it entertaining all throughout the stories. Although, at some points in the story I felt like the scenes were progressing too quickly, and it became confusing to understand what was happening. Also, there were a lot of unnecessary side characters who seemed to be the main focus, but only showed up in one or two scenes. One aspect of this comic that I found interesting was that Snowy, despite being a dog, would have thought bubbles. This offered a unique perspective that I rarely have seen in comic books before. Overall, I enjoyed this comic book a lot, and I would definitely recommend others to read it.

Rating

With all that being said, I would rate this comic a 7.89  out of 10 as it was extremely engaging and interesting, but I felt like the plot is too fast and there are so many unnecessary characters that it became confusing.