Tintin: Explorer of the Moon - Saif Shakir

 Summary

This story starts out with Tintin, Snowy, Captain Haddock, Professor Calculus, and Wolff getting ready to go to the moon for an expedition. When they enter the rocket, they do all the necessary procedures, and they take off with no issues. However, early on in the journey, Tintin finds detectives Thomson and Thompson on the aircraft. When the detectives were confronted about this, they explained to Tintin how they were just inspecting the inside of the rocket. Them being on the rocket created many difficulties because there may not be enough oxygen supply to go to the moon and back for fourteen days. When the rocket finally reaches the moon, both Tintin and Haddock decide to be the first people to walk on the moon, and they explore the little caves and structures of the moon. Right when everything is going well, the whole crew is surprised by Jorgen, a spy who is looking to sabotage Tintin’s mission. Jorgen then ties up all the crew members and is looking to kill all the crew members. However, Tintin is able to untie the ropes and help free the rest of the crewmates. Once freed, they then subdue Jorgen, and decide to turn back around, and go back to the earth. However, the rocket is slowly running out of oxygen, and there is still quite some time before Tintin and his large crew reach earth. The situation quickly starts to intensify when the crew members slowly start falling unconscious. Luckily, there are a couple more minutes until they land, so they are able to successfully land, and an emergency crew quickly comes to save them. They are all given oxygen masks, and everybody in the crew wakes up except Captain Haddock. The doctor comes over to tell Tintin the bad news, and says “it seems he was a great whiskey drinker”. Hearing the word ‘whiskey’ miraculously made Captain wake up in surprise. The story ends with everybody partying, and Professor talking about how this would not be the last time they go to the moon, and it hints at the start of another adventure for the heroic Tintin.

Analysis

Overall, I felt like this comic's plot was extremely interesting, and I found it interesting how the author portrayed Tintin more as a character rather than a hero in this story. Honestly, I felt like this comic became more realistic when all these miracles stopped happening to Tintin, but it also made the story less suspenseful. One thing that I disliked about this comic was that Captain Haddock somehow came back to life when he heard the word ‘whiskey’. I feel like this kind of ruined the comic’s plot because it went from a somewhat realistic detective comic to a more comical and fictional one. Another thing that I found to be quite disappointing in this comic is that again there has been no aging for Tintin, making the story feel even more fictional, I really do wish that the author decided to make Tintin age as the story goes on and is would be nice to see a change in the art style as well as seeing how his personality will change. Having both of these fictional ideas incorporated into the story kind of ruins the realistic aspect, and nullifies Tintin having less miracles. 

Review

In conclusion, due to the intriguing and unique concepts in this comic, I would rate it a solid 8.2 out of 10 because at this point in the series, nobody is changing, and it has become slightly repetitive.