The Adventures of Tintin
Parody and pastiche

During Hergé's lifetime, parodies were produced of the Adventures of Tintin, with one of the earliest appearing in Belgian newspaper La Patrie after the liberation of the country from Nazi German occupation in September 1944. Entitled Tintin au pays de nazis (" Tintin in the Land of the Nazis "), the short and crudely drawn strip lampoons Hergé for working for a Nazi-run newspaper during the occupation.

Following Hergé's death, hundreds more unofficial parodies and pastiches of the Adventures of Tintin were produced, covering a wide variety of different genres. Tom McCarthy divided such works into three specific groupings: pornographic, political, and artistic. In a number of cases, the actual name "Tintin" is replaced by something similar, like Nitnit, Timtim, or Quinquin, within these books.

McCarthy's first group, pornographic parodies, includes 1976's Tintin en Suisse ("Tintin in Switzerland") and Jan Bucquoy's 1992 work La Vie Sexuelle de Tintin ("Tintin's Sex Life"), featuring Tintin and the other characters engaged in sexual acts. Another such example was Tintin in Thailand, in which Tintin, Haddock, and Calculus travel to the East Asian country for a sex holiday. The book began circulating in December 1999, but in 2001, Belgian police arrested those responsible and confiscated 650 copies for copyright violation.

Other parodies have been produced for political reasons: for instance, Tintin in Iraq lampoons the world politics of the early 21st century, with Hergé's character General Alcazar representing President of the United States George W. Bush. Written by the pseudonymous Jack Daniels, Breaking Free (1989) is a revolutionary socialist comic set in Britain during the 1980s, with Tintin and his uncle (modelled after Captain Haddock) being working class Englishmen who turn to socialism in order to oppose the capitalist policies of the Conservative Party government of Margaret Thatcher. When first published in Britain, it caused an outrage in the mainstream press, with one paper issuing the headline that "Commie nutters turn Tintin into picket yob!"

Other comic creators have chosen to create artistic stories that are more like fan fiction than parody. The Swiss artist Exem created the irreverent comic adventures of Zinzin, what The Guardian calls "the most beautifully produced of the pastiches." Similarly, Canadian cartoonist Yves Rodier has produced a number of Tintin works, none of which have been authorised by the Hergé Foundation, including a 1986 "completion" of the unfinished Tintin and Alph-art, which he drew in Hergé's ligne claire style.

The response to these parodies has been mixed in the Tintinological community. Many despise them, seeing them as an affront to Hergé's work. Nick Rodwell of the Hergé Foundation took this view, declaring that "none of these copyists count as true fans of Hergé. If they were, they would respect his wishes that no one but him draw Tintin's adventures". Where possible, the foundation has taken legal action against those known to be producing such items. Others have taken a different attitude, considering such parodies and pastiches to be tributes to Hergé, and collecting them has become a "niche specialty".
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