Tintin in The Land of The Soviets

I have just completed reading the first Tintin adventure and thus I am one step closer to reaching my goal of reading all of the albums during 2013.  Published between 1929 and 1930 this album is very crude compared to later adventures.  Herge did not agree to a colour version during his lifetime and so this is the only Tintin adventure which has never been reworked or colourised.

Tintin in The Land of The Soviets
Art by Herge

Herge uses the strip to expose the failings of the Bolshevik regime in Soviet Russia, then under the control of Stalin.  Tintin, in his role as international reporter uncovers the Soviet regime's untruthful propaganda regarding their modern factories, the lack of democracy, the ill treatment of the peasants and the brutal suppression of alternative points of view.

Tintin in The Land of The Soviets
Script and Art by Herge

Tintin in The Land of The Soviets
Script and Art by Herge

Tintin in The Land of The Soviets
Script and Art by Herge

There is very little plot and the supporting cast has not yet arrived, except for Snowy who provides the focus for most of the gags, of which there are many.  There is none of the lush illustrative detail and clever wordplay of the later albums and I would not recommend the tale for first time Tintin readers but it is interesting to read the genesis of such a well-loved character.

Tintin and Snowy
Herge