Tintin replaced by an imposter?

I wonder why Herge started to redraw the Blue Lotus for the coloured version of the book in 1946 but then reused the original artwork from 1934? The new artwork follows on from the redrawn Cigars of the Pharaoh but then five pages into the book, the elegantly proportioned TIntin is is replaced by a rounder headed, no-necked version.
Above are two panels, the first from page 4 and the second from page 5.
It is certainly beautiful artwork and along with the colouring, some of the backgrounds have been adjusted but it still appears to be an odd decision to change the appearance of the main character for the first four pages. Maybe time and cost were a factor.
I have to admit that when I first read the book (It was first translated into English in 1983 and I would have purchased it around this time) I did not notice the different looking TIntin.

Books and years

A great presentation of all the TIntin books with the date of the publication of their first versions is here.

Tintin and the Golden Fleece

Methuen published this book version of the 1961 live action film in 1962 with an english translation in 1965. It tells the story from the screenplay written by Andre Barret and Remo Forlani adapted and translated by Leslie Lonsdale-Cooper and Michael Turner, the translators of all the Tintin books. There are 44 pages of text with plenty of black & white photos and some illustrations. The book was produced in the same size and style as the Herge adventures, including the inside cover portrait galleries.
From the back: "Tintin, the boy reporter, Snowy his dog, and Captain Haddock, travel to Istanbul to collect the Golden Fleece, a ship left to the Captain by an old friend. But when a stranger offers an enormous sum for the boat it is obvious that there is more involved than a rusty old tub. Events move fast, and Tintin and the Captain find themselves against ruthless crooks. Treasure is at stake. The trail leads from Turkey to Greece, from a remote mountain monastery to a lonely Mediterranean island. Thomson and Thompson and Professor Calculus join in the hunt, but only after many narrow escapes does Tintin solve the mystery of the Golden Fleece."
A DVD of the movie dubbed in english was released in 2008 but I have yet to view it. I really enjoyed reading this book when I bought it over 35 years ago and assumed it was a story from the Tintin's regular adventures. It did not make me feel uneasy in the way that the Lake of Sharks did (and still does). The images from the film are great. There are great images of Turkey and Greece from the late fifties/ early sixties. This film has had quite good reviews recently from Tintin fans however I think a certain spell will be broken if a voice is given to TIntin and the other characters. The sound of his voice exists in my head and it is very similar to my voice. I will keep that spell alive until the Jackson/ Speilberg/Del Toro films come out.

The Strange Encounter

This is another adventure of Blake & Mortimer, characters created by Herge's collaborator, EP Jacobs. This was published in Belgium in 2001 and translated into english in 2008. It is much easier to read than The Yellow M and I think the artwork is better also with cleaner lines. It is similar in size to the Tintin adventures, with 64 pages, but not as much seems to happen. Even The Castifore Emerald seems pacier than this book. It shows the skill of Herge's storytelling that he can communicate so much with simplier pictures and fewer words. The Strange Encounter was written by Jean Van Hamme and illustrated by Ted Benoit with color done by Madeleine De Mille. Although written around 2001, he story is set in the mid-1950s and it is enjoyable looking at the details in the illustrations. It is quite a fun story and I enjoyed involving myself in the science and science fiction of the 1950's.
I highly recommend this book to fans of Tintin

The Black Island revisited

In the 1960s the Tintin books were beginning to be translated into english to reach a new audience. They appear to have been translated in no particular order but when it came to The Black Island, set mainly in England and Scotland and written in the late 1930s, it was suggested by the english publishers that Herge updated the artwork to reflect present life. So he did. In 1966, the version most of us know was published and it is one of the best drawn adventures in the series.
When The Black Island first appeared, it was in black and white. It was redrawn and coloured in the 1940s and published in book form. It was the first of the black and white Tintin adventures to be coloured. This 1940s coloured version was finally translated and printed in 2008. The story is exactly the same, the text is almost exactly the same, most of the scenes are exactly the same.The colours are different, they are more muted. The detail is different, there is less background detail and all the buildings, cars, trains, fire trucks are older. I prefer the 1966 version but this is a great way to rediscover this Tintin adventure.

The Yellow M

Edgar P Jacobs assisted Herge with the creation of the Secret of the Unicorn/Red Rackham's Treasure and Seven Crystal Balls/Prisoners of the Sun adventures. He also worked on the coloured versions of Congo, America, Blue Lotus and King Ottokar's Sceptre. Jacobs created his own comic book characters, Blake and Mortimer and wrote and drew books featuring Blake & Mortimer from 1950 until 1971. After his death in 1987, first Bob de Moor, another Herge collaborator, and then two teams working together on seperate books, Jean Van Hamme and Ted Benoit, and Yves Sente and Andre Julliard.
THe Yellow M first appeared in Tintin magazine and was collected and published in a single book in 1956. This english translation was published in paperback in 2007 by Cinebook and was translated by Clarence E Holland.
THe artwork is finer than the clear line art of Tintin and has more detail in the subjects and background. Although written in Belgum it is set in London. The plot involves a detective mystery and science fiction. In amy ways the story is similar to Herge's The Secret Ray. It is beautiful to look at but unfortunately it is very hard to read. There is too much text which slows the pace of the adventure. Much of the text is redundant as in addition to dialogue boxes there are also scene explanation in almost every panel. Often both boxes repeat the same information. e.g. Scene explanation: "The Inspector recognises a black felt hat stuck on the end of a boat hook and dripping with water." Speech bubble: "It's his hat!!!". Most of the text boxes are stuffed full of words that are not needed. Some text boxes are so big that they are exhausting to look at and really made me struggle with enthusiasm when reading the book.
I found it very frustrating to read. I don't know if it is the text or the translation into english that is the problem. It needs a ruthless editor to remove at least half of the text to allow the story to flow. Herge was very economical with his words and often let the pictures tell the story. Jacobs obviously did not trust his pictures enough to do this.
There is a great read buried somewhere in this book.