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.
2 comments:
I always found The Black Island one of the weakest books.
Partly this is because they did not convey the British styles of countryside, or for cars, trains and host of other things. This made it seem like a bad copy of the UK. The 60s edition was much better than the first one, which was totally European in feel.
The Gorilla on Black Island (a reference to King Kong) always seemed out of place. It was a bit like Scooby-Do with the Fairground owner scaring people with an unconvincing mask.
Personally Tintin in Tibet and The Shooting Star are my favourites.
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