Black Island 1 Titre
Variations		 Black Island 2

FR
Français
This page shows differeces between the successive publications of Tintin's adventures in French. I do not have the publication dates of the albums in other languages. Several of the albums in French have been "updated" by Hergé. The layout of the first albums (Congo & America) is totally different in their post-war version, and each drawing is new. See "List of Albums".
Tintin au Congo première version
Congo first version (1930-31)		 Tintin au Congo seconde version
Congo second version (1946)
Tintin in America
Second example: Tintin in America. Several of the cars have been re-drawn.
Tintin en Amérique première version
America first version (1931-32)		 Tintin en Amérique seconde version
America second version (1946)
The way Blacks were treated initially has been revised. Nothing else has been changed.

Page 1, 1946
Page 1, 1973
Only the black man on the right has been slightly modified, with thinner lips.

The first version of the following two pictures was originally published in the "Petit Vingtième" in 1931.


First publishing 1931
Album page 29, 1947
Page 29, 1973

First publishing 1931
Album page 47, 1947
Page 47, 1973
For the album version of 1946, all frames have been redrawn without exception, and many pieces of text have been modified, although Hergé did not touch the scenario. Here the scene of the burning prairie. The funny picture of the rabbit riding the tortoise has disappeared, and so has the vulture.

First version
Page 38, 1946
The next two pictures are do not appear in the mentioned versions. They are probably extracted from the "Petit Vingtième" or the "Journal de Tintin". Click to enlarge.

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The Black Island
One of the most thoroughly re-worked albums is The Black Island. The second version has been coloured, and the lettering has been changed, but the pictures themselves are essentially identical. In the third version, on the contrary, the Hergé studio has redrawn all pictures, with finer details. The attitudes of the characters are now wonderfully mastered.
The Black Island, first version
First version (1938)		 The Black Island, second version
Second version (1943)
The Black Island, third version
Third version (1966)
The Black Island, second version
Second version (1943)		 The Black Island, third version
Third version (1966)
Habits de Tintin version 1 Habits version 1 Habits de Tintin version 2 Habits version 2
The clothes, as shown on pages 6 and 7: in the new version, Tintin is still wearing golf trousers, but a blue pullover has replaced the coat. The chauffeur of the big car still has a uniform with a cap, but the white overcoat typical of the early 20th Century has disappeared.
The Black Island, first version
First version: the taxi is probably an Austin, and the big car a Humber Pullman of 1936.

Humber

 The Black Island, second version
Second version: the taxi is a Ford Zephyr, and the big car a Jaguar Mark X.

Jaguar MK10
Humber
1936 Humber Pullmann		 Jaguar
Jaguar Mk X 1961-68
Vauxhall
1935 Vauxhall		 Herald
Triumph Herald 1959-70
The railway has also been updated:
Train initial version
Train version 1 Train version 2
...and so have the aeroplanes, of which we have an example here:
Avion version 1 Avion version 2
The Johnnie Walker whisky is now Loch Lomond:
Whisky 1 Whisky 2
The Eastbury fire brigade got new equipment:
Pompiers 1 Pompiers 2
The backgrounds are more detailed:
Décor p.16 version 1
Page 16, 1943		 Décor p.16 version 2
Page 16, 1966
Set version 1
Page 43, 1943		 Set version 2
Page 43, 1966
Propeller vs. jet aeroplane in the final image:
End version 1 End version 2
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Land of Black Gold
Journal de Tintin 19
Cover picture of N°19
of Journal de Tintin
(click)
Another interesting case: Land of Black Gold.

There are three versions: The story was published in the Belgian magazine "Le Petit Vingtième" in 1939-1940, and was interrupted by the war. It resumed in 1949 in "Le Journal de Tintin", with more elaborate images and in full colour. The album was published in 1950, and was modified in a 1971 version.

There are differences between the initial version published in weekly strips and the 1950 album. These differences are small except for the quality of the drawing. Here a few examples:

Initial version
Or Noir page 11
Ford V8 1937		 Album 1 (1950)
Or Noir page 6 version 1
Studebaker Commander 1947
Initial version
Or Noir page 31
Finkelstein		 Album 1 (1950)
Or Noir page 16 version 1
...becomes Salomon Goldstein
Initial version
Or Noir page 31
The car has no definite brand		 Album 1 (1950)
Or Noir page 16 version 1
Ford 1939
Initial version
Or Noir page 38
The biplane		 Album 1 (1950)
Or Noir page 19 version 1
...is now a more modern aircraft
Initial version
Or Noir page 31
Peugeot 301		 Album 1 (1950)
Or Noir page 16 version 1
Jeep
There are major differences between both versions of the album.
Album 1 (1950)
Titre Or Noir version 1		 Album 2 (1971)
Titre Or Noir version 2
Black Gold p. 8
Black Gold p. 10Black Gold p. 13		 Black Gold p. 8
Black Gold p. 10Black Gold p. 13
The first 20 pages of the album have been totally re-designed. In the second part, only the texts in Arabic have been changed. Click on the picture below to see other frames of page 14.
Haifa
In the first version (1950 in French), Tintin's ship arrives at Haifa, and the British police gets on board. Britain was occupying Palestina until May 1948. 		Khemkhâh
The 1971 (French) version has been re-written completely, to be more acceptable politically. The ship now arrives in a fantasy Arab country at the port of Khemkhah.
Pages 15 to 20 have also been completely changed. The scenario is modified. Hergé visibly decided to escape from the political imbrogio between the British, the Arabs and the Jews in Palestina just before the creation of Israel. Click on the three frames to see page 16 in its two versions.
Page 16 version 1
1950 		Page 16 version 2
1971
Or Noir page 19
In the first version, the flyers are thrown from a British plane, and the Arabs can read...		 Or Noir page 18
In the 1971 version, the scene is altogether different, and the nationality of the enemy is not disclosed.
Black Gold page 20
The text in the first version is not real Arabic.
It just looks like it for someone who does not know.		 Black Gold page 20
The second version is good Arabic and means:
"May Allah damn you, son of a dog
and your father the Bedouin !"
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The Crab with the Golden Claws
The first French version of the album, in black and white, is dated 1941. The initial colour version was published in 1943. My own album has a © 1947. Many changes have been made in the 1950's or 60's to make the album more "politically correct": for instance, some scenes where Captain Haddock is drinking whisky from the bottle have been "softened". The scene is unchanged globally, though.

Page 19, 1947
Recent edition
Similarly, the Black men here have been replaced by a Chinese and a Turk to please the American censorship. At the time it was not accepted in the USA to have Blacks and Whites sharing anything, even comic strips....

Page 18, 1947
Recent edition

Page 53, 1947
Recent edition
The first text below says "stop that Negro". The last edition says "stop that man" (I put the fragment in red myself).

Page 58, 1947
Recent edition
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Cigars of the Pharaoh
< CLASS="justif"P>Curiously, page 15 contains a scene similar to that of the "Black Gold" above with an Arab chief in his tent. The initial publication in strips in 1934 is rather different from the more recent two album versions. In the three pictures shown here, the album shown to Tintin is Tintin in America in the initial version, Tintin in the Congo in the 1955 album version and Destination Moon in the last album version.

Petit Vingtième initial version page 31, 1934

Album version 1 page 15, 1955
Album version 2 page 15, 1970
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François de Dardel
Updated 28 June 2011
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