TINTIN: The Blue Lotus (Casterman facsimile of original edition.)

Black & white facsimile / original version. Hardcover.
A BEAUTIFUL, SCARCE EDITION!
Le Lotus Bleu was the most important album Hergé had created up to this point, and it remains one of the most important albums throughout the Tintin series. With this album Hergé’s graphical development reaches its first peak, turning Tintin into the Tintin we now know. Hergé had already made clear that he intended to let Tintin travel to China in Le Petit Vingtième. Fearing that he would again fail to put down a true image for the setting and the (secondary) characters in his comic, Abbot Gosset, counsellor for a group of Chinese students in Leuven (Louvain, Belgium), wrote him a letter, asking him to do some research on his subject. The Abbot directed him to a Chinese student at the Académie de Bruxelles (Academy of Arts), Chang Chong-ren. The encounter that followed would change Hergé’s life and art considerably.

Chang had been clear enough about what really happened with the invasion of China by the Japanese. What he told Hergé was quite different from what people had been lead to believe; the sabotage of the railway between Shanghai and Nanking for instance—supposedly the work of Chinese railway robbers—had been staged by the Japanese. Since Hergé had almost word for word included Chang’s experiences in the album, the Japanese reacted with abhorrence. The Japanese Ambassador filed an official complaint with the Belgian government, demanding that the album be banned. Even the Belgian Army reacted against the publication of the album, claiming it was no longer suitable for children. Hergé more or less admitted his albums were no longer aimed solely at children. But children loved it, and the Chinese were extremely happy with this sudden and unexpected aid in their cause. Hergé even received an invitation from Madame Chang K’ai-shek (wife of the Chinese President at the time) to visit China.
pp. 126 #210323