Tintinesque: The Tintin Weblog: Tintin and censorship in America

Tintin and censorship in America

Well, I have already discussed the censorhip of Tintin albums in Iran, but as many of you know, the Americans too asked Herg頴o "modify" a lot of the books before publishing them.

Among many changes, they asked him to replace black people with white people. For instance, they didn't like a black person beating the captain (who is white) and enjoying it! So they asked Herg頴o change him, and the result is a middle-eastern looking guy now!

? Herg鯍oulinsart 2004 Image courtesy of Lester

Another more ridiculous example is the following sequence, where they asked Herge to remove the panel which actually shows the Captain drinking!

? Herg鯍oulinsart 2004 Image courtesy of Lester

Equally ridiculous as the Iranians I guess, but at least they did it when Herg頷as still alive and asked him to make the changes himself, the Iranians are doing it on their own, even without permission from Casterman or Moulinsart.

By the way, I've always thought Herg頷as too lenient when it came down to this stuff and did whatever the publishers asked him to do, I think he should have stood his ground more firmly, at least in some instances.

July 19, 2004 06:02 PM | « Previous | Main | Next »

Comments

As a TinTin lover I am really enjoying your blog, specifically these comparisons were really interesting. Keep up the good work :-)

Posted by: Ali at July 19, 2004 10:16 PM

Very interesting indeed.
Could you precise the date when these modifications were done, because, even as a French I always knew Tintin with the modified panels.
Was the original version rehabilited and available in newer editions?

Posted by: nico at July 22, 2004 08:16 PM

nico, I'll look up the date for you.

Posted by: Pendar (Site Admin) at July 30, 2004 05:11 PM

See all the censored pictures in The Crab with the golden claws

http://usuarios.lycos.es/lakrabo/negro.htm

Posted by: lakrabo at August 18, 2004 09:34 PM

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