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Many believe the new set up allowed Hergé to craft some of his finest creations with The Calculus Affair produced in 1954 considered by many Hergé’s most refined work. The drama in Hergé life was to continue however with his 25 year marriage to Germaine at breaking point after Hergé had fallen for a young artist who had recently joined his studio Fanny Vlaminck. Hergé was suffering strong recurring nightmares. He was advised by a psychoanalyst to give up working on Tintin. Hergé decided to the opposite and launched himself into Tintin in Tibet. This album was later to be described by Hergé as his favorite and can be interpreted as a voyage of self discovery not only for Tintin but Hergé too. Tintin in Tibet is certainly a powerful album in its creation.

Tintin in Tibet was published in the Tintin magazine from September 1958 to November 1959.The quest was a personnel voyage for Tintin that reflected the very same journey that Hergé himself was experiencing. Tintin is in search of Chang Chong-Chen, the Chinese boy he befriended in the Blue Lotus. The adventure allowed Hergé to confront his nightmares by filling the book with severe alpine scenery, giving the adventure a commanding open setting. The are only three main characters in the book which was a marked difference to previous albums with Tintin, Captain Haddock and the Sherpa Tharkey involved in the search for Chang. The completion of the story was also a time when Hergé emotional demons ceased and the nightmares left him.

Hergé was to write three more Tintin albums The Castafiore Emerald in 1961, Flight 714 in 1966 and Tintin and the Picaros in 1975. In this period as technology developed Hergé allowed experimentation into other media for his beloved Walloon reporter. Tintin was to be used in advertising and merchandise. There was a stop motion animation film made that was not a success but the film Tintin and the Golden Fleece Fleece starring Jean-Pierre Talbot as Tintin did better. The biggest successes were the animated films beginning in 1961 with The Calculus Case. Hergé was to divorce Germaine in 1975 and finally marry Fanny Vlamnick in 1977.

Hergé in later years was to finally be able to visit some of the places that had inspired his Tintin adventures. The Financial success of the albums had allowed him to travel to America where he visited Native Indians whose culture had long held a fascination for him. . He also found time to visit Taiwan where he was held in high esteem after The Blue Lotus and whose Kuomintang government welcomed with open arms.

A happy tale towards the end of Hergé life was that he was able to again meet Chang Chong-jen the man who had taught him about Chinese art and inspired Hergé to change his style. Chang had been reduced to a sweeper during the Chinese Revolution but was re-instated as head of the Fine Art Academy in Shanghai in the 1970’s. Chang returned to a reunion with Hergé in Europe in 1981 where Chang would settle in Paris until his death in 1988.

Hergé too was to die on March 3rd 1983 when he finally succumbed to complications arising from anemia caused by bone cancer that he had suffered for several years. Hergé was in the process of producing Tintin and the Alpha-Art. This adventure was never to be finished due to express wishes by Herge that no Tintin album be published by any other artist. Tintin and the Alpha-Art was published as a series of sketches and notes in 1986. Fanny closed Hergé Studios in 1987 and The Hergé Foundation was set set up in 1988 with the Tintin magazine discontinued. If you would like to learn more about Herge and get all the latest Tintin movie news then please visit my site.

A University of Leuven professor one father Gosset got in touch with Hergé and asked for the illustrator to be perceptive about how he approached China in his next album. Gosset was the chaplain of the university’s Chinese students and introduced Hergé to a young Chinese sculptor called Chang Chon-jen who resided at the Brussels Académie des Beaux-Arts.

Hergé and Chang instantly made a connection. Chang introduced Hergé to Chinese history, culture and techniques of Chinese art that left a lasting impression on Hergé. In the Blue Lotus Hergé endeavored to become more correct in detailing the places that Tintin visited. The bond formed between these two artists is now cemented in history as Hergé called one of his characters “Chang Chong-Chen” in the young sculptor’s honor. Chang Chong-Chen is a young Chinese boy who befriends Tintin, with the character discarding some of the more outrageous fabrications about Chinese culture.

The bond formed with Chang resulted in Hergé heightened comprehension of the problem with colonialism and particularly Japan’s horrific assaults into China. A theme of anti-imperialism can clearly be read in the Blue Lotus which was contrary to common western beliefs that were compassionate to Japan and its colonial enterprise. Hergé took a lot of flack for the views from Japanese dignitaries in Belgium but history has shown that the Blue Lotus was vindicated.

In a sad tale after finishing his studies Chang went back to China and the two friends lost contact after the Japanese invasion and subsequent civil war at it was forty years before they met again.

Hergé was going to see a modification in Tintin’s style again. This was through necessity rather than choice. In September 1st 1939 the Nazi’s invaded Poland and Hergé as a reserve lieutenant had to stop his work on the Tintin adventure The Land of Black Gold. Belgium soon fell under German occupation along with most of Western Europe.

Le Petit Vingtième was closed down and Hergé found himself writing for Le Soir the mouthpiece of the Nazi occupational forces. Hergé began to write The Crab with the Golden Claw which was to be the first of six albums written during the war.

Hergé was unable t finish The Land of Black Gold due to its anti-fascist undertones. The war was to continue in earnest and led to Hergé changing his style. A paper shortage led to him having to publish Tintin daily in a three or four frame strip, rather than the two full pages every week as when he had worked for Le Petit Vingtième. The meant Hergé had to create drama at the end of each strip rather than the end of each page. Hergé by necessity introduced more frequent quips and a more rapid hustle of action.

Hergé had been quite political at times in his earlier albums but now under Nazi occupation this was no longer possible. The Tintin adventures turned to escapism with escapades to meteorites (The Shooting Star), a treasure hunt ((The Secret of the Unicorn) and a expedition to unravel an ancient Inca curse in (The seven Crystal Balls and Prisoner of the Sun).

Hergé now placed more emphasize on characters and plots and led to some of Tintin’s greatest characters being introduced to the globe. Captain Haddock and Cuthbert Calculus make their debuts during this era. This change of style was noticed by readers and these yarns have proved the most popular over the years.

In 1943 Hergé met Edgar Jacobs an American comic artist who he hired to help revise early Tintin albums. Jacobs was instrumental in redrawing many of the outfits and settings to make the albums for accurate and appropriate. Jacob’s was also to help on Tintin and the Seven Crystal Balls. By the end of the war Tintin had gone about a change of style and was more fashionable then ever and was on its way to be adopted by the French population.

The increasing demands the Tintin magazine placed on Hergé led to him having a breakdown in 1949 while he was working to complete Land of Black Gold. He then went on to suffer another breakdown in 1950 working on Destination Moon. It was at this point Hergé Studios were set up in April 6th 1960. This was another turning point in the Tintin world. Please visit my site to learn more about Herge and get all the the latest info and Tintin movie news.