Tintin’s Stepmother Agrees to Ban Album from Children’s Bookshelves

From the desk of Paul Belien on Thu, 2007-07-12 15:43

The Hergé Foundation agrees with yesterday’s decision of the international bookseller Borders Books to ban the comic album “Tintin in the Congo” from its children’s section and move it to the adult section of its stores.

The Hergé Foundation manages the estate of the late Brussels writer and illustrator Hergé [Georges Remi, 1907-1983]. The Foundation, run by Hergé’s second wife, Fanny Vlamynck, holds the copyrights to Tintin and other Hergé characters.

Borders’ decision is a reaction to a demand from the British equal rights body, the Commission for Racial Equality, to stop selling the album, which dates from 1931. According to the CRE the book is “old-fashioned, racist claptrap.”

The Hergé Foundation acknowledged today that the album “contains stereotypes that might shock contemporary readers.” The Foundation emphasized that the album is republished as a collector’s item and, consequently, approved the decision to move it to the adult graphic novels section, where “Tintin in the Congo” will now be stored next to “The Adventures of a Lesbian College Schoolgirl.”