Tintin Stays Timeless. Indeed.
From his earliest appearances to the extraordinary stories that followed, Tintin's journey is one of imagination and curiosity. Not to forget daring.
As Hergé’s legendary young reporter marks 97 years, his adventures continue to hold fascination for generation after generation, proving that true icons are ever young.
A Journey That Started It All
On January 10, 1929, a fearless young journalist named Tintin, accompanied by his faithful fox terrier Snowy, set off by train from Brussels to Moscow. It was a moment that signalled both Tintin's debut mission and the start of Hergé’s remarkable creative journey.
Tintin Before Tintin
The roots of the character can be traced to Totor, an earlier comic strip by Hergé, from where Tintin's intriguing personality and adventurous spirit gradually evolved.
The Man Behind The Pen
The series began publication in 1929, authored by Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, better known by his pen name Hergé (1907-1983), whose clean-line style reshaped comic storytelling worldwide.
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The Birth Of The Famous Quiff
Tintin's trademark hairstyle was not planned. In Tintin in the Land of the Soviets, while driving a convertible on page eight, his hair lifts in the wind... and famously never settles back down.
Ahead Of His Time
Tintin reached the moon in 1954 far earlier than the American trio, through Destination Moon and Explorers on the Moon, achieving lunar exploration 15 years before Neil Armstrong's real-life giant leap.
Tintin Comes To India
Bengali became the first Indian language to welcome Tintin in 1975, with all 24 titles published in Anandamela, the ABP Group's children's magazine. Notably, Hergé personally oversaw the Bengali editions. He received many letters from Kolkata. Satyajit Ray was a Tintin fan and paid homage to the boy with the blond quiff in many of his works.
In Cigars of the Pharaoh and its sequel The Blue Lotus, Tintin comes to India, encountering jungles, the Himalayas, Indian Railways, a fakir, cows, a murthi of Lord Shiva, diamonds and maharajas.
In Tintin in Tibet he transits through Delhi airport, in the days before the Indian capital had AQI issues, and takes in a few local sights.
India still has a legion of Tintin fans and Kolkata is yet home to Tintin Economic Chinese Restaurant.
A Global Publishing Phenomenon
By 2019, Tintin's adventures had sold over 270 million copies, appearing in 70 plus languages, including Hindi, Malayalam, Bengali and even Sanskrit.
Worlds Imagined, Not Visited
Despite Tintin's globe-trotting escapades, Hergé never travelled to the countries he depicted, relying instead on research, references and imagination to build his vivid settings.
Wow. Salut Hergé!
© 2026