Explorers on the Moon (1954)
Explorers on the Moon Review
Explorers on the Moon is the 17th volume of The Adventures of Tintin comics series by Belgian cartoonist Herge. It was published in 1954 and it is one of the best installments in the entire series.
Tintin, his dog Snowy and friends Captain Haddock, Professor Calculus, and Thompson and Thompson are aboard humanity’s first crewed rocket mission to the Moon. This volume continued the story from the predecessor and blew it away in terms of scope, memorable storytelling and humor as well. It’s one of the best comics in the series as it has everything you’d want to find in a Tintin story and Herge crafted it all so well.
The superb characterization propelled by phenomenal dialogue and humor is the highlight of this volume. Every single character got their moment to shine here. Tintin himself was the hero, but he made some mistakes, so he was humanized quite a bit. Snowy got a couple of intense moments where he was in real danger and the villain truly was terrific and quite menacing. There is also the character of Wolff, a guy who turns out to be a traitor, but then he sacrifices himself in order to save others, which made for such a powerful, deeper than usual arc for this series.
But the standouts are Thompson and Thompson, Calculus and Haddock. The Thompsons were never funnier than they were in this book. Their interactions with Haddock were hilarious and it was funny seeing him lose temper with their idiocy. Their hair-growing issue and that footsteps stupidity were their funniest moments. Haddock was his reliably funny and stoic self while Calculus is phenomenally utilized within the context of this science-oriented story as his role is quite enlarged.
There is a lot of wonderfully playful humor to be found in Explorers on the Moon, but Herge did not forget to infuse this plot with a lot of intensity and exploration. The suspenseful moments really worked, though I personally wished to have gotten a more memorable ending. The dialogue is phenomenal and the comic has the right speech balloon to imagery ratio.
How Herge illustrated the Moon and the rocket was beyond admirable for the time. Yes, the ice scene was unrealistic, but that is the only possibly fantastical moment in this story that was surprisingly scientifically accurate. It, thus, functions as a very adventurous and engaging read for adults, but also great teaching material for children. The Moon landing scene was particularly astonishing in its imagery and majesty.
