Today’s book, The Secret of the Unicorn, is one of the biggies. It’s half of a two-parter that is probably one of the best-known and most beloved sets in the series. It is classic middle-period Tintin, and it’s probably one of the first books we read when we were getting into the series.
Like the Moon set, the pair is divided into a land-bound first book and a second book dealing with exploration. It begins with a mysterious model ship and a spate of annoying but seemingly trivial wallet thefts which, naturally, end up becoming very important indeed in the course of the story.
The classic Tintin look has emerged, as all of the characters look as they would for the rest of the series, and Tintin himself has really been mastered by Hergé. In previous books, when his face would be at an odd angle, it often didn’t look quite right, or it changed markedly from the way he might look at a more normal angle. But by now, Hergé had really gotten it down pat, and seemed at ease portraying Tintin in various kinetic states of motion, jumping, punching, and diving around the frame.
This book is more self-conscious than others, with Tintin even quoting the Thomsons, as he calls them. It also finishes with a slightly strange direct address, as Tintin exhorts us to “read” his next adventure. It was always a little confusing – is he supposed to know his adventures have been turned into books?
I remember finding it quite disconcerting, having read the books in no particular order the first time around, to see Haddock’s faithful butler Nestor struggling to capture Tintin and then whacking him on the head with a nightstick. It is our introduction to the character, and Tintin deals with it diplomatically, explaining that Nestor was only acting under orders, which allows us to accept him in his later role as a friendly, if easily annoyed, servant.
I guess I can’t go without mentioning that this book is being adapted into a film by Spielberg and Jackson; I’m reserving judgment until I see it, and I approach the idea with a mixture of excitement and dread.
I had hoped to try out the Fifth Amendment for lunch to celebrate what I hope is the half-way mark of my jury duty, but it was again closed despite its advertised hours. I had a shawerma next door at Alexandria instead, which was tasty but not what I’d been looking forward to.
I finished the day with a Sam Fuller double feature at the New Beverly, which was a lot of fun.
