Tintin books of this period, in the height of the Cold War, seemed to be filled with political intrigue rather than simply adventure, and in The Red Sea Sharks, the topics are arms trafficking, the slave trade, and a Middle Eastern rebellion. As the canon gets larger, Hergé also takes every opportunity he has to reunite characters from previous books. The Red Sea Sharks is no exception, like an Old Home Week of friends and villains alike. Wayward Latin American leader Alcazar is back; as is the scheming Dawson from The Blue Lotus; plus Rastapopoulos, now under a different name; the truly bad Müller from The Black Island and Land of Black Gold; and Allan, Haddock’s old shipmate who hadn’t been seen since the moment Haddock was introduced many books ago.

A new character is also introduced, the downed pilot Skut, who has orders to attack Tintin’s boat, but becomes friends with the gang when Tintin shoots down his plane and rescues Skut from the water. He doesn’t say much, as an Estonian whose English isn’t so good, but he’s a good guy.

Some other notes:

• While floating on a raft, Haddock falls in the water and ends up with a jellyfish on his head. Tintin says “Now this really is the Raft of the Medusa.” I definintely didn’t get that joke when I was a kid.

• This book features the first appearance of the angel and devil characters, little nagging and tempting versions of the main characters who sit on their shoulders in moments of tough decisions. Haddock makes the right decision this time, though it won’t be his last tough call, and Snowy will have a run-in or two over going after a bone or doing his duty…

Another day at work today, reading up on the roof at lunch. Back to my last week of jury duty next week, fingers crossed, and only five more Tintin books left to go.