I backtracked a bit to finish up the completed, published canon of Tintin adventures today with Flight 714, a strange and entertaining book that takes Tintin into the realm of mental telepathy and aliens, though it’s not quite as corny as it sounds. I read the book on my lunch break on the Santa Monica Pier, sitting outside the carousel building while a technician worked on the organ.

Perhaps because of the story’s emphasis on the thoughts of the characters, and the way they’re occasionally controlled by others, the book features more thought bubbles than all the other books combined. Even before the mental telepathy stuff starts, we’re seeing the thoughts of a variety of characters in a way that’s somewhat unfamiliar. Even when Snowy would air his thoughts in previous books, they’d usually come in the form of spoken speech bubbles that no one seemed to acknowledge – because he’s a talking dog – rather than thought bubbles. Anyway, it’s a little strange.

Aside from the preponderance of thought bubbles, things seem to be going along fairly normally for a Tintin book until, on page 38, Tintin exclaims “I feel as though someone’s speaking right in my head.” And it gets a little weird from there. The book has some entertaining moments, and some satisfying comeuppance for long-time bad guys Rastapopoulos and Allan, but the flying saucer and alien subplot, though oblique and well done, still seem a little odd for the otherwise strenuously realistic series.

We began deliberations today, and I’ve got just one book left, the unfinished Tintin and Alph-Art. I’ve read the first English translation and assembly from 1990, but recently received the updated 2004 translation, with more of Hergé’s notes and sketches, which I have yet to read, and which should be a treat. Here’s hoping my project and the trial come to a nice, simultaneous conclusion.