Tintin

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      This week, I read the Adventures of Tintin, Tintin in Tibet,  as well as some EC comics, such as Two-Fisted Tales. Tintin in Tibet, made in 1960, follows the story of Tintin looking for his friend in Tibet. It is a 68 page story that follows a story structure that we are familiar with that has a beginning, middle, and end. It is adventurous and spontaneous, and has many interesting characters. Tintin is a strong-headed teenager who does not fear any adventure. About 1/3 of the panel is made up of the text. The panels vary in different sizes, although each page always has 4 rows of panels. My favorite part of this comic was following the different countries and locations that Tintin travels to, such as India, Nepal, Geneva etc. Seeing these locations that I would hope to go to myself some day.
      EC comics, on the other hand contain darker themes, and are intended for a mature audience. For example, the Two-Fisted Tales issue I read (Vol.1 No.6, 1994), is about soldiers in a war zone. This kind of a story appealed to people after WWII. It features graphic scenes of the gruesome nature of war. One strip in the comic was about an American soldier sharpening his knife, while at the same time a Chinese enemy soldier on the other side was polishing their rifle. Later, they confronted each other in battle and both perished. In a way the story is anti-war propaganda, to show people the negative consequences of war.

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