Week 4 Reading Response

Tintin - Hergé

Tintin always struck me as a constantly enticing and exciting narrative that had the ability to keep me stuck to the pages despite re-reading it multiple times. As a young child, I didn't think twice of why these comics had the capacity to keep me so engrossed without effort. Now looking at some of them again; specifically Tintin in Tibet in this case, I was not surprised to notice its unique rationing of visual information, textual/written content and unconventional pictorial references to things such as newspapers, letters and- not to forget the beautiful landscapes! One interesting connection I felt was from an image from the second page-

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reminded me a lot of those "where's Waldo" or "finding something" in a crowded scene children's book illustrations. It felt as though the artist put so much effort into orchestrating such an elaborate moment with so much movement, cause and effect, and hidden detail that it's almost as if he wants the reader to navigate the panel with the curiosity of a child to find all the tiny details drawn into the scene.

Being a young child growing up in India while I read this book for the first time, I was really amused at the representation of the country/city (New Delhi) in the story. There's a comical narrative overlaid onto a factual and historical image of the location which creates a really intriguing contrast between comedy and different cultures.