The Black Island
Categories: Section stubs | Tintin books
The Black Island (originally L'Ile Noire) is a one of a series of classic comic-strip albums, written and illustrated by Belgian writer and illustrator Hergé, featuring young reporter Tintin as a hero.
The Black Island is the seventh in the series.
When The Black Island came to be published in English, Hergé's British publishers, Methuen, decided that the book did not portray Britain accurately, so Hergé had to rework it completely. Most of Methuen's proposed changes were minor, and perhaps pedantic, like the uniform of a policeman or the style of a train. One quite ironic one was the removal of a colour television in favour of a monochrome one, only a year before colour television was invented.
Synopsis
Tintin sees a plane making an emergency landing, and goes to help. But as he comes near he is shot by the pilot. Tintin recovers at a hospital where police detectives Thompson and Thomson inform him that a similar plane has crashed in a field in Sussex.
While travelling on a train coach in Belgium, Tintin is framed for the assault and theft of a fellow passenger. He escapes by handcuffing Thompson and Thomson to each other.
Arriving in England he survives another attempt on his life, thanks to Snowy. The trail leads him to Dr. J.W. Müller who, with his chauffeur Ivan, is part of a gang of money counterfeiters, led by Puschov, the so-called victim on the train.
Tintin's pursuit of Muller and Ivan ends up in a plane crash in Scotland, where a friendly farmer gets him a kilt to wear. He visits the pub at Kiltoch, where he is told strange stories about the Black Island, where an evil beast is said to roam, killing humans. He buys a boat from a villager and heads for the island. There he is almost killed by a gorilla called Ranko. Stranded on the island, Tintin discovers that it is the hideout of the gang of forgers, led by Puschov and Muller.
Tintin calls the police on their radio signalling device after watching Thompson and Thomson win an air show race on a television set. The gang is captured and Tintin returns to mainland Kiltoch, the media and press not staying very long after Ranko appears.
The gang is jailed and Ranko sent to a zoo.
Notes
When The Black Island was originally published in 1937, many aspects of the story reflected popular movies of the time, such as Alfred Hitchcock's The Thirty-Nine Steps (the pursuit to Scotland) and King Kong (Ranko the gorilla).
While talking to the old local in the pub, Tintin mentions the Loch Ness Monster which had been the subject of recent newspaper reports.
When The Black Island came to be published in English, Hergé's British publishers, Methuen, decided that the book did not portray Britain accurately, so Hergé sent his assistant, Bob de Moor, to Britain to collect material. The story was also updated from the 1930s to the 1960s.
fr:L'Île noire