Land of Black Gold: Difference between revisions

'''''Land of Black Gold''''' ({{lang-fr|link=no|'''Tintin au pays de l'or noir'''}}) is the fifteenth volume of ''[[The Adventures of Tintin]]'', the comics series by Belgian cartoonist [[Hergé]]. The story was commissioned by the conservative Belgian newspaper {{lang|fr|[[Le Vingtième Siècle]]}} for its children's supplement {{lang|fr|[[Le Petit Vingtième]]}}, in which it was initially serialised from September 1939 until the [[German invasion of Belgium (1940)|German invasion of Belgium]] in May 1940, at which the newspaper was shut down and the story interrupted. After eight years, Hergé returned to ''Land of Black Gold'', completing its serialisation in Belgium's ''[[Tintin (magazine)|Tintin]]'' magazine from September 1948 to February 1950, after which it was published in a collected volume by [[Casterman]] in 1950. Set on the eve of a European war, the plot revolves around the attempts of young Belgian reporter [[Tintin (character)|Tintin]] to uncover a militant group responsible for sabotaging oil supplies in the Middle East.

==SynopsisPlot==

Across Europe, car engines are spontaneously exploding; this coincides with the spectre of a potential war throughout the continent, resulting in [[Captain Haddock]] being [[Mobilization|mobilised]] into the navy. Although detectives [[Thomson and Thompson]] initially suspect that the oil crisis is a scam intended to drive up business for a local [[roadside assistance]] company, Tintin learns from the managing director of Belgium's leading oil company, Speedol, that it is a result of someone tampering with the petrol at its source, and discovers a conspiracy involving a crew member of one of their [[oil tanker|petrol tanker]]s, the ''Speedol Star''. The three work undercover as new members of the ''Star'''s crew as it sets off for the Middle Eastern kingdom of [[Khemed]]. Recognising [[Snowy (Tintin)|Snowy]] from Tintin's earlier scouting of the ship, the treacherous mate attempts to drown the dog, but becomes [[amnesiac]] in an altercation with Tintin.

Upon arrival, Tintin and the detectives are framed and arrested by the authorities under various charges. Thomson and Thompson are cleared and released, but Tintin is kidnapped by the Arab insurgent [[Bab El Ehr]], who mistakenly believes that Tintin has information for him concerning an arms delivery. Tintin escapes and encounters an old enemy, [[Dr. Müller]], sabotaging an oil pipeline. He reunites with Thomson and Thompson during a sandstorm and eventually arrives in Khemed's capital city of Wadesdah. When Tintin narrates the sabotage orchestrated by Müller to the [[Emir]] [[Mohammed Ben Kalish Ezab]], one of the Emir's attendants, Ali Ben Mahmud, informs the Emir that his son [[Abdullah (comicsTintin)|Prince Abdullah]] is missing. Suspecting that Müller has kidnapped Abdullah, Tintin sets out to rescue the prince.{{sfn|Hergé|1972|pp=1–39}}

The fictional Arabic names that Hergé integrated into the story were parodies based on the [[Marollien]] dialect of Brussels; "Wadesdah" translated as "what is that?",{{sfnm|1a1=Thompson|1y=1991|1p=94|2a1=Farr|2y=2001|2p=130}} "Bab El Ehr" was Marollien for chatterbox,{{sfnm|1a1=Thompson|1y=1991|1p=94|2a1=Farr|2y=2001|2p=130}} Kalish Ezab derived from the Marollien term for [[liquorice watersugarelly]],{{sfnm|1a1=Thompson|1y=1991|1p=94|2a1=Farr|2y=2001|2p=130}} and Moulfrid, the last name of Kalish Ezab's military adviser Yussuf Ben Mulfrid (Youssouf Ben Moulfrid in the original French version), is named after a dish named "[[Moules-frites]]".{{sfn|Farr|2001|p=130}}

''"[[Boum !]]"'', an iconic song by [[Charles Trenet]], appears in [[parody]] as the roadside assistance company's [[jingle|advertising jingle]], which plays on Thomson and Thompson's [[car radio]] at the very beginning of the story.{{sfnm|1a1=Farr|1y=2001|1p=127|2a1=Historia|2y=2012|2p=43}} The [[Supermarine Spitfire]], a British single-seat [[fighter aircraft]], was used as the model for Kalish Ezab's plane which drops leaflets onto Bab El Ehr's camp.{{sfn|Farr|2001|p=131}}

By the late 1940s, after the end of the Second World War, Hergé was continuing to produce new instalments of ''The Adventures of Tintin'' for the Belgian magazine ''[[Tintin (magazine)|Tintin]]'', of which he was the artistic director. After completing serialisation of ''[[Prisoners of the Sun]]'' in April 1948, he ordered his staff to re-serialise one of his old stories, ''[[Popol Out West|Popol and Virginia]]'', while he took a three-month break.{{sfn|Goddin|2009|p=181}} At this point, Hergé was depressed and suffering from a range of physical ailments, including boils and [[eczema]] on his hands.{{sfn|Peeters|2012|p=207}} Although fed up with ''The Adventures of Tintin'', he felt great pressure on him to continue producing the series for ''Tintin'' magazine.{{sfn|Peeters|2012|p=207}}

On 4 August 1949, the story was suspended part way through its serialisation as Hergé left Belgium for a holiday near to [[Gland, Switzerland|Gland]] in Switzerland.{{sfn|Peeters|2012|pp=209–210}} The magazine used this as a publicity stunt, posting a headline in their next issue declaring "Shocking News: Hergé Has Disappeared!" to encourage speculation as to his whereabouts among the young readership.{{Sfnm|1a1=Assouline|1y=2009|1p=138|2a1=Peeters|2y=2012|2p=210}} His co-workers and staff at ''Tintin'' magazine were increasingly annoyed by unplanned absences such as this, which affected the entire production; his colleague [[Edgar P. Jacobs]] sent him letters urging him to return to work.{{sfn|Peeters|2012|pp=211–212}} After an absence of twelve weeks, ''Land of Black Gold'' continued serialisation on 27 October.{{Sfnm|1a1=Assouline|1y=2009|1p=138|2a1=Peeters|2y=2012|2p=214}} Following its serialisation, ''Land of Black Gold'' was collected together and published in a 62-page colour volume by Editions Casterman in 1950.{{sfn|Lofficier|Lofficier|2002|p=59}}

After Hergé had redrawn ''[[The Black Island]]'' for publication in the United Kingdom, his British publishers at that time, [[Methuen Publishing|Methuen]], suggested that alterations be made to ''Land of Black Gold'' before releasing it into the UK market; in compliance with their requests, much of the content between pages 6 and 20 was rewritten and redrawn.{{sfnm|1a1=Peeters|1y=1989|1p=91|2a1=Farr|2y=2001|2p=129|3a1=Lofficier|3a2=Lofficier|3y=2002|3p=60}} Hergé's assistant, [[Bob de Moor]], was responsible for many of the alterations.{{sfn|Lofficier|Lofficier|2002|p=60}} De Moor was sent to the port at [[Antwerp]] to sketch a 1939 oil tanker that would provide a basis for a ship that appears in the story, the ''Speedol Star''.{{sfnm|1a1=Peeters|1y=1989|1p=91|2a1=Farr|2y=2001|2p=130}} For this version, Hergé transplanted the events of the story from Palestine to the fictional Emirate of Khemed and its capital city of Wadesdah, a setting that he had used in a later adventure, ''[[The Red Sea Sharks]]''.{{sfn|Lofficier|Lofficier|2002|p=61}} This modernised third version was issued by Casterman in 1971.{{sfn|Lofficier|Lofficier|2002|p=59}}

In the original versions, Tintin arrived at [[Haifa]] in the [[Mandatory Palestine|British-occupied Mandate of Palestine]], where he was arrested by British police before being captured by members of the [[Irgun]], a [[Zionism|Zionist]] terrorist organization the [[Irgun]], who mistake him for one of their own agents (named "Finkelstein" in the first version, "Salomon Goldstein" in the second), before being abducted by a henchman of Bab El Ehr. In this revised version, Tintin arrives at Khemkhah in Khemed, where he is arrested by the Arab military police before being captured and taken directly to Bab El Ehr.{{sfnm|1a1=Farr|1y=2001|1p=129|2a1=Lofficier|2a2=Lofficier|2y=2002|2p=62}} The inclusion of forces from the British Palestinian Mandate and the Irgun were no longer seen as relevant and thus were removed from the story, including the characters of the British officers Commandant [''[[sic]]''] Thorpe and Lieutenant Edwards (respectively responsible for the Thompsons' detainment and release, and the arresting of the Irgun agents who kidnapped Tintin).{{sfn|Farr|2001|p=130}}{{sfn|Lofficier|Lofficier|2002|p=60}} These changes were also applied to a scene which a [[Supermarine Spitfire]] drops propaganda leaflets on Bab El Ehr's camp: in the earlier versions, the plane is British and Bab El Ehr threatens to shoot anyone who reads the leaflets; in the revised scene, the plane is from an unidentified rival Arabic nation and Bab El Ehr laughs off the bombardment as his men are illiterate.<ref name=versions>{{cite web|url=http://dardel.info/tintin/variantesE.html|title=Tintin: Variations|publisher=Tintin's cars|access-date=2020-01-26 January 2020}}</ref> As a result of the truncation of Tintin's kidnapping, which now occurs two pages earlier than in the second version, the Thompsons' crash into a palm tree in the desert now takes place after the aforementioned scene.{{sfn|Farr|2001|p=130}} Background details was changed accordingly, with Jewish shop fronts with Hebrew signage being removed,{{sfn|Farr|2001|p=129}} and the nonsensical pseudo-Arabic script from the earlier versions was replaced with real Arabic text.{{sfn|Farr|2001|p=130}} The political rivalry between Britain and Germany that was present in the earlier versions was also toned down.{{sfn|Farr|2001|p=130}}

Hergé biographer [[Benoît Peeters]] stated that "no book has gone through more ups and downs" than ''Land of Black Gold'',{{sfn|Peeters|1989|p=85}} adding that it carries a "mood of foreboding" caused by the impending war in the story.{{sfn|Peeters|1989|p=86}} He also felt that the introduction of the Emir and [[Abdullah (Tintin)|Abdullah]] was "the most striking innovation in this story",{{sfn|Peeters|1989|p=91}} and elsewhere declared that its earlier versions contained "not the slightest trace of anti-Semitism", despite allegations that a number of other ''Adventures'' featuring Jewish characters exhibited anti-Semitic stereotypes.{{sfn|Peeters|2012|p=209}}

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