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Wednesday December 21, 2011

 
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The real life story of the Tin Tin creator

He is forever young, the teenage boy with that odd hair and his loyal dog off on another adventure that takes him around the world. TinTin is the anti-hero, the Belgian comic strip character that spawned 23 graphic novels and millions of fans over the last 70 years. But for all the pleasure he brought millions of children, TinTin's creator had a darker side. Herge - Georges Remi - found his greatest success publishing in Nazi-controlled, pro-German papers in occupied Belgium. And while TinTin's illustrations were deliberately simplistic, the life of Herge was incredibly complex. We speak with biographer Pierre Assouline on TinTin's creator.

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Part Two of The Current

The real life story of the Tin Tin creator

We started this segment with the trailer from the new Stephen Spielberg movie, Tin Tin: The Secret of the Unicorn ... a big-screen adaptation of the Belgian comic book hero's swashbuckling exploits.

The movie arrives in English Canadian theatres today, but it premiered in Quebec three weeks ago. Thibaud de Cotra took in the movie from the perspective of an illustrator and long-time Tin Tin fan. Thibaud de Cotra joined us from Montreal.

The real life story of the Tin Tin creator

Tin Tin's age has always been a little difficult to pin down -- he looks like a kid, but is old enough to roam the world on his own and hang out in bars. His youthful looks probably date back to his origins -- as an adventurous boy scout. His creator, Herge, was a little overwhelmed at how popular his drawings would become. We aired a clip of Herge interviewed in a BBC documentary.

Herge died in 1983. But his illustrations and the Tin Tin adventures continue to attract new fans and his life remains controversial as well.   has looked deeply into the life of this complicated artist. He is the author of Herge: The Man Who Created Tin Tin. He joined joined us from our studio in Paris, France.

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