A Technical Look At Tintin in Tibet

Tintin is a comic series created by Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, also known as Hergé, and it belongs to western graphic tradition as it can be understood from its style which we will be looking at. The comic's publication began in 1929 and it caught long-lasting popularity among many adults and children.

In the Tintin series, we can see several types of typography, symbols, frames, and speech balloons. Let's take a look at a couple of pages from Tintin in Tibet for examples.

In the first frame, we can see that the porter's speech balloon has a blue question mark and a red exclamation mark. These are icons or symbols showing that the porter does not understand Captain. It is further understood with the different use of colors. He clearly a stranger to him and cannot understand. Also in the second frame, stars and a cloudy icon above Captain are indicators that the porter bumped him and he is stunned.

In the third and fourth frames, we can see how anger is depicted clearly. First, look at Captain's figure. It is pointy toward the source of his anger and lines like lightning around his head show his temper. He looks superior to the porter. In the next frame, the porter becomes the sharp figure which is superior. Lines indicating anger can be seen again around his face. Captain, on the other hand, is drawn as defensive and inferior. Little droplets around his head show that he is afraid or shocked. He takes his bag in front of him as a defense mechanism. Also, look at the porter's speech balloon it is drawn viciously with sharp spiky borders. Compared to Captain's angry speech, the porter is clearly shouting. Moreover, we can understand that we are witnessing these scene from Captain's perspective because we cannot understand the porter's language.

The fifth frame is a wider frame in the page and it serves as a transition to sixth frame. These frames are sequential, there is not much time in between. The most interesting frame in this page is the last one.

The word fire in a fiery speech balloon takes our attention immediately in this frame. The word is all in caps with an exclamation mark. It is a clear usage of icons. Also, look at Tintin. He has the same droplets around his head we saw in the fourth frame with Captain. He is shocked or worried about the source of this "fire".

On the next page, we can see the source of the fire. It is Captain who ate a hot pepper. We can see spiral lines around him through these frames. It is an indicator that he is dazed by this pepper.

The next frame shows as a narrative one. We can see a narrative balloon at the top of the frame with a different font and color. By using this frame, the narrator presents the setting and the surroundings of characters to the reader for a better and deeper understanding. Such techniques are important for effective storytelling.