King Ottokar s Sceptre (The Adventures of Tintin)

Description

The classic graphic novel. Tintin meets Professor Alembick, an expert with a very rare royal seal in his collection-the seal of King Ottokar the IV of Syldavia. Tintin joins the professor on his trip to this foreign land, but can the Professor be trusted?Political unrest in Europe in the late 1930s influenced Herge when he wrote King Ottokar s Sceptre, in which Tintin and absent-minded Professor Alembick travel to Syldavia to try to avert a confrontation with neighboring Borduria. The history Herge creates for his fictional Eastern European country is complex and fascinating, and a locked-room mystery and cross-country pursuit make for one of Tintin s more entertaining adventures. Syldavia and Borduria would return in later stories, as would one of Herge s most memorable characters, Bianca Castafiore, the "Milanese Nightingale" renowned for her rendition of the "Jewel Song" from Faust. --David Horiuchi