Tintin in trouble…

In more ways than one. This is a great story, from the Guardian, about how…

The French artist who was sued by the Tintin creator Hergé’s heirs over his paintings that place the boy adventurer in romantic encounters has won his case after a court deemed them parodies.

Xavier Marabout’s dreamy artworks imagine Tintin into the landscapes of Edward Hopper, including a take on Queensborough Bridge, 1913, or talking with a less-clothed version of Hopper’s Chop Suey.

And:

Earlier this year, the Breton artist was sued for infringement by Moulinsart, which manages the Tintin business. Moulinsart’s lawyer argued that “taking advantage of the reputation of a character to immerse him in an erotic universe has nothing to do with humour”. Marabout’s lawyer argued that the paintings were parody.

Interestingly the court argued that the paintings were clearly parodies and with ‘humorous intention’. In a way I wonder why Moulinsart thought it sensible to pursue the case – though I suppose it does set down a marker as to how far one can go with Tintin’s image.

I’ve always liked Tintin, though these days I’d be fractionally more fond of Blake and Mortimer from Hergé’s colleague Edgar P. Jacobs. And there’s a whole world of other ligne claire comic strips – most in French but all well worth a look if you’re interested in the style. Indeed interestingly the style developed as time went on, with a new twist in the 1980s as ‘atoomstijl’ (atomic style). And it has itself been parodic or self-referential or overtly political. As wiki notes:

Contemporary use of the ligne claire is often ironic or post-modern. For example, Van den Boogaard used the simple, clear style to set up a conflict with the amorality of his characters, while Tardi used it in his Adèle Blanc-Sec series to create a nostalgic atmosphere which is then ruthlessly undercut by the story. A recent serious clear line artist is the Dutchman Peter van Dongen, who created the Rampokan series about the Dutch colonisation of Indonesia.

This makes sense too given the roots of the style and indeed as a response to Hergé’s own politics and political development.