After wrapping up Tintin in America, I realized my box set did not include Tintin's adventure in the Congo, much to my confusion. And just so that I'm not mistaken for a rube (I only engage in rubic behavior on a part-time basis), I was not confused about why it's difficult to buy or find. (For those not in the know, and I'm sorry you had to find out this way, the book is extremely racist.) I was confused why this volume was singled out for removal when the Tintin books engaging in extremely nasty Sinophobia remain more or less untouched. And I'm genuinely asking here; I don't know what the situation in Belgium or elsewhere is re: this, and I'm very white, so all I'm really good for is pointing at the book and going “hey this one's still racist.” 

So I wrote my Tintin in America review and decided I would find a singleton copy of Congo when I had the chance (and read Candide in between – not sure if I'll review that). This was when I realized just how difficult it was to find this book, even secondhand. Actually, if you speak French, it's not too hard, but the English-language versions are nigh on impossible to track down unless you're willing to drop $100 or so. I take this reviewing business very seriously, but I'm also a cheapskate. Eventually, I found a copy from some online British retailer of “unwanted” books. And then, a week later, I returned to their website to buy three more books just so I wouldn't be “that guy who bought one copy of the racist Tintin comic and nothing else.” And in a few weeks, my copy arrived…in Chinese. (No, no, the book's great. I just didn't expect it to be so…Chinese.)

Eventually, I settled for the black and white edition for the sake of my print collection (maybe someday I'll be able to find the color edition at a reasonable price) and read the color edition online while stuck in bed with a fever. I suppose I hoped that I could smoke out the fever if I poisoned my brain enough.

Okay, I've teased it long enough – this one's really racist. The book is flooded with minstrel caricatures who are constantly treated like children. And it's even worse in the original black and white – Tintin is constantly pointing out their cowardice and simplicity.

I have to confess that here I'm tempted to defend Hergé, to say that he's a product of his time, and he shows a little more restraint in the color edition which indicates he felt a need to curb the most egregious part, but…I just don't want to end this review by deflecting the blow. This one's the racist one! Its legacy should be “the one that was so nasty it’s no longer on the market.” Better luck next time!