Tintin Cover Art Part One Trivia Quiz

Answer: Tintin in America

Executed by tomahawk, no less! Yes, among the many people who try to do away with our hero during his time in the US are a tribe of Blackfoot Native Americans. The scene in which they tie him to a stake and prepare to chastise him is reproduced on the cover.

Answer: The Secret of the Unicorn

Lionheart though he is, Snowy often has cause to look scared on the cover. In the case of these four titles, however, only "The Secret of the Unicorn" has a scared Snowy - but wouldn't any of us be scared if confronted with a scowling, cutlass-wielding Haddock? Especially when we notice the empty bottle on the floor.

Answer: Red Rackham's Treasure

Once Haddock had been introduced into Tintin's world (in "The Crab with the Golden Claws"), he featured in all subsequent stories, but he didn't always make the cover. Although he's there on the front of the first part of the story, "The Secret of the Unicorn", the second part has Tintin and Snowy down by the sea floor in their oddly-shaped submarine.

Answer: Land of Black Gold

The formidable detectives are sitting on the back seat of Tintin's jeep as he, and his prisoner Dr. Muller, drive across the desert. You could be forgiven for not recognizing them though - thanks to some ill-judged self-medication, the duo appear here with six-foot, bright green beards and hair.

Answer: 4

They are: "The Seven Crystal Balls" (a startled-looking Calculus), "The Calculus Affair" (an unconscious Calculus), "Destination Moon" (an angry-looking Calculus), and "Tintin and the Picaros" (an even angrier-looking Calculus).

Answer: Flight 714

Tintin is, of course, a crack shot with a pistol, and not too squeamish to shoot at a person when he deems it necessary. On the cover of "Flight 714" it isn't just a pistol he's got - he and Haddock are both packing submachine guns. I thought he was supposed to be a reporter!

Answer: Tintin in Tibet

On the cover of "Tintin in Tibet", as the characters gaze in disquiet on the footsteps of the yeti, Haddock and Snowy are facing away, but Tintin himself is standing side on. On the other three covers given here, the reader cannot see his face (although doubtless he's wearing a look of cool-headed resourcefulness).

Answer: The Seven Crystal Balls

While the other three titles given depict the action against a bright blue sky, "The Seven Crystal Balls" shows Calculus being menaced by a fireball against a green background. I don't know about you, but when I was a very young Tintin fan, I found this book a tad scary - especially the scene where he has a nightmare about Rascar Capac sneaking through his window.

Answer: A boulder

Tintin, Haddock, and Snowy are crouching with the unconscious Calculus behind a large boulder (technically, I think it's two boulders, but I'm sure you'll forgive me) as the minions of a sinister but fictional Eastern European country pursue them. Calculus' genius is in such demand in the later books that it's hard to remember that he started off as a whacko with a shark-shaped submarine.

Answer: Prisoners of the Sun

Snowy is rarely disobedient, but he makes an exception for any bones that he finds. We learn from the book that the bone is a flute made from a human tibia.

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