Tintin/Recap/Tintin and Alph Art

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The 24th and final Tintin adventure, unfinished due to an unfortunate case of Author Existence Failure.

An art craze sweeps over Europe - everyone is suddenly obsessed with Alph-Art, or statues of letters. Even the Captain buys an H, but Tintin remains skeptical of the movement. He looks into Alph-Art's origins, and finds his usual mess of crooks and swindlers (including Sakharine, Mr. Gibbons, Mr. Trickler, and Emir Ben Kalish Ezab) using Alph-Art as a cover for forgeries. However, he is eventually caught, and Herge's last panel shows Tintin being marched away, to be covered with plastacine and sold off as a statue.


Tropes

  • Arab Oil Sheikh: Emir Ben Kalish Ezab uses his oil profits to negotiate the purchase of Windsor Castle and Centre Georges Pompidou, respectively landmarks of the United Kingdom and France.
  • Drink Order: Captain Haddock usually goes for Loch Lomond whiskey. In this story, Haddock can no longer drink due to the lingering effects of a pill used on him by Calculus. The withdrawal is causing him various problems and a change in lifestyle.
  • Left Hanging: The story ends with Tintin captured by a mysterious enemy. He is scheduled to be killed ... and there is no resolution.
  • Mad Artist: The story would have had Tintin encountering the modern art scene and becoming the focal point of one of these.
  • Nightmare Sequence: Haddock has a nightmare involving Bianca Castafiore. At first it simply involves Bianca forcing him to drink 'his medicine". Said medicine is whisky, which Haddock can no longer drink without ill effects. He tries to resist and Bianca turns into a giant bird-like creature. She attacks him and the dreaming sequence ends.