I recently found a Rupert the Bear annual that I had when I was a kid (40+ years ago). If it were to be published today it would be deemed highly racist. Like the early Tintins it reflected attitudes of the times.

My brother picked up a copy of 'The Sexual Adventures of TinTin' on a visit to France years ago, which showed TinTin getting it on with all sorts of ladies from across Europe, the old sea captain bloke and even the dog at one point. Sounds like this latest incarnation was decidedly tame by comparison!

I would agree that whatever debauched stuff he gets up to, it is not going to be half as offensive as the inherent racism in early TinTin books.

If I recall copyright law correctly, you can use the names and likeness of copyrighted characters for purposes of parody and satire. One would think the offending book would fall into this category.

The estate of Herge has previously tried to sue a painter, who uses characters from Tintin (including the boy himself) in pictures with scantily clad ladies, but they lost the case due to the parody/satire clause. See http://www.oleahlberg.dk/galleri-eng.html for some samples of the (quite well done) paintings.

I understand Anne Widdecombe is saving herself for him.

"Anybody ever read any of the early Tintins, where blacks are depicted in a manner reminiscent of thos nasty KKK cartoons from the '20s?"

I think that was the point being made?

The French have been doing this sort of parody for years. Why suddenly object to the Spanish having a go? And where can I get a copy, I could do with a good laugh?

So new work killed to support unproductive overhead known as 'the TinTin estate'.... McCreevy must be proud.

All the productive stuff would still happen (all that and more), but without the overhead of supporting the 'estates' moral rights. As for moral rights, well the estate is now controlled by the husband of the second wife of Herge, what moral rights does he have? What moral right did his second wife have even?

http://www.expatica.com/be/articles/news/herges-nephew-slams-tintin-estate-17944.html

Do you hear that sound? [silence] That's the sound of the earth NOT shattering after Cliff Richard lost copyright on the recording of his early recordings of other people's creative efforts.

Shockingly the world also didn't end when Bob the builder built the architects original plan of my house in brick form without 95 years exclusive rights to it.

Remarkable that the earth doesn't shatter when things go out of copyright. Bill Haley did not rise from the grave because his moral rights to the original recording of rock around the clock expired. In fact remarkably little bad happened at all.

/rant

Perhaps a little common sense on copyright and other IP matters is called for.

It's funny how things get forgotten. A few years ago, the author Michael Tuten wrote a book called "Tintin in the New World", and, if memory serves, with the full support and knowledge of either Herge himself or the estate.

One thing I certainly remember is that by the end of it young Tintin wasn't a virgin any more. I seem to recall at least one encounter with a female woman of the opposite sex. (I'd go and get the exact reference but unfortunately my copy is in storage at the moment.) I'd even be prepared to claim there's a reference to her pulling the estimable reporter's boxers down before the act, as it were...

So it all this prudery is a bit late. Of course, it could be because it's drawn rather than written, but even so...

Was a tranny in ancient Gaul called a Menhir?

"What did you expect - all frogs are degenerate racists"

And that is not a xenophobic and racist comments?

Anyone heard the original recordings of The Beatles classic "Get Back"? It's probably only available as a bootleg.

It's all about people of Pakistani origin coming over here and taking their jobs and how they should get back to where they belong.

Of course, at that time, the beatles weren't *musicians* as a full time job, so their real jobs (and the jobs of their friends: this was, after all, before they became too famous to hobnob with the riffraff) were at risk.

But, when they became musicians (with plenty of dosh) and their jobs weren't at risk, they changed the lyrics to something less racist.

Heh, tintin of the boro, i'd forgotten about that. not exactly the pinnacle of humour, but some entertaining quotes from it.

on a slightly different note, a while ago i bought a dvd with a few episodes of "superman vs the japs" on it for a quid, that was enlightening

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Tintin:_Breaking_Free>

For the record, it's not actually very interesting.

She walked up to me and she asked me to dance

I asked her her name and in a dark brown voice she said lola

L-o-l-a lola lo-lo-lo-lo lola

People have been creating derivative works on famous characters and stories for years, a substantial proportion of which are pornographic. In most cases, the creators have had more sense than to try to get their derivative works on general release. One example I have seen was Tintin in "Breaking Free", where he and Captain Haddock foment a workers' revolt in England. It was distributed privately, and sold through radical bookshops.

Yes, Hergé stereotyped the black people. He also stereotyped the Japanese, the Chinese, the peoples of India, and also the Americans and the English. In fact, he stereotyped *everyone*, including his main characters. The sea captain battling alcoholism. The absent-minded inventor. The incompetent old-school detectives. Strangest of all, the boy reporter who travels the world, but never files a story. It should be noted that Hergé tried to mend his ways to a certain extent later in his career. The scenery in "The Blue Lotus" (and other later books) was properly referenced from life sketches done by friends who were touring, and there was a sequence where Tintin and Chang discuss, and laugh at, European stereotypes of the Chinese.

woosh!

You must be a short-arsed pinko to have had that one fly over your head.

Good grief, have none of you ever seen "Allo Allo"?

If the answer is no, then here is a simple explanation - it was something of a running joke with the Gestapo describing women as "female women of the opposite sex" especially when they brought in camp connotations. Geesh.

Nick Rodwell manages Herge's estate like a pitbull, trying to transform it into some posh concept and squeeze the most money of it he can of royalties. He's alienated all the comics world and Tintins friends in Belgium. He's not really loved. Nothing new.

Torben Mogensen says:

"If I recall copyright law correctly, you can use the names and likeness of copyrighted characters for purposes of parody and satire."

UK copyright law, and I'm fairly sure EU law, contains no get-out on the basis of parody or satire. This is, however, true of American copyright law.

Of course it was.

Nothing to do with people whose livelihood is on the line will look on any issue likely to see them fail will demonise the threat to them.

cf RIAA vs P2P

cf MPAA vs VHS home recording

etc

You can understand it happening.

In the case of the Beatles, if they meant satire, why did they bury the recording?

Yes I remember that some 30 years ago, think it was called "French Comics" a collection of hillarious offbeat COMIX.