Best 1931 Adventures (1)
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April 23, 2016
One in a series of 10 posts identifying Josh Glenn’s favorite 1931 adventure novels. Happy 85th anniversary!
Hergé’s bande dessinée adventure Tintin en Amérique (Tintin in America).
In the third volume of The Adventures of Tintin, the young reporter-adventurer and his dog, Snowy, traverse a European fantasy version of America — one populated by murderous Prohibition-era gangsters and primitive Wild West-style Indians. The action is non-stop: Tintin captures members of Al Capone’s mob, but corrupt Chicago police let them get away; Capone’s rival, Bobby Smiles, attempts to hire Smiles… but Tintin has Smiles’s gang arrested. Tintin pursues Smiles to a Midwestern town (offensively named Redskin City), only to be captured by a Blackfoot tribe who plans to execute him. Tintin escapes, evades a lynch mob and a wildfire, and captures Smiles… but then Snowy is kidnapped! What next?
Fun fact: Published as a color album in 1945.
Let me know if I’ve missed any 1931 adventures that you particularly admire.