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Tintin and the Picaros is the twenty-third tale in The Adventures of Tintin series, written and illustrated by Hergé. This was the last book Hergé was able to fully complete before his death. This story sees Tintin return to South America, this time with his friends to aid him in his plight.

Synopsis[]

Tintin and his dog Snowy visit their friends Captain Haddock and Professor Calculus at Marlinspike Hall. There, they learn that Bianca Castafiore, her maid Irma, pianist Igor Wagner and the detectives Thomson and Thompson have been imprisoned in San Theodoros for allegedly attempting to overthrow the military government of General Tapioca. Tapioca's government have further alleged that the plot was masterminded by Tintin, Haddock, and Calculus themselves.

Tapioca invites the trio to visit San Theodoros, promising them safe passage, but Tintin deems it to be a trap, leaving Haddock and Calculus to go alone. Once there, Haddock and Calculus are taken to a rural villa, where they are closely monitored by the security services. Tintin joins his friends a few days later, where he points out to Haddock and Calculus that their villa is bugged. He recognises one of the staff as Pablo. From Pablo, Tintin learns that the entire scenario is a plot organised by Colonel Sponsz, a figure in the Bordurian military who is assisting Tapioca's government in order to gain revenge against Tintin.

With Pablo's assistance, Tintin, Snowy, Haddock, and Calculus escape from their guards on a pyramid and seek refuge with General Alcazar and his small band of anti-Tapioca guerrillas, the Picaros, who are hiding in the South American jungle. After realising that Pablo is a double agent working for Tapioca, they escape an assault by a field gun. Tintin, Haddock, Calculus and Alcazar find out that Tapioca has been air-dropping loads of whiskey into the jungle to intoxicate the Picaros. They take shelter for a time with the Arumbayas, an indigenous community who live within the forest. Here, Tintin is reunited with his old acquaintance, the eccentric explorer Ridgewell, who is living with them.

They reach the Picaros' camp the next morning only to find out the bottles reached there before them. Alcazar is continually henpecked by his shrewish wife, Peggy, who nags him constantly about his failure to achieve a successful revolution. Fortunately, Calculus has invented a pill that makes alcohol disgusting to anyone who ingests it (which he proves to have tested on Haddock, much to the latter's annoyance). Tintin offers to use the pill to cure the Picaros of their alcoholism if Alcazar agrees to refrain from killing Tapioca and his men. Alcazar reluctantly agrees; moments after his men are cured, Jolyon Wagg arrives with his musical troupe the "Jolly Follies", who intend to perform at the upcoming carnival in Tapiocapolis.

Alcazar, with a little advice from Tintin, launches an assault on Tapioca's palace during the carnival by 'borrowing' the troupe's costumes and sneaking his men into the capital. He finally topples Tapioca, but on Tintin's urging, does not execute him. Tapioca is instead forced to publicly surrender his powers to Alcazar, and is banished, while a disappointed Sponsz is sent back to Borduria. Meanwhile, Thomson and Thompson are due to be shot on the same day as the carnival. Although as naive as ever in their observations, the detectives show courage by refusing to be blindfolded. Tintin and Haddock reach the state prison in time to prevent the executions from occurring. Castafiore, Irma, and Wagner are also released, and Alcazar can finally give his wife the palace he has promised. With all matters resolved, Tintin and his friends leave.

As they fly home, Tintin and Haddock express gratitude about being able to go home. The second-to-last panel shows a final, skeptical political message: as under Tapioca, the city slums are filled with wretched, starving people and patrolled by apathetic police. Nothing has changed, except the police uniforms and a Viva Tapioca sign that has been changed to read Viva Alcazar.

Meeting

Colonel Sponsz surprised to see Tintin and Captain Haddock show up beyond his expectations.

Changes From Earlier Books[]

Tintin and the Picaros features changes in the representation of Tintin. The most visible change is that his trousers have been modernized, as he wears bell-bottoms rather than the plus fours that he had always worn previously. In addition, the book introduces some new hobbies that Tintin had not previously engaged in: he is shown practicing yoga in his spare time, and riding a motorbike; his helmet is marked with the Peace symbol.

Also, Captain Haddock can no longer drink alcohol while Nestor develops a taste for alcoholic beverages. Nestor also is shown to eavesdrop on Tintin and Haddock's conversations.

Deleted Page[]

In the course of illustrating the story, Hergé found that he had gone beyond the 62-page limit required by his publishers. Therefore, he took out a page that follows the one in which Tintin has shown Haddock all covert listening devices and hidden cameras in their villa, and after Sponsz tells Alvarez how it was he who framed Castafiore.

Tintin and the Picaros (Missing Pages)


The deleted scene has Sponsz announcing how he will break his enemies and throws his glass to the floor, but it is of the unbreakable variety and bounces back and breaks the moustache of a bust of Kûrvi-Tasch. Alvarez bursts into laughter, before being put in his place and asked to bring in "you-know-who" (most likely Pablo who appears in the following page). Sponsz suspects that Alvarez will claim that he broke the bust deliberately. He thus warns the young officer about his prospects for advancement. Alvarez gets the message and Sponsz tells him to "sack that clumsy cleaning lady who broke Kûrvi-Tasch's moustache." The scene was also additionally deleted because it was too similar to the scene in Flight 714, where Rastapopoulos claims he will crush Tintin like a spider, but then fails to trample the insect.

This deleted scene was later used in an article in which Hergé demonstrated how a single page in a comic book was developed from rough sketches to a fully drawn and colourised page.

Appearances[]

Characters[]

Locations[]

Organizations[]

The Adventures of Tintin

LS | TC | TA | CP | BL | BE | BI | KO | CG | SS | SU | RR | SC | PS | LB | DM | EM | CA | RS | TT | CE | FS | TP | AA | guide to abbreviations

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