Tintin and Alph-Art
Tintin and Alph-Art is the twenty-fourth story in the Tintin series and was left unfinished. Hergé decided to write a story about something close to his heart: the world of contemporary art. For the main plot, the author wove together stories about a corrupt spiritual guru and a secret art-forging business.
In the story, Tintin receives a telephone call from Bianca Castafiore, who tells him that she has arrived in Belgium for a few days. She also tells Tintin about her new spiritual leader, Endaddine Akass. Soon after, Captain Haddock visits an art gallery and buys a piece of 'Alph-Art' – the letter “H” in plastic. The owner of the gallery is killed in an apparent accident while on his way to visit Tintin. Suspicious of the accident, Tintin begins to uncover a network of criminals.
Many old characters and some new ones show up in this adventure. Tintin thinks that he has heard the voice of the mastermind, Endaddine Akass, behind the sect and the art forgeries before. Unfortunately, the story ends prematurely, before the criminal can be unmasked – Hergé died before he could complete Tintin's final adventure – though it has been speculated that Hergé ultimately intended for the guru Endaddine Akass to be Rastapopoulos in disguise.
About the Adventures of Tintin Series
Books in series order
- 1.Tintin in the Land of the Soviets(1929)
- 2.Tintin in the Congo(1930)
- 3.Tintin in America(1932)
- 4.Cigars of the Pharaoh(1934)
- 5.The Blue Lotus(1935)
- 6.The Broken Ear(1937)
- 7.The Black Island(1937)
- 8.King Ottokar's Sceptre(1939)
- 9.The Crab with the Golden Claws(1941)
- 10.The Shooting Star(1942)
- 11.The Secret of the Unicorn(1943)
- 12.Red Rackham's Treasure(1945)
- 13.The Seven Crystal Balls(1948)
- 14.Prisoners of the Sun(1949)
- 15.Land of Black Gold(1950)
- 16.Destination Moon(1953)
- 17.Explorers of the Moon(1954)
- 18.The Calculus Affair(1956)
- 19.The Red Sea Sharks(1958)
- 20.Tintin in Tibet(1960)
- 21.The Castafiore Emerald(1963)
- 22.Flight 714(1968)
- 23.Tintin and the Picaros(1976)
- 24.Tintin and Alph-Art(1986)
Reading age: 8+ years
Clever and ever-curious, Tintin is a reporter-turned-detective whose pursuit of villains, criminals, treasure and the occasional hostorical artefact takes him all over the world. Join Tintin and a colorful cast of friends, including his faithful dog Snowy, Captain Haddock, absent-minded Professor Calculus and the Twins, as they embark on an extraordinary adventures spanning historical and political events, fantasy and science-fiction adventures and thrilling mysteries. These full-color graphic novels broke new ground when they were first released and became the inspiration for countless modern-day comic artists. . Belgian-artist Hergé based his stories on real-world events and cultures that had caught the Belgian national attention—from space exploration to Arab oil wars—and brought them to life for his readers in inspiring and exciting ways.
The series was one of the most popular European comics of the 20th century, and it remains popular today. By the time of the centenary of Hergé's birth in 2007, Tintin had been published in more than 70 languages with sales of more than 200 million copies worldwide.