History Recap / TintinLandOfBlackGold

Land of Black Gold (1950) is the 15th adventure of {{Tintin}}, set in the troubled [[UsefulNotes/TheMiddleEast Middle East]]. The story starts with car engines exploding due to contaminated petrol. Most forms of transport cut down on their use of fuel until the situation is rectified, hurting the world economy, while mutual suspicion among countries leads the world to the brink of war. Tintin decides to investigate and finds himself involved in international intrigues, centered on who controls the precious black gold.

The album re-introduces the villain Doctor J. W. Müller, who had debuted in [[Recap/TintinTheBlackIsland The Black Island]] (1938). It has a complex publication history. The original version of the story was published in 1939-1940. Set in the British Mandate of Palestine, it had Tintin caught up in the then-ongoing MeleeATrois between the British colonial authorities, the Irgun (a Zionist paramilitary force engaged in terrorist activities), and local Arab insurgents. Müller was depicted as a Nazi agent attempting to take advantage of the conflict.

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: Abdallah was based on a picture of Faisal II of Iraq when he was young.

* WouldHurtAChild: Dr. Müller hits Abdallah when the BrattyHalfPint gets on his nerves. Later Captain Haddock [[DontMakeMeTakeMyBeltOff turns the boy over his knee]] as well.

* DeusExMachina: Captain Haddock turns up towards the end of the story to rescue Tintin. Haddock is virtually absent from the story until this point due to having been "mobilized" in the first page, and there is no explanation for his sudden appearance. He could hardly be aware of Tintin's exact whereabouts. Severely lampshaded: see ItsALongStory below.

* FlyCrazy: Dr Müller swats away a wasp and in the process, accidentally knocks off everything on his desk. Including a box of sneezing powder, which causes Tintin (in disguise) to [[SneezeOfDoom blow his cover]].

* GeorgeLucasAlteredVersion: This story was changed drastically three times! In 1940, while it was being published in ''Le Petit Vingtième'', the story referenced the 1939 Palestinian conflict. Halfway the story, the Nazis invaded Belgium and the story was interrupted, ending right on a cliff hanger where Tintin is tied up by Müller and left behind in the desert. The final panel shows him half-buried in the sand while a sand storm breaks loose. After the war, Hergé decided to revisit the story, but changed most of the plot. Then, during the 1960s British publishers asked him to make more significant changes. The direct references to Palestina and British colonial officers were removed and replaced by an a-political story set in a fictional Arabic country. This, of course, meant that a lot of drawings had to be redrawn again.

* {{Irony}}: A breakdown truck... broken down.
* ItsALongStory: Haddock meets Tintin at the end, and is very adamant in his repeated attempts to explain what happened to him offscreen ("It's quite simple - and, at the same time, rather complicated..."), only to be interrupted every time. Eventually, he gives up, BreakingTheFourthWall to tell the reader "you'll never know!"[[note]]This is because the original, abandoned version of the story predated the introduction of Haddock in ''The Crab With the Golden Claws''; Haddock's attempts to explain how he was able to come to Tintin's rescue are intended as a metafictional joke about how he does not belong in the story.[[/note]]

* PaperBagPopping: Abdallah pranks Haddock this ways in the desert.

* RiddleForTheAges: Captain Haddock shows up to rescue Tintin even though he was half a world away, and never gets around to explaining how that was possible. He's interrupted right after "It's both very simple and very complicated." (or, in the English version, "Well...you see, it's like this...")

The album re-introduces the villain Doctor J. W. Müller, who had debuted in [[Recap/TintinTheBlackIsland The Black Island]] (1938). It has a complex publication history. The original version of the story was published in 1939-1940. Set in the British Mandate of Palestine, it had Tintin caught up in the then-ongoing MeleeATrois between the British colonial authorities, the Irgun (a zionist paramilitary force engaged in terrorist activities), and local Arab insurgents. Müller was depicted as a Nazi agent attempting to take advantage of the conflict.

* ItsALongStory: Haddock meets Tintin at the end, and is very adamant in his repeated attempts to explain what happened to him offscreen ("It's quite simple - and, at the same time, rather complicated..."), only to be interrupted every time. Eventually, he gives up, BreakingTheFourthWall to tell the reader "you'll never know!"

* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: Averted. Tintin was introduced in 1929 as a newspaper reporter, his adventures taking place when he is sent to distant lands to report on them. But most of his later stories don't feature this aspect of the character. A brief scene at the beginning of this story stands as the last depiction of his reporting career in the entire series.

* ThurstyDesert: Both the Thompsons as well as Tintin run through the desert looking for water.

* WouldHitAChild: Dr. Müller hits Abdallah when the BrattyHalfPint gets on his nerves. Later Captain Haddock [[DontMakeMeTakeMyBeltOff turns the boy over his knee]] as well.

!!Tropes

* EducationThroughPyrotechnics: Happens twice in this tale. An oil executive is telling Tintin that he is confident his team of scientists will find the answer as to why petrol is exploding without cause, when one of them rings to report failure. Oh and if they want him to continue, they'll have to build a new lab! In the end Professor Calculus finds the answer, but only after destroying a large part of Marlinspike Hall, much to Captain Haddock's outrage.

* GeorgeLucasAlteredVersion: This story was changed drastically three times! In 1940, while it was being published in ''Le Petit Vingtième'', the story referenced the 1939 Palestinian conflict. Half way the story, the Nazis invaded Belgium and the story was interrupted, ending right on a cliff hanger where Tintin is tied up by Müller and left behind in the desert. The final panel shows him half buried in the sand while a sand storm breaks loose. After the war Hergé decided to revisit the story, but changed most of the plot. Then, during the 1960s British publishers asked him to make more significant changes. The direct references to Palestina and British colonial officers were removed and replaced by an a-political story set in a fictional Arabic country. This, of course, meant that a lot of drawings had to be redrawn again.

* SpoiledBrat: Abdallah, to the point of actively hindering his own rescue.

* HidingInAHijab: Tintin and Captain Haddock sneak past Khemed guards while wrapped up and balancing urns on their heads. The captain trips, nearly swears, and manages to keep the urn balanced to the guards' unhidden admiration.

* ShoutOut:
** In the original French version The Thompsons listen to the song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0KWyWwVp0E ''Boum'' by Charles Trenet]] being used as an advertising jingle on their car radio.
** ''ComicBook/SpirouAndFantasio'': In the album ''Le Groom Vert-de-Gris'', a re-imagination of ''Spirou'' set during the Nazi occupation of 1942, a bearded Nazi who looks exactly like Dr. Müller from ''Tintin in the Land of Black Gold'' can be seen.
** Another ''Spirou'' special album, ''Les Marais du temps'', opens with a scene where the landlord of a Paris bistro is listening to ''Boum'' on an evergreen channel, and as at the beginning of ''Land of Black Gold'' this is the cue for an explosion that starts of the story.

* ArtisticLicenseGeography: The first two versions of the story took place in British Mandate Palestine, and Bab El-Ehr is a local insurgent against British rule rather than fighting directly with the Emir of Khemed (a name not heard until the revamped edition). As Tintin is led away into the desert, he eventually meets the oil-rich Emir Ben Kalish Ezab. Israel/Palestine famously has no oil in it. And Emir of what, anyway? Later editions have the story take place in a fictional country called Khemed.

* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: Averted. Tintin was introduced in 1929 as a newspaper reporter. His adventures taking place when when he is sent to distant lands to report on them. But most of his later stories don't feature this aspect of the character. A brief scene at the beginning of this story stands as the last depiction of his reporting career in the entire series.

The story was never completed due to the events of WorldWarII. Belgium was set under German occupation and Hergé could no longer depict Nazi villains, for obvious reasons. He discontinued the story and turned to safer story subjects for the duration of the War. In 1948, Hergé relaunched the story with several changes in art and script. The characters of Captain Haddock and Professor Calculus, created following the publication of the original version, were added to the plot. This version was completed by 1950, but was already looking dated at the time, as not only had the British Mandate had ended back in 1948, but also the new countries of UsefulNotes/{{Israel}} and UsefulNotes/{{Jordan}} had emerged in its place, and the UsefulNotes/ArabIsraeliConflict had started.

* SpoiledBrat: Abdallah.

The story was never completed due to the events of WorldWarII. Belgium was set under German occupation and Hergé could no longer depict Nazi villains, for obvious reasons. He discontinued the story and turned to safer story subjects for the duration of the War. In 1948, Hergé relaunched the story with several changes in art and script. The characters of Captain Haddock and Professor Calculus, created following the publication of the original version, were added to the plot. This version was completed by 1950. But already looked dated at the time. The British Mandate had ended back in 1948. The new countries of UsefulNotes/{{Israel}} and UsefulNotes/{{Jordan}} had emerged in its place, and the UsefulNotes/ArabIsraeliConflict had started.

** In the original French version The Thompsons listen to the song ''Boum'' by Charles Trenet being used as an advertising jingle on their car radio.

** ComicBook/SpirouEtFantasio: In the album ''Le Groom Vert-de-Gris'', a re-imagination of ''Spirou'' set during the Nazi occupation of 1942, a bearded Nazi who looks exactly like Dr. Müller from ''Tintin in the Land Of Black Gold'' can be seen.

** In the original French version The Thompsons listen to the song ''Boum'' by Charles Trenet on their car radio. Outside the francophone world this song is less known, so it was changed to an advertising jingle.

* DeusExMachina: Captain Haddock turns up towards the end of the story to rescue Tintin. Haddock is virtually absent from the story until this point due to having been "mobilized" in the first page, and there is no explanation for his sudden appearance. He could hardly be aware of Tintin's exact whereabouts.
** Severely lampshaded: see ItsALongStory below.

** Many of the Arabic names and place names are bastardizations of the Marol dialect, a Flemish dialect spoken in Brussels. Creator/{{Herge}}'s mother spoke it and he remembered many phrases and expressions. Khemed, for instance is derived from "'k Hem 't" ("I've got it!"). Sheikh Bab El Ehr's name is a pun on "babbeler" ("talkative person") and Ben Kalisj Ezab is derived from "kalisjessap", which means "water from the sink".

* PunnyName: The capital of Khemed, an oil-exporting nation, is called "Khemikhal".