Trivia / Tintin - Tintin in the Congo

• Completely Different Title:
  • The first Portuguese editions,^note which were the first-ever publishing of Tintin in a language other than French published under Salazar's dictatorship, were called Tintim em Angola ("Tintin in Angola"), in-keeping with nationalistic sentiments at the time as Angola was a Portuguese colony until 1975. Later editions have the same title as in French.
    • The Portuguese version was, in fact, the first one to replace the scene about Belgium with the math class where the kids are taught "2+2=4".
  • In Netherlands and Finland it was called what translates to "Tintin in Africa."
• Creator Backlash: Perhaps one of the biggest cases in Franco-Belgian comic book history, let alone comic book history in general. It was largely disowned by Hergé in his later life.
  "For the Congo as with Tintin in the Land of the Soviets, the fact was that I was fed on the prejudices of the bourgeois society in which I moved [...] It was 1930. I only knew things about these countries that people said at the time: 'Africans were great big children ... Thank goodness for them that we were there!' Etc. And I portrayed these Africans according to such criteria, in the purely paternalistic spirit which existed then in Belgium."
• Referenced by...:
  • The Rabbi's Cat: Both in the comic strip and the animated adaptation, Tintin has a cameo in his outfit from this album, though depicted as a racist moron.
  • Tarzoon: Shame of the Jungle: In this Tarzan parody, Tarzoon swings past a scene where Tintin is trying to convert little black Africans. When one of the Africans is distracted by Tarzoon passing by, he hits him over the head with his crucifix, while Snowy is standing by.
• What Could Have Been: Believe it or not, scriptwriter Melissa Mathison worked on a movie script inspired by Tintin in the Congo, and director Roman Polański was asked to direct. It never got off the ground.

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