This Tintin album "Flight 714 to Sydney" was published in 1968 as number twenty two in the series. This is an intense and action packed album with some great humor in it. This fascinating story has mystery, conspiracies, billionaires, hijacking, kidnapping, attempted murder, deception, betrayal, cruel criminals, guerillas, super natural forces, extra terrestrial forces, amnesia, and exploding volcanoes. The story will take so many unexpected turns and it is so interesting and intelligently constructed that you cannot stop reading it. It is one of my favorite Tintin albums and on my best to least good list (see below) I have rated it as my third favorite after "Tintin in Tibet" and "Blue Lotus". For those who do not know, an album is a hardback comic book with the pictures in series like a photo album.
The Tintin comic books were created by the Belgian comic book writer and artist Georges Prosper Remi under the pen name Hergé. His first Tintin album "Tintin in the Land of the Soviets" appeared in the pages of Le Petit Vingtième on January 10, 1929 and his last completed album was "Tintin and the Picaros" in 1975/1976. I've read all of the Tintin albums as a child, in Swedish, and today I am reading them again with my kids this time in English. The Tintin albums are very well known throughout the world but are unfortunately not as well known in the U.S. It is my experience that American kids will love these albums once they have been acquainted with them. My kids love them and their friends love them too, and most likely your kids will like them as well.
About the characters
Tintin is a Belgian investigative reporter who gets involved in dangerous and eventful adventures around the world. Other characters in this adventure is his talking dog, a fox terrier called Snowy, and Tintin's good friend Captain Haddock. A lot of the best comic situations arise from Captain Haddock's hot temper in combination with his bad luck and above all his creative use of words. Another source of many comic situations is the genial but hearing-impaired Professor Cuthbert Calculus. In this story they also meet an old friend Piotr Skut who is now the Pilot for a private Jet owned by the eccentric millionaire Laszlo Carreidas "the millionaire who never laughs". They will also meet some old enemies, for example, the movie producer and millionaire (or former millionaire) the evil Rastapopolous and the scheming and cruel Captain Allan.
About the storyTintin, Captain Haddock and Calculus are on their way to Sydney for an astronautical conference. Their flight makes a refueling stop in Jakarta's Kemayoran Airport where they happen to meet their old friend Skut. The Captain notices what he believes is a poor lonely and sick hobo sitting on a bench and decides to slip a five dollar bill in under the hat of the poor man to help him out. The Captain hopes that this will allow the poor man to buy some food. Later Skut introduces Tintin, Captain Haddock, and the Professor to his boss Laszlo Carreidas. There are two men present; a well dressed man and the hobo. Captain Haddock assumes that the well dressed man is Laszlo Carreidas and is impressed that such a rich man has taken on the poor man. Laszlo Carreidas must have a good heart. The Captain shakes hand with the well dressed man who turns out not to be Laszlo Carreidas but his secretary. What the Captain thought was a hobo was Laszlo Carreidas.
Next Professor Calculus notices the five dollar bill sticking out from in under Laszlo Carreidas hat and takes it out and presto gives it to him. This trick makes Laszlo Carreidas laugh for the first time in years. This prompts Laszlo Carreidas to want to celebrate and he invites them on board his private Jet. He intends to take them himself to Sydney. The Jet is subsequently hijacked by Criminals who want to steal his fortune. The criminals are getting assistance from Laszlo Carreidas own secretary. The hijackers take the Jet to a mysterious volcanic island where they give Laszlo Carreidas truth serum in an attempt to extract his account number for his secret Swiss bank account. The Criminals are planning to kill them all but strange and unexpected things happen that will make events take unexpected turns. The story that follows is an action packed story which is very original, as well as a little bit strange. The story contains, for example, the following elements; an ancient civilization hidden underground, an exploding volcano, flowing lava in caves and underground temple corridors, super natural forces, extraterrestrial intervention, and collective amnesia. This unique story will keep you interested.
There are many great comic episodes in the story; however, I would like to give an example of one of them that occurs in the beginning. When Laszlo Carreidas realized that he had laughed for the first time in many years he wanted to celebrate by toasting with a glass of Sani Cola; his own special brand. He offers everyone a glass of Sani Cola, however, the Captain finds the drink undrinkable and he discretely pours it into the soil of a large Ficus plant that is behind him. While the Captain is standing there and looking innocent with his empty glass the Ficus tree is quickly dying behind him and drops one of its big, now brown, leaves on his head. The cartoon picture with Captain Haddock standing with his empty glass with a big rotten leaf on his head is simply price less. Despite the fact that the story is action packed and sometimes scary and dark it is also full of light hearted fun and laughter. This story really showed how much Hergé had improved his story telling technique since his early days. I highly recommend this Tintin album.
Click here to see a complete list and a description of all Tintin albums and my opinion about them:
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