Storybook Heroes No 4: Tintin

Storybook Heroes No 4: Tintin

NAME Tintin

BORN 1929

DEFINING MOMENT Tintin made his debut appearance in Le Petit Vingtieme, a supplement for young people of the daily newspaper Le XXe Siecle in Brussells. "We are always eager to satisfy our readers and keep them up to date on foreign affairs. We have therefore sent Tintin, one of our top reporters, to Soviet Russia.

WHY WE LOVE TIN TIN

• His rockabilly quiff, cut-off trousers with de rigueur huge turn-ups (his caual look for the weekend).
• He's a heroic little soul, quick-witted and almost invincible.
• His sidekick Snowy is a constant companion (since the ageless Tintin never has any love interest) and with his fondness for whisky he makes a great comic contrast to goody-goody Tintin.
• The baddies are just so bad - and very un-pc stereotypes of pesky Russians and dodgy arabs. When Tintin goes to America, he comes face to face with gangster Al Capone - and Herge doesn't even try to disguise the fact.

* The supporting cast are memorable, including Captain Haddock, a foul-mouthed drunkard, and those bumbling detectives, The Thomson Twins.

READ MORE: The Adventures Of Tintin by Hergé is published by Scholastic.