Tintin Forums

Hergé's original artwork for the cover of The Blue Lotus has been sold today in Paris for €3.2 million, a new world record for the most expensive comic book artwork.

Story here.

17 Jan 2021 16:22 - Merged topic:
Tintin cover art sells for record-breaking €3.2m...

... as reported in the Guardian. That is about, US$3.8m, £2.8m sterling or AUS$5m.

It is the original design that Herge drew for the "Blue Lotus" cover but was deemed "too expensive to mass produce because it featured too many colours" so he redrew it as the cover we know today.

The original was given to Jean-Paul Casterman, the young son of his publisher, who put it in a drawer and left it there. Jean-Paul's own children found it and put it up for auction.

Start opening those drawers and attic boxes...:)

Here's a better view of it.

I like the frown on Snowy's face, and the look of apprehension on Tintin's as he faces the dragon, albeit a wall painting. The scene is when they are spying on their enemies, but I've often thought that it was really "They are hiding in the vase from the terrible dragon" and often wondered if that was actually what Herge himself was trying to convey, which, I should think, would be typical of his kind of humour.

Note to moderators: I've just seen a new user called Blessed Lightning made a discussion on the same topic, but because this user is new, mct16's thread appeared first. Can the two threads be merged, please? Here's a link to the first thread: Blue Lotus original cover art sold

Moderator Note: Done! ;-)