Year: 1937

Important Characters: Tintin, Snowy, The Thompsons, Doctor Muller

French Title: L'Ile Noire

This adventure is a pure detective story. Apart from the Scottish theme there is little exoticism. The main vehicle is the juxtaposition of two different worlds. The modern world and the mysterious world, full of myths, a haunted island, a ruined castle and "the beast". By bringing the two together at the end, Hergé shows how modern gangsters can seize upon old superstitions and fears to attain their ends.

Hergé's story was influenced very much by the recent escalation in the production of forged banknotes. He was very modern in his approach, portraying aeroplanes and televisions, when both inventions were still in their infancy. It seems that the concept of "the beast" was very much influenced by recent monster movies, such as King Kong, and the recent rebirth of the legend of the Loch Ness Monster, which Tintin alludes to in the story.

The adventure went through three reworkings. After appearing in Le Petit Vingtième between 15 April 1937 and 16 June 1938 the book was published for the first time by Casterman at the end of 1938. This first edition consisted of 124 black and white pages. In 1943 a 62-page colour edition was printed, with no notable changes from the original. Then, in 1965, a new version was drawn. This was the result of pressure from Tintin's publisher, Methuen, in Britain. The book had not yet been translated into English, and from a British point of view there were too many inaccuracies of detail.

The changes made were numerous. Fashions were brought up to date, vehicles were updated and certain place names modified. These changes may not have altered the original plot, but they do have an effect on it. Our view of the story is changed greatly. For example, the mix up over the key for the fire brigade garage is much more convincing in the original version. The fact that firemen with such a modern engine would not have better access to their garage is not very believable. Similarly, the scene where Tintin sees on TV the antics of the Thompsons is not very credible. Aeroplanes and TV's were much more common in 1965 than in 1937.

The fact is that the beauty of the plot in The Black Island lies in its dependence on the 1930's surroundings. The later version, although more accurate, is far less attractive.