Georges Prosper Remi (22 May 1907 – 3 March 1983), better known by the pen name Hergé, was a Belgian comics writer and artist.

Threatening Shark: Until Tintin gets it drunk on three-hundred-year-old rum. Calculus' grinning shark sub is also mistaken for the real thing. King Muskar XII is the monarch of Syldavia. He appears in King Ottokar's Sceptre. A keen motorist who drives his own car and keeps his own gun for protection, he is married to an unnamed queen consort. Because the Crown's sceptre once saved the life of King Ottokar IV in 1360, every year on Saint Vladimir's Day, 15 July, the current king must show the people that he has the sceptre; otherwise he will be forced to abdicate. The character Al Capone is based on the real-life Al Capone of Chicago. Al Capone was alive in 1931 when Hergé depicted him in his comics. [6] It would be the last real-life individual to appear as a character in the Adventures under their real name. Creation [ edit ] Model of Brillant, the ship of the line of Louis XIV's fleet that inspired Hergé to draw the Unicorn. Disastrous Demonstration: When Calculus first tries to demonstrate his submarine to Tintin and friends, it immediately breaks into pieces upon boarding it.

Hergé created the pair after being interviewed for Paris Match and finding the resulting piece dubious.

Hergé (1943). The Secret of the Unicorn. Leslie Lonsdale-Cooper and Michael Turner (translators). London: Egmont. ISBN 978-1405206228. In 1960, Raymond Leblanc managed to involve Télé-Hachette, the subsidiary of the French publisher, in his film projects on Tintin. The goal is to produce five useful minutes per week. This is how Belvision attracted from 20 to 120 people in a few weeks. Michael Farr said that the scene introducing Calculus was "a comic tour de force" marking the start of the "rich vein of humour" that the character brought to the series. [15] Noting that unlike The Shooting Star, this two-book story arc contains "scarcely an allusion to occupation and war", he praised the arc's narrative as "perfectly paced, without that feeling of haste" present in some of Hergé's earlier work. [17]N'est-ce pas chouette?—Les personnages de Tintin dans l'histoire: Les événements qui ont inspiré l'œuvre d'Hergé". Historia (in French). Vol.2, no.103. Paris. July 2012. .

Alfredo Topolino is a Swiss expert in ultrasonics residing in Nyon, Switzerland, who appears in The Calculus Affair. An acquaintance of Professor Calculus, he survives first an assault on his doorstep then the destruction of his house by Bordurian agents interested in Calculus's work. His manservant Boris works for the secret service of that country. His last name means "little mouse" in Italian. Tharkey was based on Ang Tharkay, a Nepalese mountain climber and explorer who acted as sherpa and later sirdar for many Himalayan expeditions. He was "beyond question the outstanding sherpa of his era" and he introduced Tenzing Norgay to the world of mountaineering. The series was directed by Ray Goossens and written by comic artist Greg, who later became the editor of Tintin magazine.

Trivia

His name is made up of a humorous reference to two well-known composers: Igor Stravinsky and Richard Wagner. Max Bird, the villain of the previous story, is mentioned to have escaped from prison. Thomson and Thompson suspect that the man is seeking revenge and could be hiding aboard the treasure-hunters' ship, which convinces the two officers to volunteer their services. By the time the story concludes, there is nothing to indicate that Max was ever aboard the ship — or even near it. The Thom(p)sons claim he was "discouraged by their presence," but in reality, that plot point was most likely just an excuse to get Thomson and Thompson into the story in the first place. Max never appears in any later albums, either, and his fate is never resolved. Lavery, Brian (2003). The Ship of the Line— Volume 1: The Development of the Battlefleet 1650-1850. Conway Maritime Post. ISBN 0-85177-252-8.