As a afterthought to the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11′s moon landing over the weekend, at last the Vatican’s daily newspaper Osservatore Romano has given credit where credit is due. In an article in its weekend edition, it wrote that Neil Armstrong “was not the first human to tread on the surface of the moon,” but rather “the famous Tintin, who took off from the secret space base of Sbrodj, in Syldavia.”
In one of his most famous adventures, Tintin was sent to the moon by his creator, the Belgian cartoonist Hergé, in 1953, a full 16 years before Apollo 11 repeated the feat in reality. Hergé based his story on the information that was available in popular science journals and books at the time, and was later applauded for the amount of realism he had been able to inject in the story. Study materials, models and preparation for the book can these days be viewed at the new Hergé museum in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
As reported by AFP, The Osservatore continued “”You see Tintin and you would think you’re looking at (Buzz) Aldrin, if it weren’t for the attractive orange colour of Herge’s hero’s spacesuit,” only to add that then Pope Paul VI had much praise for the American achievement as well. But, as we all know, the Pope is infallible…
Wim Lockefeer lives in Belgium home of the first serious quiff on the Moon; you can read more of Wim’s thoughts on comics and art on his Ephemerist blog.
September 19th, 2009 at 10:59 pm
Spoilers for the “Moon” books.
Ironically, the Catholic Church had issues with Wolff committing suicide, even though it was a sacrifice in order to save the other crew members. Therefore Hergé had to add the bit in Wolff’s letter that said “maybe a miracle will save me”.