Tintin: The Broken Ear, The Black Island and King Ottomar's Sceptre

Tintin is looking for a story when he hears that a famous Indian Statuette, the Arumbaya Fetish, was stolen from the Museum. He goes to investigate, but finds no leads. The next day, however, the Fetish has been returned... or has it? Tintin finds that the stolen Fetish had a chipped ear, but the one currently hiding in the museum has perfectly normal, unbroken ears.

But why would someone want to steal the Fetish, which is of a strange South American People who are very unfriendly... or so it is said. The one man who was trying to understand them disappeared, presumed slain by the Arumbaya tribe. But when Tintin reads the paper, he reads of the death of a man who had his living doing sculptures in the Primitive Style. His death is suspicious, having been poisoned by seeping gas.

Tracking down the stolen statue leads Tintin to South America, where he must discover why the fetish is so valuable, and keep what gives it value from being stolen by the people who are fighting over it. But first he'll have to avoid the men who are trying to do him in! They know what Tintin being on their tails means...

in "The Black Island", Tintin is attacked after seeing an Unregistered plane refuelling in a field. Thompson and Thomson are called in on the case, but Tintin is determined to find out what is going on all by himself.

However, a clever setup by the real crooks mean that the Thom(p)sons have pegged Tintin as the crook, and Tintin must escape from them to clear his name and find out what is really happening. Tintin finds a plane dropping something, but the owner of the property attacks him, and in the process nearly burns his own house down. On the Property, Tintin trips over a wire and finds red lights situated in the trees. That night, he lights the lights and finds a plane dropping three bags of money. Forgeries, but almost perfect in execution.

From there, Tintin must discover where the crooks are printing the money and shut the whole operation down and expose them. But the crooks are more than willing to kill Tintin to keep the plan safe, and if they can't take care of him, their giant ape will gladly do the job for them!

In "King Ottokar's Sceptre", Tintin finds a mislaid briefcase in the park and takes it back to its owner, a professor named Hector Alembick. Professor Alembick is an authority on seals, and has one of King Ottokar of Syldavia. His many times great grandson, also named Ottokar, is coming to the throne of Syldavia soon. and Professor Alembick is going there to study the seals of the country, and to authenticate his seal in the Country's archives. But he needs a secretary.

Tintin finds this fascinating, but he has better things to do with his time. Until he notices that someone Syldavian has taken notice of Professor Alembick. After Tintin follows a suspicious man to a restaurant named Klow, he snoops around but is unable to find much. However, a man with a foreign accent finds him soon after and calls asking to meet Tintin. Before he can even enter Tintin's rooms, he's knocked out and can no longer remember who attacked him.

Tintin decides to go with Alembick to Syldavia, where he learns that without King Ottokar's sceptre, his descendant can't be confirmed to the throne. Someone, it seems, wants to prevent the new King Ottkar from becoming King, and is attempting to steal the sceptre. But can Tintin, with the help of the Thom(p)sons, find the people who are responsible, save the sceptre, and install the rightful King on the throne?

This was an only "Okay" selection of stories. Despite the many chases, fights and so on that occur in the storie, I found myself losing interest in seeing them finished. It helped that the stories were actually pretty short, but nonetheless, I found myself bored much of the time. Somehow, the chases, Snowy's misadventures with getting drunk breaking into kitchens and eating himself nearly sick on meat just weren't funny or interesting any more.

If you're a great fan of Hergé's work, this is an excellent volume to get. Three stories in one book for a fairly low price ($18.99). But if you're not a big fan, or not much of a fan, this may be overkill on the Tintin stories. On their own, as separate stories, they may be interesting and exciting, but reading too many stories in quick succession is something of a buzzkill, and ends up making them seem too samey-samey in what sort of things are going on.

For me, this wouldn't be a good deal, and honestly, I don't intend to buy these volumes, But YMMV.