Belgian cartoonist, Georges Remi, known as Hergé, first published The Adventures of Tintin in 1929 as a serialised comic strip for Le Petit Vingtième. In 1930 it was suggested by his editor that he set a story in the Belgian Congo (now DRC), with a propagandistic agenda: to encourage colonial aspirations amongst children and promote the Belgian colonial administration. While conducting research he visited the Tervuren Museum’s ethnographic collection of Congolese artefacts.
It was published in black and white in 1930 and in colour in 1946. When it was published in Scandinavia in 1975 an objection saw the violent scene where Tintin explodes a rhino with dynamite replaced with more palatable frames. The new version has the rhino escaping unharmed.
The comic has been the subject of criticism for its depiction of the Congolese. In 2007 Bienvenu Mbutu Mondondo initiated a criminal case in Brussels, that claimed the comic was a justification of colonisation and white supremacy. A civil court ruled in 2012 that the book would not be banned.
