King Ottokar's Sceptre - Publication History

Publication History

This adventure was originally published under the name Tintin en Syldavie ("Tintin in Syldavia") and appeared in black-and-white in the newspaper supplement Le Petit Vingtième between 1938 and 1939.

The story was redrawn and colourised in 1947. For this edition, Hergé was assisted by Edgar Pierre Jacobs, a highly-regarded artist in his own right. Jacobs is credited with much of the Balkan feel of the new edition.

In terms of the plot and appearance of the characters, the two editions are generally similar. The principal aesthetic difference, aside from the colour, is that the backgrounds in the 1938–39 edition were generally blank, whereas in 1947 the streets of the towns, the countryside and the interior of the flats and palaces are more detailed.

Other changes affected the appearance of the Syldavian court. In the 1938 version, the Royal Guards are dressed like British Beefeaters; the 1947 version has them dressed in a more Balkan-like uniform. In 1939, Tintin is knighted while dressed in his raincoat, and a tear comes to his eye when he receives his medal in a ceremony which, aside from the Queen, is attended only by men; in 1947, he wears a suit, shows embarrassment but no tears, there are ladies attending, and there are also caricatures of Hergé and Jacobs in uniform, along with a number of colleagues and relatives.

All the aircraft featured in the book are carefully drawn from real contemporary designs. In the 1939 version, the plane Tintin uses to escape from Borduria, seems to resemble a Heinkel He 118. However, in the 1947 version, the Heinkels are replaced by the more famous Messerschmitt Bf 109s.