Tintin in the Land of the Soviets is roughly drawn, crude, badly plotted and incoherent while Tintin in the Congo has much benefited from being redrawn, replotted and tightened up.

It is the first volume of the Tintin adventures and is a political satire. poking fun at Soviet Union: I gather Herge had never been to Moscow however and relied only on one single source for his information. Evidently he was not impressed by his story since it was the only one he did not revisit. It appeared in 1929 - 1930.

Tintin in the Congo is probably his most controversial book because many find it racist, patronising, cruel and inhumane to animals - certainly, some of the hunting scenes are shocking to our modern sensibilities.

Tintin in the Congo [1930 - 31] leads into the following volume, Tintin in America: Tintin is pursued around Africa by a criminal known as Tom, who repeated attrmpts to kill him. When Tom is eventualy eaten by crocodiles, a note is found on him giving directions for Tintin's death, signed by AC.

What with diamond smuggling and A; Capone, it is small wonder Tintin heads off to America next, where he can offend the yanks with portrayals of lynching, drunken officials at a time of Prohibition, stereotypical African Americans and sympathy for Native Americans.

Tintin in the land of the Soviets is not worth reading, scoring 2 stars, but Tintin in the Congo, providing you do not judge it too harshly and see it as a product of its time, is a well-drawn 4 stars. ( )