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Land of Black Gold (originally Tintin au Pays de l'Or Noir) is one of a series of classic comic-strip albums, written and illustrated by Belgian writer and illustrator Hergé, featuring young reporter Tintin as a hero. It was originally published in 1950.
Land of Black Gold is the fifteenth in the series.
The Storyline
A mysterious case of exploding car engines threatens to break the world in half. Wars in every country are about to break out, when Tintin goes to the Middle East to investigate. There he meets his old friend Senior Oliveira da Figueira . He finds out that Dr. J.W. Müller is behind the mystery.
Belgian readers will note that many names of characters and places in this album are puns: Ben Kalish Ezab (kalichesap = "liquorice juice" in Brussels dialect), Bir El Ambik (Lambic beer), Yussuf Ben Mulfrid (moules frites = French fries with mussels), Bab El Ehr (babbeleer, "chatterer" in Brussels dialect).
Rewrites
Hergé started work on Pays de l'Or Noir before World War II, and the original version had a different storyline. Whereas in the final album there is a conflict between two Arab tribes, the original story dealt with the 1948 Palestine question: Tintin became involved with Jewish settlers in the British protectorate of Palestine, fighting both the English and Arabs. For political reasons this storyline was dropped, by redrawing pages 6, 17, 19 and 20.
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