OK, I admit it. I'm a total bore when it comes to
Tintin and his adventurous friends.
As a kid and teenager, I liked the suspense, the action and the intriguing conspiracies (often involving secret weapons), but I could never stomach Haddock's drinking habits and bizarre expletives, the constant slapstick surrounding the Thompson Twins, or the perennial deafness of Professor Calculus. And yes, there's much of both the positive and the negative in “The Calculus Affair”. Still, I would consider this to be one of the better Tintin adventures, together with “The Secret of the Unicorn” and “The Shooting Star”.
The best section is the meeting between the diva Bianca Castafiore and the chief of the Bordurian secret police Sponsz. Both personality types undoubtedly exist: the sadistic brute who loves classical culture (Sponsz) and the self-absorbed great artist who gladly performs on behalf of authoritarian regimes, since only they understand her greatness (Castafiore).
Interestingly, the two main fantasy nations of the Tintin universe, Borduria and Syldavia, are equally bad in “The Calculus Affair”. Both want to lay their hands on a secret supersonic weapon developed by the genial but naïve Calculus. Usually, Syldavia is the good “Western” nation, while Borduria is the evil empire. It's also interesting to see how Borduria, originally a stand-in for Nazi Germany, morphs seamlessly into a stand-in for the Soviet Union instead, while retaining some of its Nazi shtick.
Ultimately, I'm going to give “The Calculus Affair” four stars.
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