Is Tintin Gay?

Silliest idea we've ever heard, because it presupposes Tintin having sex.

Still.  In a  review of the Adventures of Tintin:  Collector's Gift Set, Michael Taube discusses some "off-the-wall rumors" spread by columnist and former MP Matthew Parris: 

A callow, androgynous blonde-quiffed [sic] youth in funny trousers and a scarf moving into the country mansion of his best friend, a middle-aged sailor? A sweet-faced lad devoted to a fluffy white toy terrier, whose other closest pals are an inseparable couple of detectives in bowler hats, and whose only serious female friend is an opera diva. .  .  . And you're telling me Tintin isn't gay?

And as to why Tintin never aged, "he was probably moisturizing."

Whatever.  Of considerably more importance to us that Tintin's putative sexual preference, or Taube's own red-herring question, "Why don't Americans like Tintin," is the book itself.  A complete Tintin collection?  For $150 list, and under a c-note on Amazon?  Awesome.

Except for one thing:  this boxed set is in the new reduced-size format, 9x6 or thereabouts.  Which, for one of the most elegantly illustrated comic strips of all time, is practically an act of violence.  (Especially given how many of its fans have entered the age of reading glasses).

The Tintin strips most of us grew up with were printed in a generous 12x9 format -- almost art-book sized.  Easier for a boy's fat little fingers or a dad's weakening eyes, and frankly the least we can do to honor Herge's firm, deceptively simple line.  

So come on, publishers.  Give Tintin what he deserves.  And we don't mean nookie.