Tintin in the Land of the Soviets (original French: Tintin au pays des Soviets) is the first volume of The Adventures of Tintin (Les Aventures de Tintin), the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. Commissioned by the conservative Belgian newspaper Le XXe Siècle as anti-communist propaganda for its children's supplement Le Petit Vingtième, it was serialised weekly from January 1929 to May 1930. The story tells of young Belgian reporter Tintin and his dog Snowy (Milou), who are sent to the Soviet Union to report on the policies of Joseph Stalin's Bolshevik government. Tintin's intent to expose the regime's secrets prompts agents from the Soviet secret police, the OGPU, to hunt him down. Bolstered by publicity stunts including the April Fools' Day publication of a faked OGPU letter confirming Tintin's existence, Land of the Soviets was a commercial success, and appeared in book form shortly after its conclusion. Hergé continued The Adventures of Tintin with Tintin in the Congo (Tintin au Congo), and the series became a defining part of the Franco-Belgian comics tradition. He later came to regret the poorly researched, propagandist debut story, and prevented its republication until 1973.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tintin_in_the_Land_of_the_Soviets
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
70:
First Jewish–Roman War: The Roman army, led by the future Emperor Titus, conquered the city of Jerusalem and destroyed the Second Temple (model pictured). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Temple
1327:
First War of Scottish Independence: James Douglas led a raid into Weardale and almost killed Edward III of England. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Stanhope_Park
1783:
A cataclysmic eruption of Mount Asama, the most active volcano in Japan, killed roughly 1,400 people and exacerbated a famine, resulting in another 20,000 deaths. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Asama
1983:
A coup d'état organised by Blaise Compaoré and supported by Libya made Thomas Sankara President of the Republic of Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Sankara
2006:
Sri Lankan Civil War: Seventeen employees of the French INGO ACF International were massacred in Muttur. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Trincomalee_massacre_of_NGO_workers
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
yarl: A deep, guttural vocal style with affected pronunciation, characteristic of male grunge and postgrunge singers of the 1990s and early 2000s. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/yarl
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
All love is sweet, Given or returned. Common as light is love, And its familiar voice wearies not ever. --Percy Bysshe Shelley https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Percy_Bysshe_Shelley