Tintin in Thailand

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**Suggestive Content Warning**
The following article contains sexual content, language, or innuendos that may be inappropriate for some readers.

## Tintin in Thailand

* Original
* Pirate

### Publisher

Zledaneky
 Farang (pirate version)

### Pages

62

***Tintin in Thailand*** (French: ***Tintin en Thaïlande***) is an infamous pastiche released in 1999. The comic is a satire of the Thai sex tourism industry and foreigners' attitudes towards Thailand. It was originally created as a gift for the author's friends, but a pirate fanzine version led to international controversy in the early 2000s.

## Synopsis

The story opens with Captain Haddock, Tintin, Professor Calculus, and Nestor barely making ends meet at Marlinspike Hall. After the death of Tintin's "father", his heirs at "Moulinsprick Company" have diverted Tintin's royalties to themselves. Jolyon Wagg's wife Gertrude comes to visit, telling the group how Jolyon has not been seen for six months, ever since he went on vacation in Thailand. Mrs. Wagg offers to pay for the group's investigation in Thailand, and Tintin excitedly takes the case, while Haddock and Calculus are more interested in exploring Thailand's rampant sex industry. Moulinsprick representatives get wind of this trip and begin to tail Tintin, thinking it will defile Tintin's public image if he is seen in the shadier parts of Thailand.

Tintin, Haddock, and Calculus begin to explore various red light districts in search of Wagg. They discover General Alcazar now owns a strip club in Patpong; he explains how he had to flee San Theodoros after General Tapioca took over again. He tells them that Jolyon Wagg used to be one of his best customers until Wagg got engaged to one of the cross-dresser dancers and moved to Chang Mai. The group follows this lead; Tintin stays on watch for Wagg in a hotel lobby, while Calculus and Haddock have it off with female escorts. The next morning, Tintin's group runs into more friends; Calculus befriends a waitress nicknamed Missy, Bianca Castafiore has joined an all-girl Thai punk band called Blue Lotus, and Chang is working in a gay bar. However, this Chang is later revealed to be a crazed fan of Tintin's.

The group travels out to the jungles of Siam, where they find a house belonging to Jolyon and his new fiancee. Jolyon makes an excuse to join the group for a drive, and flees; his second wife has become domineering and rude to him, and Jolyon is eager to return to his wife in Belgium. His wife, meanwhile, has been having an affair with Nestor...who has taken the pets and fled to Thailand to avoid her. Jolyon's now-ex-fiancee tries to plant narcotics in his hotel room, but thanks to Snowy, she is caught and brought to justice. The group, now reunited, gather at a bar for New Years Eve to celebrate and watch Castafiore's new band perform. The book ends as Tintin is given a special new book, *Tintin in Thailand*, to commemorate his adventure.

## Release

*Tintin in Thailand* was written and drawn by a Belgian journalist who frequently worked in the Francophone district of Chang Mai, Thailand. Under the pseudonym Bud E. Weyser (a play on Budweiser), he drew the pastiche over the course of four years, from 1995 to 1999. The finished work was given a limited print run, with these copies were only ever intended to be given to Weyser's friends and other locals in Chang Mai.

However, two years later, three Belgian men - two in Tournai and one in Antwerp - were arrested for mass-producing *Tintin in Thailand* bootleg copies, re-branding them with "Editions Farang", and selling them to international Tintin fans. Furthermore, the bootleggers were claiming *Tintin in Thailand* was actually an unfinished Hergé manuscript that had been finished by a fan, similar to Rodier's *Tintin in Alph-Art*. The fanzine pirates disclosed Weyser's real name to the authorities, leading to his private life and journalism career becoming closely associated with *Tintin in Thailand*. Moulinsart Co. also opened a case with Weyser due to the inflammatory remarks against them in *Tintin in Thailand*, as well as the pastiche's sexual content and crass humour involving Tintin.

## Availability

Thanks to its infamy, pirate copies are easy to find both online and for sale. However, the original Zledaneky-branded fanzines are extremely rare, and generally still owned by those who were first given a copy in 1999.

## Gallery

Gertrude Wagg comes to ask for helpCastafiore goes punkAlcazar, now a strip club ownerJolyon calls his son
## References

1. ↑ Tintin en Thailand - Tintin est Vivant
2. ↑ Forgers send Tintin to sleazy bars of Bangkok | World News | The Guardian