The Adventures of Tintin: The Crab with the Golden Claws - Hergé
The one where Tintin first meets Captain Haddock The first Tintin to be published in its now classic standard full-colour 64 page format (as opposed to being first serialised and then reworked for collected publication), The Crab with the Golden Claws is however most notable for being the first Tintin adventure to feature Captain Haddock. Haddock's fondness for whisky is his most immediately apparent characteristic and one that would be consistent throughout later adventures, but here on their first meeting, the Captain's alcohol dependency presents a very sad case indeed. The Captain is in such a bad state here that the running of his ship The Karaboudjan has been taken over by First Mate Allan, leaving him to nurse a bottle in his cabin while the crew carry on their opium smuggling operation. He cuts such a pathetic figure that he is of no help to Tintin, held captive himself aboard the ship while investigating their haul of mysterious crab meat tins, and is in fact in such...