Thundering Typhoons: Tintin comic art sells for record $1.2M

An original piece of artwork from the popular comic Tintin has sold at a Paris auction for a record price of €764,200 ($1.23 million Cdn).

Auction house Artcurial announced Sunday that a 1932 oil painting, created for the cover of Tintin in America, was sold on Saturday, smashing the world record for an original comic book work.

Last March, a drawing by artist Enki Bilal called Bleu Sang (Blue Blood) fetched €177,000 ($285,950 Cdn).

Its selling price has astounded the comic book world, sparking the kind of exuberant reaction — "Thundering Typhoons!" or "Blistering Barnacles!" — more appropriate to Tintin character Captain Haddock.

Described as a "museum piece," the painting by Tintin's Belgian creator Hergé, whose real name was Georges Remi, was part of one-off sale of 650 comic originals. Hergé died in 1983.

The thirst for all things Tintin comes as news was announced this week that a British actor, Thomas Sangster, had won the role to play Tintin on the big screen adaptation of the comic adventures of the fictitious young Belgian reporter.

Sangster, 17, who has appeared in films such as Love Actually and Nanny McPhee, was picked by Steven Spielberg, who is executive producing a trilogy of Tintin films with Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson.

"I loved Tintin when I was younger," Sangster was quoted as saying by the British press.

"I didn't read any of the books but I really got into the [television] cartoon."

On March 21, Raymond Leblanc, the Belgian publisher of the comic series, died at age 92.

Tintin had first appeared in 1929 in a series of books. But under Leblanc's guidance, Tintin become the hero of a twice-monthly eponymous magazine, born in 1946 and retired in 1988.

The comic books have sold a total of 200 million copies and have been translated into 60 languages.