I REALLY like “Take on Me,” but I can’t watch the music video without complaining that comic books don’t look like that (except maybe the low-quality first Tintin album, but even then, not really).

I know I shouldn’t back crowdfunding campaigns just because they touch on two of my favorite things (Franco-Belgian comics and the public domain), but this is going to be hard to resist.

As someone who once owned Tintin au pays des Soviets (but also sold it more out of distaste of the art than the politics) and who is currently rereading a less-but-still-problematic classic Belgian bande dessinée, I really appreciated these reflections.

I hadn’t realized that Tintin was about to enter the public domain, and that’s exciting! I’m more optimistic that Tintin can be reclaimed from its fascist, racist roots than Werd is. I worry that that’s because I haven’t fully confronted those roots, but I hope it’s because there’s an anarchist Tintin parody/remix out there that’s already demonstrated that the character can be repurposed for other means. I regret not buying the book when I had a chance to a month or two ago, but maybe Tintin in the public domain will allow me to find other subversive takes on the character.