Wikipedia:Today's featured article/requests/Tintin in the Congo

Tintin in the Congo

 * This is the archived discussion of the TFAR nomination for the article below. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as Wikipedia talk:Today's featured article/requests). Please do not modify this page. 

The result was: scheduled for Today's featured article/February 16, 2015 by — Crisco 1492 (talk) 12:02, 24 January 2015 (UTC)



Tintin in the Congo is the second volume of The Adventures of Tintin, the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. Commissioned by the conservative newspaper Le Vingtième Siècle (The Twentieth Century) for its children's supplement, it was serialised weekly from May 1930 to June 1931. The story tells of young reporter Tintin, who is sent to the Belgian Congo with his dog Snowy. Encountering native Congolese and wild animals, Tintin unearths a diamond smuggling operation run by the American gangster Al Capone. Following Tintin in the Land of the Soviets and bolstered by publicity stunts, it was a commercial success and appeared in book form shortly after the serial's conclusion. The Tintin series grew over the 1930s and 1940s to become a defining part of the Franco-Belgian comics tradition. In 1946, Hergé re-drew and coloured Tintin in the Congo in his distinctive style of uniform lines and low contrast for republication by Casterman, revised for a 1975 edition. In the late 20th century, Tintin in the Congo came under criticism over its representations of big-game hunting and for its typically colonial depictions of Africans as unable to fend for themselves and in need of European masters.
 * Most recent similar article(s): Tintin in Tibet 16 October 2014
 * Main editors: Midnightblueowl, Prhartcom
 * Promoted: 2013
 * Reasons for nomination: why not?
 * Support as nominator. Gerda Arendt (talk) 20:09, 3 January 2015 (UTC)
 * Support (if that's how this process works?) - no obvious other anniversaries and has been waiting some time! —Brigade Piron (talk) 22:10, 3 January 2015 (UTC)


 * Comment - The signature doesn't really work with this blurb. I'd omit it. — Crisco 1492 (talk) 16:19, 4 January 2015 (UTC)
 * It works, and has been run on the front page before: Today's featured article/August 4, 2013. An image is better than no image. I would wouldn't mind seeing a different image also, but tried and cannot think of another one. Accepting suggestions. Prhartcom (talk) 16:32, 4 January 2015 (UTC)
 * That image was added by a user who is and was not a TFA coordinator. Quite frankly, I'm surprised Bencherlite didn't remove the image. Herge's signature is not mentioned in the blurb, nor is it pertinent to the text, nor is it necessary to identify the author. It offers nothing the link to his name doesn't already. If my fellow coordinators disagree, fine, but personally I am liable to remove the image while scheduling. Better no image than a useless image. — Crisco 1492 (talk) 16:38, 4 January 2015 (UTC)
 * The link to the image's source page returns "page not found", so another source is needed if the image is to remain. I wouldn't be against using it; it strikes me as more of a logo or trademark than a signature (I bet Georges Remi didn't sign his cheques like that), but that makes me wonder about the validity of the licensing. Needs more thought. Brianboulton (talk) 16:55, 4 January 2015 (UTC)
 * I was on holiday when that image was added last time. I would have removed it in different circumstances. BencherliteTalk 18:30, 4 January 2015 (UTC)
 * Over the last seven+ years, I've tried to understand image issues from time to time and felt completely out of the loop every time. For the most part, I've given up, so I'm happy you guys know what you're doing and are willing to do it. - Dank (push to talk) 18:40, 4 January 2015 (UTC)
 * Agreed, Dank, I've seen editors both demand an image be backed up by prose and seen editors demand an image not be backed up by prose. I've never seen consistency in WP:NFCCP #8. The only thing I've seen consistently is free is good and non-free is bad, which makes WP:FA? #3 difficult to achieve for a copyrighted subject like a Tintin article, so I'm happy to let others decide these things for me. On a more productive subject, how does everyone feel about illustrating the blurb with the image used in the article: File:Humanzoogermany.jpg (1928 poster for a human zoo in Stuttgart illustrating the topic of one of the more interesting controversies of this article)? Here is another suggestion: File:Librex 5.gif (cover of a Belgian "Freedom Test"). Prhartcom (talk) 19:33, 4 January 2015 (UTC)
 * I looked at it but thought that it is good in the context of the article but not so good as the only illustration, further confusing by a German title. I like the "signature" standing for the cartoonist's style and indeed more a trade mark than a signature, but in case of doubt drop it. I think that - if kept - it doesn't need to be mentioned in the blurb, undue weight. - I found it in the former blurb, it should probably appear in the article if taken. - In DYK, no pic can appear twice. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 19:48, 4 January 2015 (UTC)
 * Some other ideas: File:SomalianParkJardinZoologiqueParis.jpg, File:All-Negro Comics 1.jpg. Prhartcom (talk) 19:55, 4 January 2015 (UTC)
 * Agree with Gerda about the other image(s) working better in the context of the article than in the blurb proper. We'd need something at least somewhat related to Tintin or Herge. Excluding the signature, of course. — Crisco 1492 (talk) 14:32, 5 January 2015 (UTC)
 * You know we can't do the first of your two suggestions. Nor the second, nothing free or suitable exists. How about an image of the former Belgian Congo? For Tintin in Tibet we ran a photo of Tibet. How about: File:Bas-congo.JPG, File:Katanga Hills.jpg, or File:GAME OF SKY ON EARTH.jpg Prhartcom (talk) 19:28, 5 January 2015 (UTC)
 * Those suggestions are just getting further afield. The signature won't work, and none of those new suggestions are remotely related to the text. This is likely to be run without an image. That's not a bad thing. Not all articles have images related to them which can be used. — Crisco 1492 (talk) 20:38, 6 January 2015 (UTC)


 * Comment: I'm discussing the TFA text with the FAC nominators. Short version: I'm not happy. - Dank (push to talk) 21:48, 11 January 2015 (UTC)
 * Dank, nothing to be unhappy about. Like I said to you on my Talk page where you asked me what I thought, I am extremely comfortable with you having the final say and changing the text to what you feel is best, even if it's the same as before you asked my opinion. Cheers. Prhartcom (talk) 22:02, 11 January 2015 (UTC)
 * Okay, I reverted (but kept one of your links). The problem is that we would need a lot of finesse and sensitivity to describe what actually happened in the US, the UK and Belgium, and we can't do "finesse" in a little over 1200 characters. For instance, here's all the article says about what happened in the US: "Tintin in the Congo also came under criticism in the United States; in October 2007, in response to a complaint by a patron, the Brooklyn Public Library in New York City placed the graphic novel in a locked back room, only permitting access by appointment." Here's how your TFA text characterized what happened in all three countries: "... in 2005 attempts were made in Belgium, the United Kingdom, and the United States to restrict its availability before a court ruled in 2012 that the book would not be banned and a government agency warned against "hyper political correctness"." There's a disconnect, but I don't think I could have done any better in one short TFA paragraph. We could add something to the effect that Hergé felt bad about the big-game hunting depictions long before the events of the late 20th century. - Dank (push to talk) 02:00, 12 January 2015 (UTC)


 * Support, although I hope you all find some kind of image to accompnay it—it would be unfortunate if a work of visual arts would go unillustrated. Curly Turkey ¡gobble! 21:29, 18 January 2015 (UTC)
 * Here's an idea: the title logo in File:The Adventures of Tintin - 02 - Tintin in the Congo.jpg obviously doesn't cross the threshold of originality, and there's no artwork behind it (nothin' but blue), so why not crop that out and use it as the graphic? Curly Turkey ¡gobble! 23:08, 18 January 2015 (UTC)
 * Agreed, on it's way, thanks Curly Turkey. If anyone would like to object, please do it now. Prhartcom (talk) 01:30, 19 January 2015 (UTC)
 * If you're going to upload that, do it as a free file, not a non-free file. An example of the formatting can be seen at File:The Pleasure of the Text cover.jpg. — Crisco 1492 (talk) 15:41, 19 January 2015 (UTC)
 * Also, and again, this doesn't add anything that the text itself doesn't already do. — Crisco 1492 (talk) 15:41, 19 January 2015 (UTC)
 * Crisco 1492, what is your suggestion for an image?
 * I've told you that I don't see any images working with this. It happens. Final Fantasy VIII isn't running with an image either. — Crisco 1492 (talk) 03:44, 20 January 2015 (UTC)