Concussions kept Tintin forever young

[trailergod]

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http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor..._canada_tintin

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Comic book hero Tintin never aged during his 50-year career because the repeated blows he took to the head triggered a growth hormone deficiency, according to an analysis in the Christmas edition of a Canadian medical journal.

Claude Cyr, a professor of medicine at Quebec's Sherbrooke University, said a study of the 23 hugely popular Tintin books showed the intrepid Belgian reporter suffered 50 significant losses of consciousness during his many adventures.


"We hypothesize that Tintin has growth hormone deficiency and hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (a disorder of the pituitary gland) from repeated trauma. This could explain his delayed statural growth, delayed onset of puberty and lack of libido," Cyr wrote.


His article was in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, which has a tradition of publishing studies into the ailments of fictional characters in its Christmas edition.


Tintin was created by Belgium's Georges Remi under the pen name Herge. The teenage character first appeared in 1929 and despite the passing of almost five decades was as fresh-faced as ever in the pages of the last book to feature him, which appeared in 1976.


Cyr, who wrote the study with the help of his two young sons, noted that Tintin had been knocked out 43 times by serious blows to the head.


"We identified the cause of the trauma, the length of loss of consciousness (calculated by the number of cartoon frames before Tintin returns to normal activity) and the apparent severity of the trauma (indicated by the number of objects e.g., stars, candles revolving above Tintin's head)," he said.


Among the main reasons for Tintin's injuries were blows from a club, bullet wounds, explosions, car accidents, chloroform poisoning and falls.


"Unfortunately, no brain imaging was performed," Cyr lamented.


Tintin travelled all over the world with his white terrier Snowy as he battled foes as varied as drug dealers, Incan priests, slave traders and the Abominable Snowman. The books have been translated into 60 languages and have sold 200 million copies.


In 2000 the Canadian Medical Association Journal caused something of an uproar by revealing that Winnie the Pooh's continuous search for honey was caused by obsessive compulsive disorder, Piglet needed anti-panic medication, while Eeyore was massively depressed.


Another study surmised that Beatrix Potter's ever energetic Squirrel Nutkin character was in fact autistic.

[chernabog_ca]

Yes we have nothing better to do in this country.......

[Stormwalker]

still no cure for cancer.

[editman]

LOL. Tell that to my tutor at uni who hated me (or whom I hated.)*

I bet that probably affects Tintin's reproductive system and hence he couldn't get a girlfriend (sorry old boy. )


* I did a presentation on Tintin at an uni class, tuted by this fag who must have some problems with me personally. He kept interrupting me during my presentation, humiliated me by literally rebuking every single point I made, making me look like a total idiot. Not only that, I got the lowest grade in this subject out of every other subject I did at uni over the course of 3 years. Editman wishes him burn in hell.

[Lafce]

Very interesting article...Editman, you're a Tintin comics fan?

[editman]

Originally Posted by lafce

Editman, you're a Tintin comics fan?

I spent 300 bucks on eBay to get hold of a copy of the old English version of Tintin and the Alph-art*. What do you reckon?

*Of course that was a couple of years ago, not knowing that a new version will be published this year. And it was partly my own fault too - I had the chance in 1997, when the old version went OOP, to buy the last copy at my local bookstore for $30. But as a poor uni student, I hesitated, missed out and spent 3-4 years waiting and hoping it'll go back in print until I got seduced by the Dark Side of eBay.

[Lafce]

I too like that book, though I haven't read many issues. The first one I've read as a kid was "The Blue Lotos" episode and after that I found and bought "Cigars of the Pharoah", "Tintin in Tibet" and "Flight 714" -- all in serbo-croatian language. Unfortunatelly I lost them over the years, together with some great "Asterix" comics. But recently I did a "naughty" thing and downloaded all the "Tintin" issues from torrent sites -- but it doesn't even come close to having and reading them in paper.

[editman]

Originally Posted by lafce

But recently I did a "naughty" thing and downloaded all the "Tintin" issues from torrent sites -- but it doesn't even come close to having and reading them in paper.

You naughty boy.

The first one I've ever read was 'Red Reckham's Treasure'. But I didn't realised it's the sequel to 'Secrets of the Unicorn' until many years later. My favourite is always 'Destination Moon' and 'Explorers on the Moon' (though 'The Seven Crystal Ball' & 'Prisoners of the Sun' are very-close runner-ups.)

I've got the entire set of the English paperbacks, the black-and-white 'in the Land of the Soviets' and 'in the Congo' in English, French coloured 'Congo' in hardcover (there's no English coloured version), the old version 'Alph-art', both English and French, and the new English version. I was thinking of upgrading all my paperbacks to hardcovers but it's only a wishlist thing.

Of course I've also got the entire R2 DVD set of the Adventures of Tintin cartoon series made in the 90s (the version from France is still the best with multi-lingual tracks and subtitles, though the previous episode's recaps are cut out). Plus the DVDs of Tintin in the Lake of Sharks, and the French two live action movies made in the 60s.

Anyway, enough showing off.

[Stormwalker]

I did a presentation on Tintin at an uni class, tuted by this fag who must have some problems with me personally. He kept interrupting me during my presentation, humiliated me by literally rebuking every single point I made, making me look like a total idiot. Not only that, I got the lowest grade in this subject out of every other subject I did at uni over the course of 3 years. Editman wishes him burn in hell.

got a name for this lecturer... ill be more than happy to send him a cranky email on your behalf

[editman]

Originally Posted by Stormwalker

got a name for this lecturer... ill be more than happy to send him a cranky email on your behalf

So that giving you a slim chance of tracking me down? No thanks, Rich. I'd stick with my voodoo doll.