January 10, World Tintin Day, impossible to ignore. This day seems to unite comic book enthusiasts everywhere, regardless of their age or background. The enthusiasm never wanes, and the mobilization is always impressive. Readers, whether novices or seasoned, find their place, and the event continues to grow. Yes, January 10, World Tintin Day in 2025 has made a strong impact once again.
The celebration, a meeting that disrupts the routine?
You open an album, you can already feel the excitement building on social media and in classrooms. In a corner of the library, on a Twitter feed, on a podium in a media library, or in a café, the date of January 10 resonates with an incredible network. The atmosphere does not betray, the passion remains intact.
What secret ties so many enthusiasts to this drawn reporter launched in Le Petit Vingtième in 1929? Nothing trivial in this, everything leads back to a collective momentum, that of a borderless audience, of children and grandparents lingering in front of colorful shop windows. Museums are fully booked, and lines stretch in front of certain bookstores. You sometimes wonder, why does this celebration always seem so fresh? Does the year 2025 not simply add an obviousness?
The origin, a date that never lies?
January 10, 1929, this page marked with the seal of Tintin in Le Petit Vingtième offers much more than a simple nod. During January 10, World Tintin Day, everything leads back to this root, to this birth claimed by the curious from all continents. Even far from Belgium, voices resonate together, paying tribute to an author whose discourse on friendship never ages.
You sift through old issues, each reissue, each adaptation, brings back one thing, the desire to rediscover that initial breath. This is a generational ritual, neither nostalgic nor retrogressive, but alive. The Tintin phenomenon is not just about collecting; it is about transmitting, questioning, debating. What to do with this heritage in 2025? That is what January 10, World Tintin Day suggests, a memory in motion.
Collective ambitions, for what purpose?
The celebration is not limited to enthusiasts; it leaps from one audience to another: lifelong readers or casual fans, parents, children, teachers. Sharing prevails, collecting animates, contests motivate, the art of comics spreads in every classroom. Does this excitement touch you? You have surely felt it, that thrill before an exhibition, that knowing glance between two generations.
You then discover an “extraordinary” experience, where adults and children address each other informally, where albums are exchanged from one hand to another, where you encounter the entire diversity of the comic book readership. Memories spring forth, an emotion is shared. The collective momentum is visible each year, and nothing indicates that it will slow down.
In Brussels in 2024, in front of the Tintin mural on Rue de l’Étuve, a grandmother raises her smartphone to immortalize three generations. “I was reading The Crab with the Golden Claws to my son in 1982, and now he is reading it to the little one,” she confides, with a knowing smile, album in hand. Everyone stops at the same story, the passion transcends time without losing intensity.
The major initiatives, simple folklore or cultural engine?
The calendar ignites, from museums to the BD Comic Strip Center, from media libraries to French-speaking alliances in Australia, everyone competes and exploits the date. Unprecedented programming, packed rooms, lines in front of galleries, face-to-face with Hergé's saga: the agenda explodes.
| Location | City/Country | Main Event | Year 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hergé Museum | Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium | Unprecedented exhibition on workshop secrets | Yes |
| Françoise Sagan Media Library | Paris, France | Public readings, drawing workshops | Yes |
| BD Comic Strip Center | Brussels, Belgium | Interactive journey in the Tintin universe | Yes |
| Alliance Française | Sydney, Australia | Conference on the impact of Tintin | Yes |
Diversity enriches the meeting, at school or near a museum, during a signing with an artist trained by Hergé's heirs, in a workshop led by an art teacher, or in front of the bookstore showcasing old covers never before displayed. This global thread does not exhaust itself. You analyze the networks, it flows, Instagram overflows with fan art and memes, Facebook collects reading memories.
- Museums, bookstores, media libraries multiply conferences and workshops
- Social networks create a snowball effect, unexpected, sometimes dizzying
- Contests and challenges encourage readers to rewrite a cult line or draw their favorite scene
An overflowing program, simple seasonal passion fever?
The collected energy radiates everywhere. Thousands of visitors flock to see original boards at the Hergé Museum, the Françoise Sagan Media Library sets up a temporary gallery, Lyon awards prizes to budding artists. Major bookstores pace their Tintin season with windows full of rare items and collectible albums. The dynamic extends to Spain, Japan, Australia, weaving a resilient global web.
Who would have thought, 30 years ago, that the anniversary of a 1929 publication would hold such a place in 2025?
This ongoing dialogue brings together the curious, specialists, families; nothing seems to want to slow the trend. The fire smolders, January 10, World Tintin Day continues to fuel community passion.
Social networks, simple echo chamber or real agora?
#WorldTintinDay rises, #TintinBD, #TributeHergé flood in, each post attracts its flow of comments, anecdotes, photos borrowed from someone’s childhood or from a mural in a popular neighborhood. Influencers, fan accounts, even institutions create bridges, launch drawing challenges, share their memories.
The spirit of Hergé invades the digital thread, each discussion brings back the strength of a shared saga. The celebration takes place as much in front of the screen as around an original board; everyone finds their place, old readers crossing paths with new generations.
A Tintin universe, a fixed myth or a laboratory of influence?
Paper heroes do not wait for us to dust them off; they live, they invite themselves, they shake up the codes. Adventures follow one another; the reader never falls into boredom: justice, peace, solidarity resonate in every episode. Is this what captivates so many people? Probably. The strength of the characters, their humor, their uniqueness, carry you beyond mere nostalgia; you find them even in contemporary pop culture.
The emblematic figures, still so relevant?
Tintin sharpens curiosity, prompts reflection, never lets go. Snowy reassures, Haddock shakes things up, Calculus drifts, Bianca Castafiore punctuates. The stories align, intertwine, nothing weighs down.The transmission of humor, the refusal of compromise, trust in others, nothing sounds false. We feed on it, we talk about it long after closing the album.
The cross-cutting influences, does the legacy overflow the comic book orbit?
| Work/Author | Genre/Origin | Tintin Inspiration |
|---|---|---|
| Asterix (Goscinny & Uderzo) | Franco-Belgian comic | Humorous dialogue, cultural references |
| Joann Sfar | French graphic novel | Graphic and thematic tributes |
| Steven Spielberg | Film (United States) | Animated adaptation The Adventures of Tintin |
| Lewis Trondheim | New French comic | Narrative and visual reference |
Festivals follow suit, artists pay tribute to Hergé with respect, the comic book universe embraces the legacy without fear, cites it, twists it. January 10, World Tintin Day functions both as collective memory and as a source of audacity for other genres. Spielberg adapts the adventure, Sfar slips in nods in his panels, references abound.
The transmission, eternal question or new energy?
The celebration speaks to both children and adults. You discuss, you listen, the phenomenon engages. France hosts over 800,000 albums in circulation according to the BNF, a statistic that speaks volumes about the vitality of sharing. Comic book workshops, school clubs, everything is buzzing; we transmit, we share, we draw. Digital media do not diminish this passing of the torch; on the contrary.
Classroom or club activities, simple trend effect?
Workshop in the municipal library, a whole day at the School of Applied Arts, we sketch the rocket from Destination Moon, we trace over the inked lines, we tell the drawn story. The national education system validates, comics are invited into classrooms, we learn differently. Creativity transmits passion quietly; it moves forward in small steps without losing energy.
A story passed down in the family, illusion or solid anchoring?
In the evening, an album left on the living room table, someone sketching Tintin's tuft on a piece of paper. A question arises, a memory resurfaces; it is the precise moment when passion passes from one generation to the next. Who would say that this family bond weakens? Who does not feel the thrill when a child invents the continuation of an adventure?
January 10, World Tintin Day, does not just bring people together; it questions, it inspires, it raises the question of the future of sharing. How will you celebrate tomorrow? What curiosity will you awaken? The adventure will never fall silent as long as readers continue to keep it alive, in collective memory, in books, and much more.
