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{{short description|Comic album by Belgian cartoonist Hergé}}
{{good article}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2013}}
{{Infobox graphic novel
|title=The Broken Ear
|foreigntitle={{lang|fr|L'Oreille cassée}}
|image=The Adventures of Tintin - 06 - The Broken Ear.jpg
|alt=Tintin and Snowy and their guide are rowing a canoe on a jungle river.
|caption=Cover of the English edition
|publisher=[[Casterman]]
|date={{plainlist|
*1937 (black and white)
*1943 (colour)}}
|series=''[[The Adventures of Tintin]]''
|creator=[[Hergé]]
|origlanguage=French
|origpublication={{lang|fr|[[Le Petit Vingtième]]}}
|origdate=5 December 1935&nbsp;– 25&nbsp;February&nbsp;1937
|origisbn=<!-- ISBN was not created until 1965 -->
|transpublisher=[[Methuen Publishing|Methuen]]
|transdate=1975
|transisbn=<!-- ISBN was not created until 1965 -->
|translator={{plainlist|
*Leslie Lonsdale-Cooper
*Michael Turner}}
|previous=''[[The Blue Lotus]]''
|previous-date=1936
|next=''[[The Black Island]]''
|next-date=1938
}}

'''''The Broken Ear''''' ({{langx|fr|link=no|'''L'Oreille cassée'''}}, originally published in English as '''''Tintin and the Broken Ear''''') is the sixth volume of ''[[The Adventures of Tintin]]'', the comics series by the Belgian cartoonist [[Hergé]]. Commissioned by the conservative Belgian newspaper {{lang|fr|[[Le Vingtième Siècle]]}} for its children's supplement {{lang|fr|[[Le Petit Vingtième]]}}, it was serialised weekly from December 1935 to February 1937. The story tells of young Belgian reporter [[Tintin (character)|Tintin]] and his dog [[Snowy (character)|Snowy]], as he searches for a stolen South American [[Fetishism|fetish]], identifiable by its broken right ear, and deals with other thieves who are after it. In doing so, he ends up in the fictional nation of [[San Theodoros]], where he becomes embroiled in a war and discovers the [[Arumbaya]] tribe deep in the forest.

''The Broken Ear'' was a commercial success and was published in book form shortly after its conclusion. Hergé continued ''The Adventures of Tintin'' with ''[[The Black Island]]'', while the series itself became a defining part of the [[Franco-Belgian comics|Franco-Belgian comics tradition]]. In 1943, ''The Broken Ear'' was coloured and reformatted for republication by [[Casterman]]. Commentators have praised the book for showcasing Hergé's then-newfound commitment to a clear narrative structure and strives for historical and technical accuracy, but believe that its use of humour comparable to earlier ''Adventures'' renders it inferior to the previous volume, ''[[The Blue Lotus]]''.{{cn|date=February 2023}} ''The Broken Ear'' introduces the recurring character [[General Alcazar]], and was the first to include fictional countries. The story was adapted for both the 1956 [[Belvision]] animation, ''[[Hergé's Adventures of Tintin]]'', and for the 1991 [[Ellipse Programmé|Ellipse]]/[[Nelvana]] animated series ''[[The Adventures of Tintin (TV series)|The Adventures of Tintin]]''.

==Synopsis==
A [[Fetishism|fetish]] created by the [[Arumbaya]] tribe of [[South America]] is stolen from Brussels' Museum of [[Ethnography]], only to be returned the following day. Tintin realizes that the replacement is a fake, and draws a connection with a local sculptor, Jacob Balthazar, who has just been murdered. Balthazar's parrot &ndash; the only witness to the murder &ndash; is obtained by two Hispanic men, Alonso and Ramón, who try to kill Tintin when he begins to investigate their connection to the crime.{{sfn|Hergé|1975|pp=1–12}} From the parrot, Alonso and Ramón discover Balthazar's murderer is Rodrigo Tortilla, and they proceed to follow him aboard a ship bound for South America. There, they murder Tortilla, but find that he did not have the original fetish. Tintin, however, follows them, and arranges their arrest when the ship docks at Los Dopicos, capital of [[San Theodoros]].{{sfn|Hergé|1975|pp=12–17}} Nevertheless, the corrupt colonel in charge of the arrest allows the antagonists to slip away, and detains Tintin.

In the city, Tintin is framed as a terrorist, arrested, and sentenced to death by firing squad. Tintin survives when a revolution topples the government, and the new leader, General Alcazar, appoints Tintin to be his aide-de-camp. Alonso and Ramón capture Tintin, and interrogate him in the hope of locating the missing fetish, but they only end up briefly put behind bars by him.{{sfn|Hergé|1975|pp=18–30}} As aide-de-camp, Tintin opposes the proposed decision of San Theodoros claiming the supposedly oil rich Gran Chapo, as this would cause a war between San Theodoros and neighboring Nuevo Rico, and he is framed as a traitor by warmongering oil and weapon companies. Nevertheless, Tintin's new friend [[Pablo (comics)|Pablo]] frees him from imprisonment, allowing for Tintin to flee to Nuevo Rico.{{sfn|Hergé|1975|pp=31–45}} However, in the process, he inadvertently causes events that have Nuevo Rico start a war between it and San Theodoros. 

Once within Nuevo Rico, Tintin decides to enter the forest and find the Arumbaya tribe, hoping they can explain to him why people wish to steal the fetish. Finding a British explorer, Ridgewell, living among the Arumbaya, Tintin learns that a diamond was hidden inside the statue.{{sfn|Hergé|1975|pp=46–55}} At the check-in counter, Tintin and Snowy were due to leave South America for Europe but missed the ferry crossing as they had to wait for another week. As the war between San Theodoros and Nuevo Rico ends when Gran Chapo is discovered to have no oil, Tintin returns to Belgium after a brief encounter with Alonso and Ramón. There, Tintin discovers Balthazar's brother has been producing a range of exact replicas of the fetish, which he had discovered among his deceased brother's belongings. Tintin learns it was purchased from him by Samuel Goldbarr, a wealthy American now returning to the [[United States]] with it by ship. Catching up to the boat, Tintin finds Alonso and Ramón aboard. His struggle with them for the possession of the fetish results in it smashing on the floor, and the diamond hidden in it rolling overboard into the sea. Alonso and Ramón try to kill Tintin for making them lose it, and the three of them accidentally fall overboard as well. Tintin is rescued, but Alonso and Ramón drown. Goldbarr allows Tintin to return the stolen fetish to the museum, where it is repaired and put back on display, albeit comically damaged.{{sfn|Hergé|1975|pp=56–62}}

==History==

===Background and research===
Georges Remi—best known under the pen name [[Hergé]]—was employed as editor and illustrator of {{lang|fr|[[Le Petit Vingtième]]}} ("''The Little Twentieth''"),{{sfnm|1a1=Peeters|1y=1989|1pp=31–32|2a1=Thompson|2y=1991|2pp=24–25}} a children's supplement to {{lang|fr|[[Le Vingtième Siècle]]}} ("''The Twentieth Century''"), a staunchly Roman Catholic, [[social conservatism|conservative]] Belgian newspaper based in Hergé's native Brussels which was run by the ''[[Abbé]]'' [[Norbert Wallez]].  In 1929, Hergé began ''[[The Adventures of Tintin]]'' comic strip for {{lang|fr|Le Petit Vingtième}}, revolving around the exploits of fictional Belgian reporter [[Tintin (character)|Tintin]].  Wallez ordered Hergé to set his first adventure in the [[Soviet Union]] as [[anti-socialism|anti-socialist]] propaganda for children (''[[Tintin in the Land of the Soviets]]''),{{sfnm|1a1=Assouline|1y=2009|1pp=22–23|2a1=Peeters|2y=2012|2pp=34–37}} to set his second adventure in the [[Belgian Congo]] to encourage colonial sentiment (''[[Tintin in the Congo]]''),{{sfnm|1a1=Assouline|1y=2009|1pp=26–29|2a1=Peeters|2y=2012|2pp=45–47}} and to set his third adventure in the United States to use the story as a denunciation of American capitalism (''[[Tintin in America]]'').{{sfn|Thompson|1991|p=46}} Wallez was subsequently removed from the paper's editorship following a scandal, although Hergé was convinced to stay on the condition of a salary increase.{{sfnm|1a1=Assouline|1y=2009|1pp=40–41|2a1=Peeters|2y=2012|2pp=67–68}} In preparing ''The Broken Ear'', Hergé developed the new habit of keeping plot notes and ideas in a notebook.{{sfn|Peeters|2012|p=84}} He also began making cuttings of photographs and other images from magazines and newspapers, filing them away for future use; he used them as a basis for many of the drawings in ''The Broken Ear''.{{sfn|Farr|2001|p=64}}

[[File:paraguayos en alihuatá.jpg|250px|thumb|left|Paraguayan troops in Alihuatá, 1932, during the Chaco War]]

Hergé used ''The Broken Ear'' to allude to real events that had recently taken place in South America. The fictional countries of San Theodoros and Nuevo Rico were based on the real countries Bolivia and Paraguay, while the Gran Chapo War depicted in the strip was an allusion to the [[Chaco War]] (1932–35) that was waged between Bolivian and Paraguayan forces over lucrative oil fields in the Gran Chaco region.{{sfnm|1a1=Thompson|1y=1991|1pp=68–69|2a1=Farr|2y=2001|2p=62|3a1=Lofficier|3a2=Lofficier|3y=2002|3p=38}} The name "Gran Chapo" was a pun on the French ''grand chapeau'', meaning "big hat", while the name Nuevo Rico was a pun on ''[[nouveau riche]]'' and the name of the Nuevo Rican capital city, Sanfación, was a pun on ''sans façon'', meaning "without manners".{{sfn|Farr|2001|p=62}} Hergé's character [[Basil Bazarov]], of the Vicking Arms Company Ltd (Basil Mazaroff in the 1937 edition), was a thinly veiled allusion to the real-life Greek weapons seller [[Basil Zaharoff]] of [[Vickers Armstrong]], who profited from the conflict by supplying arms to both Paraguay and Bolivia.{{sfnm|1a1=Thompson|1y=1991|1p=69|2a1=Farr|2y=2001|2p=62|3a1=Lofficier|3a2=Lofficier|3y=2002|3p=38}} Hergé had learned about the conflict and the western corporations profiting from it through two issues of anti-conformist French magazine ''[[Le Crapouillot]]'' (''The Mortar Shell''), which covered news stories ignored by the mainstream media.{{sfn|Assouline|2009|p=57}} It is also likely that he had read Richard Lewinsohn's 1930 book ''Zaharoff, l'Européen mystérieux'' (''Zaharoff, the Mysterious European''), which had been referenced in ''Le Crapouillot''.{{sfn|Farr|2001|p=62}}

Hergé's Arumbaya fetish was based on the design of a genuine Peruvian statue in Brussels' [[Royal Museums of Art and History]]; a pre-Columbian [[Chimú culture|Chimu]] statue, it was made of wood and dated to between 1200 and 1438 CE.{{sfnm|1a1=Thompson|1y=1991|1p=70|2a1=Farr|2y=2001|2p=67|3a1=Lofficier|3a2=Lofficier|3y=2002|3p=38}} Whereas Hergé had access to speakers of Mandarin when creating ''The Blue Lotus'', he had no access to speakers of indigenous Amerindian languages, and as such, the Arumbaya language that he developed was entirely fictitious.{{sfn|Thompson|1991|p=70}} He based its structure largely on the [[Marols|Brusseleir dialect]] spoken in the [[Marollen|Marolles]] area of Brussels, mixed with Spanish endings and constructions.{{sfn|Farr|2001|p=64}} In developing the Arumbaya's rivals, the Bibaros, he was influenced by anthropological accounts of [[shrunken heads|head shrinking]] among the [[Jivaroan peoples|Jibaros]] tribes; when Leslie Lonsdale-Cooper and Michael Turner translated the book into English, they renamed the Bibaros as the Rumbabas, a pun on the [[rum baba]] pudding.{{sfn|Farr|2001|p=64}} The explorer Ridgewell, found living among the Arumbayas is based upon the British explorer Colonel [[Percy Harrison Fawcett]], who mysteriously disappeared into the Amazon jungle in 1925.
In crafting the story, Hergé was possibly influenced by ''[[The Maltese Falcon (novel)|The Maltese Falcon]]'', as there are similarities in their plots.{{sfnm|1a1=Thompson|1y=1991|1p=69|2a1=Lofficier|2a2=Lofficier|2y=2002|2p=38}}

===Original publication===
[[File:The Broken Ear in Petit Vingtieme.jpg|thumb|right|150px|A scene from ''The Broken Ear'' on the cover of ''Le Petit Vingtième'']]
''The Broken Ear'' was first serialised in ''Le Petit Vingtième'' from December 1935 under the title ''Les Nouvelles Aventures de Tintin et Milou'' (''The New Adventures of Tintin and Snowy'').{{sfn|Lofficier|Lofficier|2002|p=37}} From 7 February 1937, the story was also serialised in the French Catholic newspaper, ''[[Cœurs Vaillants]]'' under the name ''Tintin et Milou chez les Arumbayas'' (''Tintin and Snowy among the Arumbayas'').{{sfn|Lofficier|Lofficier|2002|p=37}} In 1937, it was collected in a single hardcover volume and published by Éditions Casterman under the title ''L'Oreille cassée'' (''The Broken Ear'').{{sfn|Lofficier|Lofficier|2002|p=37}} For this collected edition, one small change was made; the minor character of Carajo was renamed Caraco, because the word ''carajo'' is Spanish slang for [[penis]],{{sfn|Goddin|2008|p=15}} due to the fact Hergé had been unaware of its actual definition during the publication.

''The Broken Ear'' introduced the character General Alcazar to the series, who went on to become a recurring character who appeared in three further ''Adventures''.{{sfnm|1a1=Thompson|1y=1991|1pp=71–72|2a1=Lofficier|2a2=Lofficier|2y=2002|2p=38}} As noted by  Hergé biographer [[Harry Thompson]], ''The Broken Ear'' is the first story in the ''Tintin'' series to "start and finish in home surroundings"{{sfn|Thompson|1991|p=72}} and the first to deal with the pursuit of a [[MacGuffin]].{{sfn|Thompson|1991|p=72}} It also marks the last story in which Tintin is seen taking part in journalistic activity{{sfn|Farr|2001|p=61}} and the first time that the ''Adventures'' featured Tintin's flat at 26 Labrador Road, in which Chinese mementos from ''The Blue Lotus'' are visible.{{sfnm|1a1=Farr|1y=2001|1p=61|2a1=Peeters|2y=2012|2p=82}} Influenced by [[Alfred Hitchcock]] and [[List of cameo appearances by Alfred Hitchcock|his frequent cameo appearances in his own films]], Hergé inserted an illustration of himself into the second frame.{{sfn|Assouline|2009|p=57}} He also made reference to contemporary news stories in the book, having a radio announcer discuss the ongoing [[Second Italo-Ethiopian War]] at the start of the story; this was removed in the colour edition.{{sfn|Farr|2001|p=61}} At the end of the story, Hergé killed off Ramón and Alonso and depicted them being dragged to Hell by devils; this would mark the last depiction of the death(s) of a villain in the series until [[Colonel Jorgen|Colonel Boris Jorgen]]'s death in ''[[Explorers on the Moon]]''.{{sfn|Thompson|1991|p=72}} This upset the editors of ''Cœurs Vaillants'', who asked Hergé to change the scene; annoyed at their request, he later commented: "On the surface it cost me nothing, but that kind of addition was really difficult for me".{{sfnm|1a1=Thompson|1y=1991|1p=72|2a1=Peeters|2y=2012|2p=86}} For their serialisation of the story, he replaced that particular frame with one in which Tintin vouchsafed the souls of Ramón and Alonso for [[God]].{{sfn|Goddin|2008|p=27}}

===Second version, 1943===
In the 1940s and 1950s, when Hergé's popularity had increased, he and his team at [[Studios Hergé]] redrew and coloured many of the original black-and-white Tintin adventures using the {{lang|fr|[[ligne claire]]}} ("clear line"){{efn|Hergé himself did not use the term ''ligne claire'' to describe his drawing style. Cartoonist [[Joost Swarte]] first used the term in 1977.{{sfn|Pleban|2006}} }} drawing style he had developed so that they visually fitted in with the new Tintin stories being created. ''The Broken Ear'' was the first of these early ''Adventures'' to undergo the reformatting and colouration,{{sfn|Farr|2001|pp=68–69}} and this second edition was published as a 62-page volume by Casterman in 1943.{{sfn|Lofficier|Lofficier|2002|p=37}} Unlike some of the earlier adventures, ''The Broken Ear'' was not redrawn, save for a few minor revisions.{{sfn|Farr|2001|pp=68–69}} To reduce the length of the book, various sections were excised, including a dream sequence that appeared in the original.{{sfn|Lofficier|Lofficier|2002|p=39}} As the colouration process was new to the series, the use of colour in ''The Broken Ear'' is more basic than in later volumes; as the book progresses, it is evident that Hergé lost interest and rushed the task, for instance, resorting to using block colour backgrounds without any detail.{{sfnm|1a1=Thompson|1y=1991|1p=71|2a1=Farr|2y=2001|2p=64}}

===Later publications and legacy===
Casterman republished the original black-and-white version in 1979 in a French-language collected volume with ''Cigars of the Pharaoh'' and ''The Blue Lotus'', the second part of the {{lang|fr|Archives Hergé}} collection.{{sfn|Lofficier|Lofficier|2002|p=37}} In 1986, Casterman published a facsimile version of the original.{{sfn|Lofficier|Lofficier|2002|p=37}}

Hergé returned to creating fictional nations as allusions to real countries in subsequent ''Adventures'', such as Syldavia and Borduria (based largely on Yugoslavia and Nazi Germany) in ''[[King Ottokar's Sceptre]]'' and Sondonesia (based on Indonesia) in ''[[Flight 714 to Sydney]]''.{{sfn|Thompson|1991|p=68}} He also re-used other elements pioneered in ''The Broken Ear'' in his later ''Adventures'': a parrot in ''[[The Castafiore Emerald]]'', a ravine crash in ''[[The Calculus Affair]]'', a fireball and vivid dream in ''[[The Seven Crystal Balls]]'', and a firing squad in ''[[Tintin and the Picaros]]''.{{sfn|Thompson|1991|p=71}} Tintin returned to San Theodores in ''Tintin and the Picaros'', in which the characters Pablo and Ridgewell also made a reappearance.{{sfn|Farr|2001|p=67}}

In 1979, the [[Palace of Fine Arts]] in Brussels held an exhibition marking fifty years of ''The Adventures of Tintin''. As part of this, they included artefacts that featured in the series, with the broken-eared Peruvian statue that inspired Hergé's Arumbaya fetish as the centre piece of the show; however, they feared that it might be stolen, so a replica was exhibited rather than the genuine article. Imitating the events of ''The Broken Ear'', a thief broke in and stole the statue. A letter was then sent to ''[[Le Soir]]'' in which an individual alleging to be the thief stated that the item would be returned if Hergé returned to the scene of the crime at a certain time with a copy of the book under his right arm. Hergé did so, but carried the book under his left arm; the thief never appeared, and the replica fetish was never recovered.{{sfnm|1a1=Thompson|1y=1991|1pp=72–73|2a1=Lofficier|2a2=Lofficier|2y=2002|2p=38}}

==Critical analysis==
[[File:Cultures précolombiennes MRAH Chimu Hergé 02 10 2011 B.jpg|thumb|150px|The [[Chimú culture|Chimú]] statuette from the [[Cinquantenaire Museum]] which was copied into the adventure by Hergé.]]
[[Jean-Marc Lofficier|Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier]] described ''The Broken Ear'' as "a ''Blue Lotus''-lite", noting that it shared many elements with the previous ''Adventure'', although they also considered it to be "more reminiscent of the earlier, more caricatured books" like ''Tintin in the Congo'' and ''Tintin in America'' with the inclusion of comical natives and absurdist elements like "comical bombs".{{sfn|Lofficier|Lofficier|2002|p=39}} They nevertheless thought that it exhibited a "marked improvement" in Hergé's use of plotting, noting that the story was clearly structured, praising the "very effective, dramatic story, with plenty of twists".{{sfn|Lofficier|Lofficier|2002|p=39}} Overall, they awarded ''The Broken Ear'' two stars out of five.{{sfn|Lofficier|Lofficier|2002|p=39}} [[Harry Thompson]] felt that ''The Broken Ear'' had a "slightly lacklustre quality" to it,{{sfn|Thompson|1991|p=70}} and was "disappointing" due to the fact that the "various elements don't gel well together".{{sfn|Thompson|1991|p=69}} He believed that the artistic quality and the use of research deteriorated as the ''Adventure'' progressed,{{sfn|Thompson|1991|p=70}} although it had "the most complex plot yet, by a long way".{{sfn|Thompson|1991|p=69}} Philippe Goddin asserted that in the story, Tintin develops from a "classic reporter to an investigative journalist."{{sfn|Goddin|2008|p=176}}

[[Michael Farr]] described ''The Broken Ear'' as a "moral condemnation of capitalism, imperialism and war", although felt that it was "not as perfectly constructed" as ''The Blue Lotus'', being "less detailed and realistic".{{sfn|Farr|2001|p=68}} He thought that the image in which Ramón and Alonso drown in the sea and are dragged to Hell by demons was "truly medieval" and represented the "most fanciful image" in the entire series.{{sfn|Farr|2001|pp=67–68}} He also opined that Hergé's depiction of South American militaries was "full of humour" and that the detail was "generally very accurate".<!-- Worth to remember that Bolivia and Paraguay were formal democracies at the time of the war, despite Farr "expertise" -->{{sfn|Farr|2001|p=62}}
Biographer [[Benoît Peeters]] thought that ''The Broken Ear'' was a return to "pure adventure" from the "quasi-documentary realism" of ''The Blue Lotus'',{{sfn|Peeters|1989|p=51}} and that in this ''Adventure'', politics remains "in the second line", and that instead Hergé let "the narrative rip and succeeds marvellously".{{sfn|Peeters|1989|p=53}} Elsewhere, he praised the work as having a "formidable dynamism" and an "unequaled vitality", containing a "revolution" in narrative structure.{{sfn|Peeters|2012|p=82}} He thought that it served as a "perfect metaphor" for the theories of German philosopher [[Walter Benjamin]] published in ''[[The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction]]'' (1936), which Hergé had not read.{{sfn|Peeters|2012|p=83}}
Literary critic [[Tom McCarthy (novelist)|Tom McCarthy]] thought that Balthazar was an example of the interesting minor characters that imbue the ''Adventures'', commenting that his "down-at-heel garret speaks volumes of loneliness and semi-realised artistry".{{sfn|McCarthy|2006|p=8}} He also opined that the diamond within the fetish was the [[clitoris]] of the Arumbaya, describing it as "their pleasure, wrapped up in a fetish".{{sfn|McCarthy|2006|p=111}} He also thought that there was a homosexual subtext between Ramón and Alonso, believing that the scene in which a bullet was fired into Ramón's buttocks was symbolic of [[anal sex]].{{sfn|McCarthy|2006|p=108}}

Writing in ''[[Libération]]'', the philosopher [[Michel Serres]] opined that ''The Broken Ear'' was "a treatise on fetishism".{{sfn|Apostolidès|2010|p=79}}
Literary critic [[Jean-Marie Apostolidès]] of [[Stanford University]] believed that ''The Broken Ear'' established a "tintinian" anthropology that would remain throughout the rest of the series. As part of this, Apostolidès argued, Hergé distances himself from western values and looks at his own society as an outsider, accomplishing what [[Roger Caillois]] called "sociological revolution".{{sfn|Apostolidès|2010|p=79}} He felt that the comic was "more contrived" and "more superficial" than the previous ''Adventures'', and that here Tintin loses his position as "the sole point of identification" for the reader, with the other characters becoming more identifiable.{{sfn|Apostolidès|2010|p=79}} Opining that there was a constant theme of twos throughout the story (i.e. the real and the fake fetish, Alonso and Ramón), he thought that the character of Ridgewell was "a kind of Tintin, grown old among the natives, solitary and ill humored", noting that Ridgewell's position among the Arumbayas was akin to Tintin's position among the Ba Baorom in ''Congo''.{{sfn|Apostolidès|2010|pp=82–83}} Apostolidès also argued that in the comic, Alcazar was a religious figure, who attained a "sacred" quality through the spilling of blood in his revolt against General Tapioca's government. As part of this, he argued that the threats of assassination would make him a martyr, or a "holy king".{{sfn|Apostolidès|2010|p=86}}

==Adaptations==
''The Broken Ear'' is one of ''The Adventures of Tintin'' that were adapted for the first series of the animated ''[[Hergé's Adventures of Tintin]]'' by the Belgian studio [[Belvision]] in 1957, directed by Ray Goossens and written by [[Michel Greg]]. ''The Broken Ear'' was divided up into six 5-minute black-and-white episodes that diverted from Hergé's original plot in a variety of ways.{{sfn|Lofficier|Lofficier|2002|p=87}}

It was also adapted into a 1991 episode of ''[[The Adventures of Tintin (TV series)|The Adventures of Tintin]]'' television series by French studio [[Ellipse Programme|Ellipse]] and Canadian animation company [[Nelvana]].{{sfn|Lofficier|Lofficier|2002|p=90}} Directed by Stéphane Bernasconi, Thierry Wermuth voiced the character of Tintin.{{sfn|Lofficier|Lofficier|2002|p=90}} The episode deviates significantly from the original story line. The passage containing Tintin's drunkenness has been ignored entirely, keeping the character consistent with how it is seen in the rest of series - upright, conscientious and of commendable moral standards. Besides, the political narratives, almost ubiquitously present in the latter part of the original album, have also been largely overlooked. Tintin's conflict with the military was also replaced with one with Alonso Pérez and Ramón Bada. Pérez had take over the role of the fetish's diamond thief over Rodrigo Tortilla, whose been had been the one to listen to diamond story from Pérez years before. Pérez and Bada did not die at the end of the story, as occurs in the album, but are rescued by Tintin as he is retrieved from the sea by the ship's crew, and taken to prison.

Tintin critic [[Tom McCarthy (novelist)|Tom McCarthy]] stated in an interview that the plot of his novel ''Men in Space'' was "more or less lifted straight" from ''The Broken Ear''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Fernandez-Armesto |first=Fred |date=February 2011 |title=Interview with Tom McCarthy |url=https://www.thewhitereview.org/feature/interview-with-tom-mccarthy-2/ |website=The White Review}}</ref> Like ''The Broken Ear'', ''Men in Space'' concerns an artist hired to reproduce a priceless artwork; however he ultimately produces more than one copy, fooling the conspirators.

==References==

===Notes===
{{notelist}}

===Footnotes===
{{reflist|30em}}

===Bibliography===
{{refbegin |30em}}
* {{cite book |title=The Metamorphoses of Tintin, or Tintin for Adults |last=Apostolidès |first=Jean-Marie |others=Jocelyn Hoy (translator) |year=2010 |orig-year=2006 |publisher=Stanford University Press |location=Stanford |isbn=978-0-8047-6031-7 }}
* {{cite book |title=Hergé, the Man Who Created Tintin |last=Assouline |first=Pierre |others=Charles Ruas (translator) |year=2009 |orig-year=1996 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford and New York |isbn=978-0-19-539759-8 }}
* {{cite book |title=Tintin: The Complete Companion |last=Farr |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Farr |year=2001 |publisher=John Murray |location=London |isbn=978-0-7195-5522-0 }}
* {{cite book |title=The Art of Hergé, Inventor of Tintin: Volume I, 1907–1937 |last=Goddin |first=Philippe |author-link=Philippe Goddin |others=Michael Farr (translator) |year=2008 |publisher=Last Gasp |location=San Francisco |isbn=978-0-86719-706-8 }}
* {{cite book |title=The Broken Ear |last=Hergé |author-link=Hergé |others=Leslie Lonsdale-Cooper and Michael Turner (translators) |year=1975 |orig-year=1943 |publisher=Egmont |location=London |isbn=978-0-416-83450-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7U7GKQAACAAJ }}
* {{cite book |title=The Pocket Essential Tintin |last1=Lofficier |first1=Jean-Marc |last2=Lofficier |first2=Randy |year=2002 |publisher=Pocket Essentials |location=Harpenden, Hertfordshire |isbn=978-1-904048-17-6 }}
* {{cite book |title=Tintin and the Secret of Literature |last=McCarthy |first=Tom |author-link=Tom McCarthy (novelist) |year=2006 |publisher=Granta |location=London |isbn=978-1-86207-831-4 }}
* {{cite book |title=Tintin and the World of Hergé |last=Peeters |first=Benoît |author-link=Benoît Peeters |year=1989 |publisher=Methuen Children's Books |location=London |isbn=978-0-416-14882-4 }}
* {{cite book |title=Hergé: Son of Tintin |last=Peeters |first=Benoît |author-link=Benoît Peeters |others=Tina A. Kover (translator) |year=2012 |orig-year=2002 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |location=Baltimore, Maryland |isbn=978-1-4214-0454-7 }}
* {{cite journal |title=Investigating the Clear Line Style |last=Pleban |first=Dafna |journal=Comicfoundry |date=7 November 2006 |url=http://comicfoundry.com/?p=1526 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131212134207/http://comicfoundry.com/?p=1526 |archive-date=December 12, 2013 |access-date=4 August 2013 }}
* {{cite book |title=Tintin: Hergé and his Creation |last=Thompson |first=Harry |author-link=Harry Thompson |year=1991 |publisher=Hodder and Stoughton |location=London |isbn=978-0-340-52393-3 }}
{{refend}}

==External links==
*[http://en.tintin.com/albums/show/id/30/page/0/0/the-broken-ear ''The Broken Ear''] at the Official Tintin Website
*[http://www.tintinologist.org/guides/books/06brokenear.html ''The Broken Ear''] at Tintinologist.org

{{Tintin and Hergé}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Broken Ear, The}}
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