London ( CNN ) -- Herge 's famous boy reporter certainly liked to stray from his native Belgium . Tintin 's official profession may be that of a reporter , but he is just as much an explorer and archaeologist , dashing around the world to chase down ancient artifacts in addition to nefarious villains and a good story . Carrying on a venerable tradition of filmic archaeologists and adventurists such as Indiana Jones , the new Tintin film by Steven Spielberg , entitled `` The Adventures of Tintin : The Secret Of The Unicorn , '' mixes the story-lines of several of Herge 's books and follows Tintin and friends hunting for centuries-old treasure . `` Herge was always interested in exotic locations and travel around the world , '' said Paris-based 'Tintinologist ' and comic-book artist Jean-Marc Lofficier . `` Keep in mind that he comes out of the tradition of ( French author ) Jules Verne , whose characters are always traveling around the world and finding lost civilizations and incredible ruins , '' he continued . Lofficier , who is co-author of the Pocket Essential guide to Tintin , spoke to CNN about his favorite historical escapades and archaeological `` MacGuffins '' from the classic series of comic books , beloved around the world by adults and children alike . 'The Cigars of the Pharaoh ' Published in 1934 , this is the first Tintin adventure to have featured an archaeological premise , Lofficier says , explaining that the storyline was `` clearly influenced '' by the discovery of the tomb of ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun by Howard Carter in 1922 . The plot begins with Tintin meeting an archaeologist looking for the lost tomb of a mysterious Pharaoh and is driven by the appearance of a number of cigars bearing mysterious -- seemingly ancient Egyptian -- symbols . Moving from Egypt to Arabia and on to India , Lofficier says the book is `` a catalog of archaeological myths and popular clichÃ©s from the late 19th and early 20th centuries . '' 'The Broken Ear ' This book , published in 1937 , charts the hunt for a South American idol that is stolen from the Museum of Ethnography in Brussels . `` It 's kind of a fetish object , a small wooden idol with a broken ear , '' said Lofficier . `` We find out that there is some kind of a precious stone hidden in the idol and everyone is fighting over it . '' `` Herge is using the complications of having various people try to seize the idol as a pretext for a travelogue around South America , '' says Lofficier , explaining that Herge was as interested in anthropology as he was archaeology , with Tintin coming into contact with native South American tribesmen along the journey . 'Prisoners of the Sun ' Published in 1949 , `` Prisoners of the Sun '' is a sequel to `` The Seven Crystal Balls , '' in which a group of explorers are struck down with an unexplained illness after discovering the tomb of a mummified Inca in Peru -- a storyline which echoes the supposed Tutankhamun `` curse '' that was much-discussed at the time . In `` Prisoners of the Sun , '' Tintin and friends are charged with rescuing their friend Professor Calculus from native tribesmen , who are angry about what they see as the desecration of their culture and are eventually revealed to be last remaining descendants of the Incas . `` At the end of the day , it is about the right of the Inca civilization to ( protect their ) culture , '' said Lofficier . `` Herge presents the other side of the issue , which is that these civilizations deserve to be respected -- which considering the time period , is very forward-thinking . '' In the end , Tintin manages to secure the release of the kidnapped explorers and in exchange promises never to reveal the location of the remaining Incas . 'The Secret of the Unicorn ' and 'Red Rackham 's Treasure ' Moving from ancient civilizations to pirates and buried treasure , `` The Secret of the Unicorn '' and `` Red Rackham 's Treasure '' form the basis for the script of `` The Adventures of Tintin : The Secret Of The Unicorn . '' Both chart Tintin and various other parties ' attempts to unearth the lost loot of 17th century pirate , Red Rackham . `` Half of ( The Secret of the Unicorn ) is actually a flash-back to the great days of the pirates , '' said Lofficier , explaining that Tintin 's friend Captain Haddock is the ancestor of the sea captain who killed Rackham all those years ago . At the end of `` Red Rackham 's Treasure , '' after a voyage in a submarine resembling a shark , the treasure turns out to be hidden in Haddock 's ancestral home . 'Flight 714 ' `` Flight 714 is the penultimate Tintin book and has a very strange ending , '' explains Lofficier . The book , published in 1968 , is strongly influenced by the science fiction of the time , said Lofficier , and features an incredible plot device in which the gods worshiped by the ancient peoples of a volcanic island Pulau-Pulau Bompa are revealed to have been extraterrestrials . `` We are left with an ongoing mystery , ( presented as ) the ultimate answer to archaeology , '' said Lofficier .
Herge as much an explorer and amateur archaeologist as a reporter . ' Tintin ' The Cigars of the Pharaoh ' Published in 1934 lists his favorite archaeology-themed Tintin adventures . Tintinologist interested in anthropology and archaeology , influenced by discoveries of all those years ago .