Asterix and Tintin. Good or Racist?

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Tintin author made nazi propaganda in Belgium so yea
- Woah I had no idea. Fuck that.
  
  Tintin was originally published in La Petit Vingtieme, which under Herge's (The author of Tintin) direction moved further right from the traditional conservative outlook into a borderline rexist (Belgian fascism) line and began explicitly endorsing political antisemitism and international fascism. Tintin himself was envisioned as a representative of the revitalized youth that we so often see form the basis for fascist and nationalist movements (See: "Young X" movements), likewise Tintin in the Soviets was an explicit anti-soviet work, and Tintin in the Congo was meant to be supportive of Belgian colonialism in the Congo. After the war Herge was named in the "Gallery of traitors" as a collaborator for his work in Le Soir which continued work under German occupation and German censorship/editorial direction. So the origin of Tintin are bad.
  But Herge's actual involvement with the nazis was slim, when the war began he was writing about how bad the Japanese invasion of China was in collaboration with a Chinese friend (The Blue Lotus is still so fucking racist) and during the war he was mostly concerned with writing stuff like The Crab with the Golden Claws and The Shooting Star, both of which only incidentally has terrible politics (Herge based the planes in The Shooting Star on nazi planes), and remaking Tintin in the Congo (Bad, terrible, awful, racist, bad bad bad)
  Herge's support of the nazis mostly came in the form of people buying Le Soir to read Tintin, and Le Soir being a nazi rag.
  
  But Herge's actual involvement with the nazis was slim, when the war began he was writing about how bad the Japanese invasion of China was in collaboration with a Chinese friend (The Blue Lotus is still so fucking racist)
  There's a bit in the Blue Lotus where Tintin trys to access the Shanghai international settlement (a chunk of Shanghai basically occupied by US and UK troops during the Century of Humiltation) and British troops try to stop him, they cut it from the 90s cartoon and just had Japanese soldiers, because suggesting that Anglos were once also trying to colonize China was considered poor taste at the End of History. It's so racist still. But he also locked in and put everyone on blast.
  (They also cut so much of Tintin in America. Lynch mobs. Mistreatment of First Nations. It's like the shortest arc).
  
  Herge's actual involvement with the nazis was slim, when the war began he was writing about how bad the Japanese invasion of China was in collaboration with a Chinese friend
  I mean there was a literal Nazi Ambassador who saved Chinese lives in Nanking, not sure how one precludes the other.
  
  Well it was kinda at gunpoint cuss the gestapo hounded him from his previous publication house after he published 'Music above all' and said a lot of negative stuff about Hitler and Mousilini. Still he became a collaborator and made propaganda cartoons for the pro Nazi occupied Belgian press. He was also previously very much conservative and pro catholic opposition to "socialist atheism", a major fear at the time for Belgian clergy, so overall he'd likely be within the same political spectrum as the dude that made Dilbert.
  
  It was so not made at gunpoint. He could have stayed in France, or he could have stopped writing for large publication. He both returned to Belgium freely (Because of his monarchist views) and sought out the job at Le Soir.
  
  He chose Le Soir over Le Pays Réel (an openly fascist pro francophone publication even before the war and occupation) though, which meant very little when most papers eventually became fash mouthpieces. Overall Herge just kinda did what most average people (Herge being a average propagandized Catholic monarchist) have done and likely will always do during a fash takeover of your country (head down and try to not get the gestapo to visit your home a second time). In a tier system of collaboration he'd be in the middle tier imho. Also between either Belgium or France I'd likely stick with the country I'm most familiar with given how both were ripe with "third wave" fanatics, neoliberals, and monarchists that never wanted to accept Marxism and instead go into revisionist death spirals (Henri di Man of the Belgian labor party for instance) and do jolly fash collaboration leading to starvation as the Nazis kinda just plundered whatever they wanted.
  tldr: surviving during fash occupation doing propaganda pieces for the Vichy government is a moral death pit and Herge never fully repented (and also said stupid shit about the french resistance), he at a minimum should have faced jail time

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