Bobby Smiles Menacing – Figurines Tintin La Collection Officielle – 47 – Bobby Smiles Menaçant

Author: Hergé & Editions Moulinsart
Price: £75.00
Publisher: Editions Moulinsart
Publication date: 2013
Format: Original pictorial boards with passport and figurine
Condition: In near fine condition
Illustrations: Illustrated throughout

Description:

Original pictorial boards. Includes passport loosely inserted. Text in French. Includes the accompanying figurine. One from the collection of 111 books and figurines. Very slight wear. In very near fine, clean condition overall.

Bobby Smiles: A Short Biography

Bobby Smiles is one of the principal antagonists in Tintin in America (Tintin en Amérique, first published in 1932). He is portrayed as a ruthless Chicago gangster — clever, ambitious, and coldly opportunistic — who stands as a rival to Al Capone himself. Through him, Hergé explores the violent, lawless glamour of 1930s organised crime while satirising the myth of American prosperity.

Character Overview

Bobby Smiles is introduced as a high-ranking mob boss operating in Chicago, a city dominated by criminal empires and corruption. Unlike Al Capone, who appears briefly at the start of the story, Smiles functions as Tintin’s main adversary throughout much of the narrative.

Hergé draws him as a tall, dark-haired man with sharp features, dressed impeccably in a suit and hat — the very image of the polished American gangster. His manner is suave and controlled, but beneath that surface lies calculated brutality.

Smiles’s name itself is ironic: the “smile” is a mask for deceit and menace, suggesting charm concealing criminal intent.

Role in Tintin in America

When Tintin arrives in Chicago to expose Al Capone’s operations, the gang leader swiftly orders his capture. However, Tintin’s escape and intervention disrupt Capone’s hold on the city, prompting a rival — Bobby Smiles — to step forward. Smiles hopes to seize control of the underworld by eliminating both Capone and Tintin.

Realising Tintin’s interference threatens all the gangs, Smiles orchestrates a series of assassination attempts and traps. His resourcefulness makes him a more persistent enemy than Capone himself.

The conflict between Tintin and Smiles extends beyond Chicago: when Tintin pursues him westward, Smiles flees into Native American territory. There, he manipulates a tribe by convincing them that Tintin is their enemy, resulting in one of the story’s most dramatic sequences — Tintin’s capture and near-execution.

Ultimately, Smiles’s schemes unravel. Tintin survives, exposes his lies, and captures him after a chase that ends in humiliation. Smiles is handed over to the authorities, his power broken.

Personality and Traits

Bobby Smiles is notable for being one of Hergé’s first fully realised human villains — not a caricature, but a character with cunning and intent.

Key traits include:

• Cleverness: He plans elaborate traps, using manipulation rather than brute force.
• Charisma: He commands loyalty through confidence and presence.
• Cruelty: His ambition overrides conscience; others are disposable tools.
• Cowardice: When cornered, his composure collapses — his power depends on fear, not courage.

These traits make him the archetypal mobster — charming yet morally hollow, sophisticated yet savage.

Symbolism

In Tintin in America, Hergé uses Smiles to symbolise the corruption of modern capitalism. Chicago, the city of opportunity, is shown as ruled by violence and greed. Smiles’s elegant exterior mirrors a society obsessed with wealth and power, while his criminality exposes the rot beneath.

He also represents the rise of the “corporate criminal” — a figure who treats crime like business, complete with organisation, strategy, and public relations. His rivalry with Capone mirrors the competition of corporations, suggesting that greed drives both lawful and unlawful empires.

Artistic and Narrative Function

Bobby Smiles is central to the structure of Tintin in America. After Capone’s brief appearance, Smiles assumes the role of the continuous threat that sustains tension throughout the story. His pursuit across urban and frontier landscapes gives the album its pace and variety.

Visually, Hergé presents Smiles in contrast to Tintin:

• Smiles is sharply dressed, but his eyes are cold and calculating.
• Tintin’s simple attire and open expression convey sincerity and moral clarity.

Their opposition reflects the broader theme of innocence confronting cynicism — a recurring motif in Hergé’s early work.

Cultural Context

When Tintin in America was first published, European audiences were fascinated by American gangster culture. Films and magazines glorified figures such as Capone and Dillinger. Hergé, drawing on that imagery, exaggerated it to create satire rather than admiration.

Smiles’s name, immaculate appearance, and obsession with control parody the myth of the “civilised” criminal. His downfall reaffirms Tintin’s role as moral counterweight to corruption and greed.

Legacy

Though he appears in only one Tintin adventure, Bobby Smiles remains significant as Hergé’s first sustained human villain — a prototype for later antagonists such as Dr Müller, Colonel Sponsz, and Rastapopoulos.

He marks a shift from the purely episodic villains of the early albums to more psychologically defined figures. His intelligence and charm foreshadow the polished menace that would recur throughout Tintin’s later adventures.

In essence, Smiles represents the birth of Hergé’s modern villain: sophisticated, manipulative, and morally bankrupt — a man who could easily exist beyond the pages of fiction.

Summary

• Full name: Bobby Smiles
• Occupation: Gang leader, rival to Al Capone
• First and only appearance: Tintin in America (1932)
• Traits: Intelligent, ambitious, manipulative, ruthless, cowardly
• Symbolism: Represents corruption disguised as sophistication; greed as the driving force of modern society
• Fate: Captured by Tintin and handed to the authorities
• Legacy: Early model for Hergé’s later complex villains

Conclusion

Bobby Smiles is a product of Hergé’s early fascination with modernity’s contradictions — progress built on exploitation, glamour masking decay. Through him, Tintin in America becomes more than a boy’s adventure: it becomes a satire of a world where success and criminality are often indistinguishable.

In Smiles’s polished grin lies the essence of Hergé’s moral universe — that evil, however charmingly dressed, will always betray itself when confronted by truth.

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Cataloguer: Daniel Hornsey

Daniel Hornsey has specialised in fine and rare books, ephemera, and collectors’ editions for over thirty years. As a long-standing member of the antiquarian book trade, he has advised private collectors, curated catalogues, and sourced works for leading dealers, libraries and institutions across the world.

Hornseys’ exhibit regularly at book and map fairs in London and throughout the UK and are members of the Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association, the PBFA.

His fascination with Hergé’s work — especially ‘The Adventures of Tintin’ — began in childhood. Daniel recalls reading Tintin in original European editions and quickly recognising that these were not merely children’s books, but finely illustrated narratives crafted with artistic depth and wit.

As noted by the Musée Hergé in Louvain-la-Neuve, Hergé’s ‘ligne claire’ style has influenced generations of European comic artists and his original drawings and paintings command very high prices with his painting of ‘The Blue Lotus’ jar fetching £2.8m at auction in 2021.

By presenting these works through Hornseys’, he hopes to contribute to the continued appreciation of one of the 20th century’s most influential illustrators, helping new generations discover the artistry and legacy of Hergé.