Colonel Sponsz Upset – Figurines Tintin La Collection Officielle – 37 – Le Colonel Sponsz Contrarié

Author: Hergé & Editions Moulinsart
Price: £65.00
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. Figurine is unopened in original packaging. New

Colonel Sponsz: A Short Biography

Colonel Sponsz is one of Hergé’s most memorable villains — a cold, vain, and authoritarian officer who personifies the bureaucratic cruelty of the fictional state of Borduria. Introduced in The Calculus Affair and reappearing in Tintin and the Picaros, he is both menacing and absurd, a character who perfectly embodies Hergé’s talent for blending political satire with humour.

Character Profile

Colonel Sponsz is the head of Bordurian military intelligence, operating under the oppressive regime of Marshal Kûrvi-Tasch, whose stylised moustache has become a symbol of the state’s totalitarian ideology. Sponsz is tall, angular, and impeccably dressed, usually in a sharp military uniform adorned with decorations and a monocle — the visual shorthand for his arrogance and self-importance.

He speaks with icy precision, takes exaggerated pride in his rank, and enjoys wielding authority over subordinates and prisoners alike. His mannerisms are theatrical: his posture stiff, his gestures deliberate, and his expressions alternately pompous and vindictive.

First Appearance: The Calculus Affair

Sponsz first appears in The Calculus Affair (1956), one of Hergé’s most politically charged adventures. The story centres on the kidnapping of Professor Cuthbert Calculus, whose sonic weapon has attracted the interest of two rival nations — Syldavia and Borduria.

Sponsz is introduced as the chief interrogator at the Bordurian fortress of Szohôd, where Calculus is held captive. His office, dominated by portraits of Marshal Kûrvi-Tasch, mirrors his obsession with hierarchy and control. He exudes confidence, convinced of Borduria’s superiority and the righteousness of his cause.

However, Tintin and Captain Haddock infiltrate his regime with characteristic ingenuity. Sponsz’s arrogance blinds him to their disguises and deceptions, and he becomes an unwitting participant in his own humiliation.

Role in Tintin and the Picaros

Sponsz returns years later in Tintin and the Picaros, again serving as Borduria’s political emissary. Now a colonel-turned-diplomat, he continues to meddle in foreign affairs, working behind the scenes to manipulate the volatile politics of the fictional Latin American state of San Theodoros.

Here, Hergé subtly portrays Sponsz as the consummate opportunist — still loyal to Borduria’s authoritarian principles, but increasingly bureaucratic and self-serving. Though his menace has softened with age, his scheming nature and vanity remain intact.

Personality and Symbolism

Colonel Sponsz represents the archetype of the petty tyrant: ambitious, officious, and obsessed with appearances. He delights in procedure and punishment, but his intellect is limited by pride and rigidity. Like many of Hergé’s antagonists, he is undone not by Tintin’s aggression, but by his own folly.

Sponsz also serves as an instrument of satire. Borduria itself is a parody of totalitarian regimes — part Stalinist, part fascist — and Sponsz embodies the mixture of brutality and absurdity that such systems produce. His exaggerated discipline, devotion to the moustachioed cult of Kûrvi-Tasch, and bureaucratic bluster lampoon the pompous self-importance of real-world autocrats.

Relationship with Other Characters

• Professor Calculus: Sponsz regards Calculus as a pawn, valuable only for his scientific knowledge. His failure to recognise Calculus’s deafness and innocence reveals his lack of empathy and human understanding.
• Tintin and Haddock: Sponsz’s encounters with Tintin and Haddock are defined by rivalry and humiliation. He initially underestimates them, considering them amateurish, only to be repeatedly outwitted. His later embarrassment becomes a running source of humour.
• Marshal Kûrvi-Tasch: Though never seen interacting directly, Sponsz’s subservience to the Marshal is absolute. His loyalty borders on worship, reflecting both opportunism and fear.

Thematic Significance

Through Colonel Sponsz, Hergé explores themes of power, conformity, and the absurdity of authoritarianism. The colonel’s polished manners and sophisticated speech mask a deep moral emptiness. He believes unquestioningly in hierarchy and obedience, qualities that make him both comic and sinister.

His function in the Tintin stories is to embody institutional evil — not personal cruelty, but the mechanical enforcement of oppressive systems. He is efficient without imagination, disciplined without conscience, and proud without reason.

Legacy

Colonel Sponsz remains one of Hergé’s most enduring villains, ranking alongside Rastapopoulos and Dr Müller in complexity and memorability. His mixture of menace and pomposity ensures that he is as amusing as he is unsettling.

The image of Sponsz — monocle gleaming, moustache trimmed, hand raised in salute to Marshal Kûrvi-Tasch — is an indelible part of the Tintin universe. He represents both the comedy and the tragedy of blind obedience to authority, and Hergé’s sharpest critique of bureaucratic tyranny.

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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.