Professor Siclone With The Paintbrush – Figurines Tintin La Collection Officielle – 38 – Le Professeur Siclone Au Pinceau

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.

Professeur Siclone: A Short Biography

Professor Siclone (known in French as Le Professeur Siclone) is a minor comic character from The Adventures of Tintin. Although his appearance is brief, he stands out as one of Hergé’s humorous portraits of eccentric intellectuals — a type that the artist returned to often, culminating in the fully realised character of Professor Cuthbert Calculus (Professeur Tryphon Tournesol).

Siclone belongs to Hergé’s early creative period, when the Tintin stories still relied heavily on caricature and visual gags. He reflects both Hergé’s fascination with quirky scientists and his ability to find comedy in human mannerisms.

Character Profile

Professor Siclone is depicted as an energetic, somewhat scatter-brained inventor or academic, whose enthusiasm frequently outpaces his practicality. He is typically shown with dishevelled hair, spectacles, and eccentric clothing — the stereotypical image of the absent-minded professor.

His name itself is a joke: Siclone evokes “cyclone” — a storm or whirlwind — perfectly describing his volatile energy, rapid speech, and chaotic behaviour. Wherever he appears, confusion tends to follow.

Appearance and Role

Professor Siclone appears in the early Tintin strips and related Hergé works from the 1930s. His role is largely comic rather than central to the narrative: a fleeting figure used to punctuate a scene with slapstick or to comment on the absurdities of science and invention.

Like many of Hergé’s early secondary characters, Siclone serves as a sketch or prototype for later, more refined figures. In his gestures, verbal quirks, and capacity to cause accidental havoc, one can see the clear forerunner of Professor Calculus — though Calculus would later be portrayed with far greater subtlety and depth.

Personality and Comic Traits

Siclone’s personality is defined by:

• Boundless enthusiasm: He approaches every idea with unrestrained excitement, regardless of practicality.
• Naïve optimism: He believes in his inventions absolutely, even when they fail spectacularly.
• Physical comedy: His energy often results in accidents, explosions, or comic chaos, providing a visual counterpoint to Tintin’s calm rationality.

Hergé’s art amplifies these qualities through quick, expressive lines — wide eyes, wind-swept hair, and flailing limbs — creating a sense of motion that justifies the “cyclone” in his name.

Symbolism and Creative Evolution

Professor Siclone represents Hergé’s early exploration of comic science and eccentricity. The figure of the well-meaning but unbalanced inventor is a familiar archetype in European comic tradition, used to lampoon modernity’s faith in progress.

Siclone’s brief role in Tintin’s universe marks an important creative step toward the conception of Professor Calculus, who first appeared in Red Rackham’s Treasure. Many of Siclone’s traits — his excitement, misunderstanding, and physical humour — were refined in Calculus, transforming slapstick into character depth.

In this sense, Siclone is part of Hergé’s artistic evolution: the move from broad caricature to the more human, psychologically grounded figures of his later work.

Thematic Relevance

Though his presence is fleeting, Professor Siclone adds texture to Tintin’s world by representing the intersection of intellect and absurdity. He embodies both the promise and folly of science — capable of invention, yet perpetually undone by his own enthusiasm.

In Hergé’s broader storytelling, characters like Siclone serve as humorous reminders that intelligence alone does not guarantee wisdom.

Legacy

While Professor Siclone never reappears in later albums, his spirit endures through Professor Calculus and other idiosyncratic intellectuals of the Tintin universe. Readers and historians of Hergé’s work recognise Siclone as an early experiment in character type — the embryonic form of one of Tintin’s most beloved companions.

Today, he stands as a curiosity of the early Tintin period: a comic whirlwind whose brief appearance hints at the sophistication Hergé would later bring to his storytelling and character design.

Why Buy from Us?

At Hornseys, we are committed to offering items that meet the highest standards of quality and authenticity. Our collection of objects and rare books are carefully curated to ensure each edition is a valuable piece of bibliographical history. Here’s what sets us apart:

• Authenticity and Provenance: Each item is meticulously researched and verified for authenticity and collation.
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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.