Why does Tintin never have sex?

I had two great childhood heroes: Marc Bolan and Tintin. Marc provided me with wit just as Tintin provided me with wisdom. From an early age I realised that fame doesn’t have to ruin you. Look at Tintin. I determined to use him as my role model.

Tintin was for people who found Asterix too intellectual. But there were a lot of us. To date, The Adventures of Tintin have sold over 200 million copies in some 70 languages. Michael Farr in The Adventures of Hergé tries to explain why.

It is the most marvellous portrait. People fascinate me if their qualities are opposed by a wholly contradictory set of qualities. For example, we learn that Hergé never travelled. So while Tintin raced from Russia to the Congo, to the Americas North and South, Egypt, Arabia, India, China, Tibet and Indonesia, quite apart from western and central Europe, to the top of mountains and to the bottom of the seas — oh, and to the moon — Hergé stayed at home.