Tintin/Recap/The Red Sea Sharks

The Red Sea Sharks (1958) is the 19th adventure of Tintin. It is notable for its re-introduction of Tintin's Rogues Gallery and a number of supporting characters. The album begins with a reference to the Land of Black Gold. In Khemed, Sheikh Bab El Ehr has finally managed to depose his rival Emir Ben Kalish Ezab. Abdullah, the Royal Brat son of the Emir, is sent to Marlinspike Hall for protection.

In various subplots:

• Doctor J. W. Müller ( The Black Island, Land of Black Gold) has allied himself to the new regime in Khemed. Playing an influential role under the alias Mull Pasha.
• The struggle for power in San Theodoros is still ongoing. Rival leaders General Alcazar and General Tapioca (The Broken Ear, The Seven Crystal Balls) secretly purchase weapons from a smuggling operation.
• Leading the smugglers is J. M. Dawson, a Dirty Cop previously active in Shanghai (The Blue Lotus). His police days seem to be over but his criminal connections endure.
• Marquis di Gorgonzola, a Corrupt Corporate Executive, seems to have behind-the-scenes involvement in many of the recent events. His main plan however is reviving an illegal slave trade operation. He is abducting pilgrims to Mecca and selling them. The Marquis is actually Roberto Rastapopoulos, mastermind behind a supposedly defunct crime syndicate (Cigars of the Pharaoh, The Blue Lotus).
• Allan, Captain Haddock's former second-in-command (The Crab with the Golden Claws), resurfaces as captain of a slave ship.

Tintin has to face many of these old foes in order to resolve the situation in Khemed and in the revived African slave trade.

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Tropes

• Abandon Ship: Tintin and Haddock's kidnappers abandon ship after the engine breaks down, only for Haddock to fix it later and take over the now-repaired ship.
• America Saves the Day: While Americans in previous albums are typically villains, this album culminates with the USS Los Angeles coming in to rescue the heroes from submarine attack. The United States Navy saves the day.
• Badly-Battered Babysitter: Nestor, the butler of Marlinspike Hall. While Haddock is off adventuring, Nestor has to take care of young Prince Abdullah. The situation is "a little trying" on him. He looses a lot of weight while taking care of the Royal Brat.
• Centipede's Dilemma: Captain Haddock is unable to sleep after Allan mockingly asks him if he sleeps with his beard under or above the covers. This ends up saving his life and those of everyone on the ship.
• Completely Different Title: Coke en stock ("Coke On Board") was translated into English as Recap, perhaps because the first word in the title might be taken to mean Coca-Cola (the story reveals it to be a code word for slaves). "Coke" can of course mean "Cocaine" and the original intended meaning of a kind of coal.
• Cool Boat: The escape submarine concealed in a "sinking" motorboat.
• Feed It a Bomb: A shark accidentally swallows a mine intended for Tintin's boat. We hear it hiccup for a while, then it culminates with a "hicBOOOOOOOOOMMMM".
• Have a Gay Old Time: In the English translation, Tintin, Haddock and Piotr Skut (a shot-down Estonian pilot) are adrift on a raft in the middle of the Red Sea. They eventually are sighted by some passengers in a cruise ship, after which a woman immediately shouts to the ship's millionaire owner, "Look! Shipwrecks! How madly gay!"
• The Namesake: The English title for this story is a reference to a single shark which appears in one of the closing scenes. In the original French and most other languages, this album is known as "Coke on Board", with "coke" or some variant being a code-word for human cargo being shipped to slavery. Coke is a form of fuel, derived from coal. it is used here as a synonym for "black".
• Rebus Bubble: Haddock has one of these.
• Rogues Gallery: The album brings back many of Tintin's old enemies and connects them to each other in various ways.
• Submarine Pirates: Di Gorgonzola's slaver gang uses several ships and one submarine to attack targets. The submarine is a German Type VII U-boat.
• Suicidal Gotcha: Villainous example. Recurring Big Bad Rastapopoulos has been caught as the master of the Evil Plan which involved literal slave-trading, and the navy is closing on his superyacht. He goes out in a launch, supposedly to give himself up, but it suddenly sinks. The heroes and the world media think that he is dead, but he has in fact escaped in a mini-submarine hidden in the launch.
• Wanted Poster: Wanted posters for Tintin and Haddock in Khemed.