Abhijit Majumder Editor of MiD DAY, Delhi, on going to bed with the allegedly gay comic-book hero 
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Under Scanner: Have you ever thought about your fav comic book hero's sexuality? Pic/File</td></tr></tbody></table>Throughout childhood, I have gone to bed with Tintin. What the heck, I never felt it. Matthew Parris in The Times, UK, has out-ed the boy reporter as irretrievably gay. Another of our fictional heroesu00a0the last being Harry Potter's Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore, has just acquired genitalsu00a0and we seem to know what they were doing with it all along. "A callow, androgynous blonde-quiffed youth in funny trousers and a scarf moving into the country mansion of his best friend [Captain Haddock], a middle-aged sailor? A sweet-faced lad devoted to a fluffy white toy terrier [Snowy], whose other closest pals are an inseparable couple of detectives in bowler hats [Thompson and Thomson], and whose only serious female friend is an opera diva...and you're telling me Tintin isn't gay?" Parris writes. It is an extremely entertaining piece, written fast and crisp, with the air of Snowy playing with a bottle of Haddock's rum or prankster twins Fred and George in the Potter books setting off dung bombs. I don't think Parris, himself a gay, was trying to lay his claim on Tintin's sexuality, if that were possible. Great fictional characters like Tintin, Calvin and Frodo Baggins become timeless often because their aura are larger than a four-poster can hold, their adventures surely more exciting and gratifying than an orgasm. And unlike holy cows of the real world, you can have fun with them: an Asterix is far more sporting than a minister, and it is unlikely that he would have sent a rejoinder if somebody called him gay even if he could. They have a sense of humour and self-irony, unlike many of us who take ourselves mighty seriously. Having said that, I guess comic-book buffs, apart from having a sense of humour, are a far more tolerant and calmer set of people. I was going through the responses to Parris' article, most of which were equally interesting, because the response to provocation was very unlike ones you find when you scroll down say a pro-Pakistan pieces or an anti-Dhoni blog. Here are some: "I think he's [Tintin] just French"u00a0Sylvia, Naples, NY, US. "Not having many female friends I'd say is evidence he's NOT gay"u00a0Tony, Islington, London, UK. "I knew it! He told me once while on assignment"u00a0Flavia Pantoja, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. "I for one, found this to be an entertaining read. A welcome distraction from my exam revision"u00a0Jass, Herts, UK. Sporting, tongue-in-cheek responses befitting of Tintin fans. I am proud that a part of myself is stuck at 14, and I can yet take Tintin to bed without feeling what Marquez terms the "algae of anxiety" down there.

Unsung heroes

Abhijit Majumder Editor of MiD DAY, Delhi, on going to bed with the allegedly gay comic-book hero

Is Tintin straight, gay, great or stray?

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Is Tintin straight, gay, great or stray?

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