The Adventures of Totor

The Adventures of Totor, Chief Scout of the Cockshafers
One of the early installments of Les Aventures de Totor
Publication information
Publisher	Le Boy Scout Belge
Format	Limited series
Genre	Adventure comics, Text comics
Publication date	July 1926–July 1929
No. of issues	1
Creative team
Written by	Hergé
Artist(s)	Hergé

The Adventures of Totor, Chief Scout of the Cockshafers (French: Les Aventures de Totor, C.P. des hannetons) is the first comic strip series by the Belgian cartoonist Hergé, who later came to notability as the author of The Adventures of Tintin series. It was serialised monthly from July 1926 to summer 1929 in Belgian scouting magazine Le Boy Scout Belge, with a nine month break in 1927. The plot synopsis revolved around the eponymous Totor, a Belgian boy scout who travels to visit his aunt and uncle in Texas, United States. Once there, he comes across hostile Native American tribes and gangsters, each of whom he outwits, before returning to Belgium.

Like the Bécassine comics, which were common in Western Europe at the time, the series is a text comic, consisting of pictures with separate captions, although Hergé had begun to experiment with the use of speech bubbles throughout, something influenced by American comics. In 1929, Hergé created the character of Tintin for the new story, Tintin in the Land of the Soviets, which would be largely based on Totor. Literary critics have expressed mixed views on the narrative and artwork.

Totor leaves Brussels to go and visit his uncle Pad Hatt and aunt Save Hatt in Texas, the United States. Along the way he is pulled overboard by a shark and then thrown onto an American submarine which takes him to New York City. Totor is awed by the skyscrapers and is unintentionally hit by a car which flings him into a passing stranger who turns out to be a criminal named John Blood. After Totor receives a $5,000 reward for the gangster he takes a train to his uncle's ranch in Rolmopcity. His uncle picks him up at the station and on their way back a group of Native Americans hold them up. Totor manages to distract the Natives and the two of them escape. However, a few hours later at the ranch, the same tribe kidnaps Totor in revenge. Standing tied to a torture stake Totor is made into a target for knives, axes and arrows. One of the arrows cut the ropes binding him and when the Chief draws close to scalp the young boy, Totor digs his feet into the Sachem's stomach and makes a quick getaway into a river, pretending to have drowned. Underwater, he finds an old chest full of countless jewels and buries them at the base of a boulder.