A visitor looks at a Tintin cartoon exhibit at the Pompidou Cultural Center in Paris, France, in 2006.
Many in America are only now just getting acquainted with Tintin, after Steven Spielberg brought him to the big screen in last year's "The Adventures of Tintin." But the intrepid reporter and his faithful dog Snowy are known to children all over the world through books written by Hergé, particularly in his home country of Belgium, where he is a national hero of sorts.
A recently filed lawsuit in the European nation however, will have Tintin answering to charges of racism, colonialism and arrogance.
A Congolese man filed the lawsuit, wanting one book, "Tintin in the Congo," banned. First published in 1931, the book is indeed full of racist stereotypes, and even Tintin's creator Hergé distanced himself from it in his later years.
The controversial parts have been removed from more recent printings, but you can still find them in European collectors' editions. It is the only Tintin book to not have been published in the United States.
The Congolese people were treated brutally by their Belgian colonial rulers during the early and mid-20th century. It is still a very sensitive issue in Belgium.
Tintin books have sold more than 200 million copies worldwide and have been translated into 77 languages.
10 News, Newslook and The Associated Press