 Hergé biographer Pierre Assouline believed that Hergé 's drawing became more assured throughout the first version of the story without losing any of its spontaneity . He thought that the story began in " the most inoffensive way " , and that throughout the story Tintin was portrayed as a Boy Scout , something he argued reflected Hergé 's " moral debt " to Wallez . Biographer Benoît Peeters opined that Tintin in the Congo was " nothing spectacular " , with some " incredibly cumbersome " monologues , but he thought the illustrations " a bit more polished " than those in Land of the Soviets . Believing the plot to be " extremely simple " , he thought that Tintin 's character was like a child manipulating a world populated by toy animals and lead figurines . Michael Farr felt that , unlike the previous Tintin adventure , some sense of a plot emerges at the end of the story with the introduction of the American diamond @-@ smuggling racket . Philippe Goddin thought the work to be " more exciting " than Land of the Soviets and argued that Hergé 's depiction of the native Congolese was not mocking but a parody of past European militaries . By contrast , Harry Thompson believed that " Congo is almost a regression from Soviets " , in his opinion having no plot or characterisation ; he described it as " probably the most childish of all the Tintin books . " Simon Kuper of the Financial Times criticised both Land of the Soviets and Tintin in the Congo as the " worst " of the Adventures , opining that they were " poorly drawn " and " largely plot @-@ free " . 
