Tintin in the Congo and the stowaway is eaten by crocodiles. After reading a letter from the stowaway's pocket, Tintin finds that someone called "A.C." has ordered his elimination. Tintin captures a criminal who tried to rendezvous with the stowaway and learns that "A.C." is the American gangster Al Capone, who is trying to gain control of African diamond production. Tintin and the colonial police arrest the rest of the diamond smuggling gang and Tintin and Snowy return to Belgium. Georges Remi—best known under the pen name Hergé—was employed as editor and illustrator of (""The Little Twentieth""), a children's supplement to (""The Twentieth Century""),
Tintin in the Land of the Soviets wanted to write and draw his own cartoon strip. Hergé already had experience creating comic strips. From July 1926 he had written a strip about a boy scout patrol leader titled "Les Aventures de Totor C.P. des Hannetons" (""The Adventures of Totor, Scout Leader of the Cockchafers"") for the Scouting newspaper (""The Belgian Boy Scout""). The character of Totor was a strong influence on Tintin; Hergé described the latter as being like Totor's younger brother. Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier stated that graphically, Totor and Tintin were "virtually identical" except for the scout uniform, also noting many similarities between their respective