Tintin in America (Adventures of Tintin)

Written in 1931, Tintin in America was chronologically the third Tintin adventure but is generally considered the first in the "official" canon. The stereotypes probably fit how a European would have looked at the New World, from Al Capone's gangsters in Chicago to a Native American tribe in the unfortunately named Redskin City, as Tintin and Snowy escape one peril after another in pursuit of villain Bobby Smiles. It's one of Herge's least complex--and least entertaining--tales, still worth a read but not a good introduction to the series as a whole. --David Horiuchi