The Secret of the Unicorn was one of the first truly great Tintin adventures and Herge's personal favorite, combining a puzzling mystery with a ripping pirate yarn. When Tintin finds a magnificent model ship in the street market, his attempt to buy it for Captain Haddock leads him on a trail of pickpockets, burglars, and secret treasure, and Haddock enthralls him with a tale of his seafaring ancestor, Sir Francis Haddock (who was exclaiming "Thundering typhoons!" generations before the Captain ever did), and his fateful encounter with the fearsome pirate Red Rackham. The story is also notable for Herge's fantastic eye for ship detail as well as the first appearances of Nestor and Marlinspike Hall. The Secret of the Unicorn was Tintin's first official two-book adventure, continued in Red Rackham's Treasure. --David Horiuchi