These images and the main part of the text were created by ChatGPT, with a healthy dose of revision, addition, guidance, recombination, and of course, laying out the basic story elements by… some silly person. That said, GPT absolutely did the lion’s share of the heavy-lifting here, and I’m quite impressed by the results(!) Note: the other two “Tintin” images are simply earlier models that I was unsatisfied with; just thought I’d include them for fun’s sake.
TBC-- this little exercise was conceived as an answer to the challenge posted here.
EDIT: For those downvoting, could you explain why you just did that? The reason I ask is mainly because I’ve busted my arse on this community for well over a year, with hundreds of my best content and mini-review posts shared for what I thought was the public good.
Indeed, have you read the side-bar and do you understand the mission of this sub? Thanks for explaining, if you choose to.
The Case of the Vanishing Vintage
The morning sunlight filtered through the antique windows of Marlinspike, catching on rows of mismatched gadgets cluttering the Professor’s workshop. The Captain paced the drawing room, clutching his hat as if it might float away. “Gone! My last bottle of 1927 Herringbone Reserve!” he bellowed. “Do you know what that means, lad?”
Tintin adjusted his cap, surveying the Captain with calm curiosity. “It means someone here has suspiciously good taste in whiskey,” he quipped.
“No, it means calamity! It means treachery!” The Captain leaned close, his voice dropping to a whisper. “And it means I’ll have to drink… gin,” a look of plain contempt on his face.
The boy detective sighed. “I’ll find it, Captain. Start from the beginning.”
Before the Captain could stammer out a reply, the Professor bustled in to the room, holding what appeared to be a metal umbrella with a whisk attached to the tip. “Ah,” the Professor exclaimed. “I’ve just solved Cutts’ problem of pigeons on his chimney. All it took was a spot of clever engineering!”
“What kind of engineering?” asked Tintin, tilting his head.
“Oh, nothing special—magnets, gears, a bit of wire…” The Professor trailed off and tapped the umbrella’s handle thoughtfully. “And a vessel of a certain, shall we say, vintage quality to balance the structure.”
The Captain, oblivious to the implication, waved a hand. “Yes, yes, but what about my whiskey?”
“I’m sure it’ll turn up,” the Professor said cheerfully. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a blueprint that needs refinement.”
The boy detective watched the Professor leave, his brow furrowed. Then he glanced at Snowy, who cocked his head expectantly. “Hmm…” the lad muttered.
It wasn’t long before Tintin and Snowy were on the cobblestone streets of the nearby Belgian town, weaving through bakers, bicyclists, and buskers. They found Cutts standing outside his shop, eyeing his roof with a mix of awe and terror.
“Cutts,” called the boy detective, “where’s the Professor’s invention?”
“Oh, it’s up there,” Cutts replied, pointing to a rotating monstrosity on the roof. The umbrella whisk twirled energetically, flinging breadcrumbs into the sky at intervals. “Thing scares off pigeons but attracts swans. I’ve got three nesting in my chimney now.”
Tintin tilted his head, observing the contraption as Snowy barked sharply. His eyes darted to the base of the device, where a faint glint caught his attention. “Great snakes!” he exclaimed.
Scrambling up the drainpipe with Snowy close behind, he finally reached the mechanism. Wedged in a tangle of wires, unmistakable amid the absurd construction, was the Captain’s whiskey bottle.
“Got it!” he shouted triumphantly. Snowy gave an approving yap, his tail wagging.
But just as he reached to grab it, the mechanism sputtered and roared to life, flinging the bottle skyward. Snowy barked furiously, and the boy detective muttered under his breath, “Of course it wouldn’t be that easy.”
Just then, a despairing, spine-chilling wail met their ears from the street below, as it seems Captain Haddock had been surreptitiously following the investigation, finally understanding what had happened and what had just occurred.
EDIT: Days later and damn, I see I made a major ‘fox paw,’ here. As in, the professor would be nowhere near able to communicate so easily with the others. Also, it seems like the ending’s just a little inadequate. Hmm…
You are getting downvotes because this is a community called EuroGraphicNovels, and while you have put the work in to present a great range of posts on the topic, I don’t feel like AI slop with some creepy generic pictures fits in with the rest of the content. The fact that it has been pinned also makes it feel like this is representative of the rest of the community.
Thanks for the explanation! <3
As for me, the reason I pinned this specific one is because we’ve been having recent server issues, and many posts have been unfortunately not ‘seen’ as per the usual idea. So, when I post here sometimes feels a bit ‘weird’ in terms of common engagement, which is when I occasionally ‘feature it’ that subject as a post. If that makes sense…?
But, also-- dude…? I did, myself, not just found this sub, but also put in hundreds & hundreds of hours upon content upon the last one and a half year, and now you’re here scolding me because you didn’t get exactly what you wanted…?
Would it perhaps be better for you to cease your whining, hopefully growing up one day…?
Don´t take it personal Johnny, it’s not about you or your past efforts. Most people who are into hand made art simply dislike AI generated content in general and downvote it wherever they see it. So they are not downvoting you, they are downvoting AI generated content and one could argue that AI generated stuff is per se misplaced content in a community of BD nerds. Just compare with the upvotes and positive replies all your posts of hand made art always get. Btw There are several AI communities that love AI generated stuff and whould certainly upvote this post, so I think this is in the first place a “choose the right crowd” issue.
