Tintin gets nod for cartoon parody Down Under

SYDNEY - Comic book hero Tintin has finally made it to Australia, with the company which controls the use of his image giving a Sydney artist the go-ahead to use the Belgian character in political cartoons.

But Moulinsart, which manages the estate of the character's late creator Herge, has barred The Australian's cartoonist Bill Leak from commercialising his efforts by selling copies to the public.

Leak has been using Tintin's likeness for months to portray Australia's round-faced opposition leader Kevin Rudd and has vowed to continue to do so despite complaints from Moulinsart that he was parodying the Belgian figure.

Moulinsart has since revised its stance to say that the image can be used in political cartoons, The Australian reported Monday.

"We have no problem with him (Leak) using Tintin as a parody in his cartoons in the newspaper but when he starts selling them to the public then it becomes more commercial and he is infringing copyright," the firm's representative Mark Rodwell said.

"He is not permitted to make those sales so we want him to stop doing that and to compensate us for any past sales."

Leak said he believed Herge would have approved of his portrayal of Rudd as Tintin.

"I'm not a lawyer, I'm a cartoonist. I poke fun at people for a living. I'm sure Herge would have approved," he said.

Tintin, who travelled extensively in the books written by Georges Remi under the name of Herge, never made it to Australia. But according to The Australian, most of the writer's unused research involved the southern continent, suggesting he was preparing a Tintin Down Under before he died in 1983.