When I was a kid, our school library had the full Tintin series—or at least I thought it did. Every album was there on the shelf… except Tintin and the Picaros. For years, it was the elusive missing piece of the collection, the one story I never got to read. Fast forward to now, and I finally sat down with it for the first time. And let me tell you—there’s something pretty special about getting a “new” Tintin adventure as an adult.

What stands out in "Tales from the Con" is its ability to poke fun at the conventions while celebrating them simultaneously. The comic puns, pop culture references, and general goofiness are mined for good laughs. Yes, some jokes border on the kind of puns you'd scold your dad for, but many more are genuinely entertaining and clever.