The idea for Red Sea Sharks came to Herge from a press clipping where he read that the trade in slavery still existed. This theme combines with gun running and Middle Eastern politics in a story published between 1956 and 1958. The ruthless international gangster and slave trader, the so-called Marquis di Gorgonzola, will stop at nothing to protect his sinister interests. Tintin, Snowy and Captain Haddock may escape from the danger of the desert, but far deadlier perils await them in the Red Sea. This book has come under criticism for Herge's ethnic stereotypes of blacks and Arabs...to Tintin fans it seems an unfair attack for a story about abolishing slavery and honoring traditional Muslim culture.