He’s the ageless boy reporter who lives in a world of disguises, breathless escapes, and miraculous coincidences who’s forever getting bonked on the head by villains who are notoriously bad shots. Also, his best friend is a little white dog. He’s Tintin, created by the Belgian artist Herge (really, Georges Remi, 1907-1983) way back in 1929 and first published as a book (i.e. graphic album) in 1930. A total of 24 books were published over the years, taking Tintin everywhere from Egypt to America and to the Moon.

After years of yes/no/maybe, Tintin’s finally been greenlit by a movie team-up of Paramount and Sony and an army of producers including Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson. Principal photography on the motion-capture 3-D Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (based on the graphic album originally published in 1943) has begun with Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot) as Tintin and Daniel Craig (Mr. James Bond to most of us) as the infamous pirate Red Rackham. It’s due to arrive in 2011 and the cast also includes Andy Serkis (Hey! Look! Gollum!) and Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead). The screenplay is by Steven Moffat (Dr. Who; Coupling), Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz; Shaun of the Dead) and Joe Cornish (The Adam and Joe Show). No word yet on who will play Milou (aka Snowy for American readers). My money’s on Frank Welker.

If you’re not familiar with the adventures of Tintin, you don’t have to learn a foreign language to bring yourself up to speed. You can get a lot of info about him at the Tintinlogist and you can score some books over at Amazon’s Herge Store.