Dr. J. W. Müller

Doctor J. W. Müller is a fictional character from "The Adventures of Tintin" series of classic comic books drawn and written by Hergé. He is a doctor whose position and qualifications serve as a cover for more villainous activities, including that of criminal, Nazi secret agent and mercenary.

Crook

Müller's first appearance was in "The Black Island" which was first published in 1937, colourised in 1943 and redrawn completely in 1966.

Müller was the director of a psychiatric clinic based in England. It was his cover for his activities as a member of a gang which counterfeited banknotes. He would use the clinic to dispose of his enemies by giving them a "treatment" which made them insane.

A cautious man, Müller had man-traps laid about his estate. He also owned a fierce guard dog. On the trail of the gang, Tintin broke into Müller's estate. Snowy's bone distracted the guard dog but Tintin got caught in one of the man-traps and was captured by Müller and his chauffeur-accomplice Ivan. In the fight that followed Müller's mock Tudor residence got burnt down.

Tintin pursued Müller and Ivan all the way to Scotland where he tracked them and their accomplices to the island of the title. Müller and his associates were all rounded up and arrested by the British police.

Inspiration

In "Tintin The Complete Companion", author Michael Farr suggests that this version of Müller was based on Georg Bell, a British adventurer who was an associate of Nazi leader Ernst Röhm. Bell later fell out with the Nazis and was murdered by them in 1933.

Bell is said to have been part of a plot to destabilise the Soviet Union by forging Roubles. Some have speculated that Müller (a German name) is an agent of Nazi Germany who is up to the same thing with the British economy, but the fact that the gang is led by the Jewish-like Puschov makes this unlikely. The gang is probably just another group of crooks and no political sub-text is intended.

Ivan's name implies that he is a White Russian exiled by the Bolshevik revolution.

ecret Agent

Müller's next appearance was in "Land of Black Gold". Here he assumed the name of Professor Smith, pretending to be an archaeologist and representative of the Skoil Petroleum oil company.

In fact, Müller was a secret agent for a foreign power out to disrupt the fuel supplies of enemy countries. (The original story, which was first started in 1939, was set in the British Mandate of Palestine. In this edition Müller would definitely have been an agent of Nazi Germany. Later editions moved it to the fictional state of Khemed, but the basic background theme of imminent war remained.)

Müller was based in a mansion at the top of a mountain near Wadesdah, capital of Khemed. Under this mansion was a network of bunkers which hid an arsenal of weapons. He undertook a campaign of sabotage by blowing up oil pipelines and contaminating other oil supplies with special tablets codenamed "Formula 14". These tablets would cause an increase in the driving power of the contaminated oil causing car engines to explode. The idea was to eventually prevent military tanks and aircraft from being used.

The attacks were blamed on Sheikh Bab El Ehr who had the support of Müller's Skoil Petroleum. Bab El Ehr was the enemy of Emir Ben Kalish Ezab, the ruler of Khemed. Ben Kalish Ezab preferred to stick to his contract with another oil company, Arabex, and refused Smith/Müller's offer to sign a new one with Skoil Petroleum.

Müller therefore kidnapped the Emir's young son, Abdullah, and held him prisoner in his bunkers. A note was sent to the Emir with Bab El Ehr claiming responsibility and demanding that Arabex be expelled from Khemed. From the start Tintin suspected that it was Müller and not Bab El Ehr who was responsible — he had, after all, seen Müller's sabotaging of the pipelines which had been blamed on the Sheik (who was, admittedly, a nasty piece of work himself). Abdullah used sneezing powder on Müller and his men and thus provided a confirmation of Tintin's suspicions. With a great deal of trouble he rescued the spoilt, uncooperative brat from Müller.

Pursued into the desert and surrounded from all sides, Müller could not face the prospect of being tortured, beaten and executed by Ben Kalish Ezab for the kidnapping of his son. He thus attempted suicide. The problem was that he tried to use a gun given to him by Abdullah, which turned out to be a water pistol filled with black ink.

Tintin's friends Thompson and Thomson found and swallowed the Formula 14 tablets thinking that they were aspirin. This caused them to be violently ill and cause a minor, if volatile, mutation which made their hair grow rapidly and change its color. Müller tried to bribe Tintin into destroying the tablets, but, more concerned with his friends' health, Tintin had them sent to Professor Calculus for analysis and a cure. A way of countering the contaminated oil supplies was also found.

Tintin did, however, guarantee Müller a fair trial where the truth of his activities was exposed. What became of him straight afterwards is not revealed.

Mercenary

Müller's final appearance was a small but important one in "The Red Sea Sharks". In this story he was just one of a number of Tintin's enemies, including Dawson from "The Blue Lotus" and Allan Thompson, linked to the main villain Rastapopoulos, who led a wide-ranging business empire, which included legal and criminal activities, and mixed with people in high places.

When Emir Ben Kalish Ezab threatened to expose Rastapopoulos' involvement in the slave trade (albeit not for moral reasons), Müller helped to cause trouble in the region and the Emir was overthrown. Sheikh Bab El Ehr was able to seize power using aircraft supplied by Rastapopoulos. Under the name of Mull Pasha, Müller assumed an important role as a mercenary military leader in Khemed's new regime, dressing in military uniform.

He actually only made a cameo appearance in this story when he ordered armoured cars and de Havilland Mosquito fighter-bombers to be sent to wipe out Tintin and Captain Haddock, who were escaping Wadesdah on horseback. However the order was misinterpreted by his aide, Colonel Achmed, who instead ordered the fighter-bombers to destroy the armoured cars. In his fury, Müller had Ahmed reduced to the ranks.

As part of an attempt to expose the slave trade, Tintin and Haddock left for Mecca on board a sailing ship, but were seen leaving by a patrol of soldiers serving Bab El Ehr. Müller sent Mosquitos to sink the ship. The pilots included the Estonian mercenary Piotr Skut, whose plane was shot down by Tintin. The ship did however catch fire and had to be abandoned.

Müller then reported to Rastapopoulos by coded radio message stating that "Parasites 1 and 2" (i.e. Tintin and Haddock) had been eliminated. In fact they had managed to make a raft and, along with Skut, were rescued by Rastapopoulos's own yacht.

By the end of the adventure, Khemed was again under the control of Emir Ben Kalish Ezab.

A newspaper clipping at the end of the book confirms that Müller was Mull Pasha and the organiser of the revolution, but does not reveal what became of him.

Inspiration

Müller's appearance in "The Red Sea Sharks" is believed to have been based on British General John Bagot Glubb, aka Glubb Pasha of the Arab Legion.

In other media

In the video game "", Dr. Müller was the second boss.