But the alleged eroticism-which was so minor it required eagle eyes to spot- resulted in grey bars being applied on top of the contentious image, so as to obscure it as much as possible. Note that the ballerina in question was featured wearing a completely acceptable outfit: a tutu. That’s all it took for all hell to break loose. In 1953, when Jacobs started publishing The Yellow “M” in Tintin magazine, the readers were shown a single panel in which a supporting character read a magazine with a ballerina on the cover.

For this same reason, Jacobs’ classic Belgian series Blake and Mortimer was equally lacking in female representation.