It's a 1930 comic. Congo was a Belgian republic. Hergé was 23. He hadn't traveled, so his information sources probably reflect those of the people he hung out with or popular opinion at the time. I am not in any way defending his work nor do I condemn it; I am trying to establish some context.
Land of the Soviets (Russians), The Blue Lotus (Chinese), Tin Tin in America (Native Americans), Cigars of the Pharoah (Arabs and Egyptians), all these contain pretty stereotypical portrayals of various cultures. Was there malicious intent behind it? I don't know, but I don't think so. I read these as a kid. I enjoyed them. I didn't pick up on any of these supposedly racist overtones. Did these stories shape my image of an entire race/country of people? Not particularly; or at least, not that I am aware of.
At the same time, Hergé isn't exactly free of controversy. The current controversy
isn't new, and there was that whole
WW2 thing. (Congo also gets crap from the animal rights groups for, um, blowing up a Rhino with TNT (!) and shooting a monkey and wearing its skin to fool other monkeys; we all know that cartoon violence involving animals leads to animal cruelty
).
He popularized/pioneered the ligne claire style, which I love. This library thing seems overkill. "a vault-like room, accessed by appointment only"? You can walk in and grab a copy of "Mein Kampf" anytime but this comic is treated like unstable plutonium. Bizarre. PC madness.