Tintin!
Having read volume 2 of this collection I can honestly say that Herge took some time to find his feet with the series. The first two Tintin books, Tintin in the Land of the Soviets and Tintin in the Congo, were so racially and culturally insensitive that they have rarely been reprinted and aren't even included in this collection. The first story in this volume, Tintin in America, isn't quite that bad, but it is still on the tail of the same trend. It's a boring, repetitive story that's racially insensitive. The other two stories, however, mark the beginning of a turning point in the series. Cigars of the Pharaoh and The Blue Lotus are two connected stories that are deep, complex, and entertaining beyond belief. The stories in volume 2 just get better. So if you buy this and are knee-deep into Tintin in America and aren't feeling it, know that it's not representative of the series as a whole, and maybe consider just skipping to Cigars of the Pharaoh.