Sales of offensive Tintin book soar

London -- A scathing rejection of a Tintin comic book issue by British officials seems to have spurred sales of the controversial issue.

Sales of "Tintin in the Congo" have reportedly soared some 3,800 percent, after Britain's Commission for Racial Equality blasted it as a stereotyped work that makes Congolese "look like monkeys and talk like imbeciles."

The sales surge was enough to push the title into the top 10 of Amazon's sales rankings, The Telegraph reported Saturday.

A spokesman said the commission anticipated its report would lead to a sales spike, but he said the commissioners had no choice but to address complaints from the public.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International.