An original Tintin comic strip from the The Mysterious Star album failed to find a buyer at auction in central Paris on Wednesday.

It was expected to sell for up to $442,000, but did not reach its reserve price of $276,000.

Marie Filippi, co-director at Piasa auction house said the institution was "disappointed," but that the work could still find a buyer in the coming days.

The Tintin illustration was created in 1942 by the famous Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi – known by the pen name Hergé.

It was drawn in Chinese ink and was the first design in a new format that was printed on thinner sheets due to a wartime shortage of paper.

The three comic strips show scholars predicting an asteroid hitting the Earth and consequently the end of the world fast approaching.

The streets are hot as the asteroid gets closer and even the rats start to evacuate from the sewers. Tintin exclaims "The end of the world…?!"

There is also an extra piece of history in this piece – tiny drops of Hergé's blood can be seen on the top left of the paper. The artist reportedly injured himself with a compass while drawing.

The investigative reporter Tintin is one of the most recognizable comic characters. His tales of adventure with his dog Snowy have been translated into 90 languages and have sold more than 200 million copies worldwide.

Filippi of Piasa told CGTN: "Tintin is a worldwide hero. He always manages his way through everything. He's been traveling everywhere, he's been on the moon. It's a bit of a dream world, which is really universal." 

Despite failing to find a buyer this time, Tintin has already broken the world record price fetched for a comic. A page from the 1954 book Explorers on the Moon went for $1.71 million at auction in 2016.

At a Paris auction in 2017, an original drawing from 1939's King Ottokar's Sceptre and one from 1941's The Shooting Star sold for $557,000 and $421,000 respectively.