The Seven Crystal Balls
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The Seven Crystal Balls (Les Sept Boules de Cristal) is one of a series of classic comic-strip albums, written and illustrated by Belgian writer and illustrator Hergé, featuring young reporter Tintin as a hero.
The Seven Crystal Balls is the thirteenth in the series and is often regarded by fans as one of the best Tintin books.
The storyline
Members of a scientific expedition, recently returned from the Andes where they had unearthed the tomb of the Inca, Rascar Capac, start to fall mysteriously ill one by one. The only clue are shards of crystal found near each comatose victim, which will turn out to come from shattered crystal balls. Concerned, Tintin, Haddock and Calculus go to stay with Calculus' old friend, the ebullient Professor Tarragon. But Rascar Capac's mummy soon disappears from the house when a lightning storm sends a ball of fire down the chimney, and, after each being visited in their nightmares by the mummy, the three wake to find Tarragon comatose, with the telltale shards of crystal by his bed.The plot thickens even further, however, when Calculus, taking a stroll around Professor Tarragon's house, discovers a striking gold bracelet, puts it on (remarking on how nicely it goes with his coat), and then mysteriously disappears. The bracelet had previously been worn by the now-vanished mummy. Tintin and the Captain find reason to believe he has been taken to South America, and resolve to meet his ship there. The story is continued in Prisoners of the Sun, the next volume in the series, although that did not appear until 1946, due to the interruption of World War II.
Notes
During World War II, with Belgium under German occupation, Hergé decided to avoid using overt political sub-plots which he had included in previous Tintin stories, such as The Blue Lotus, The Broken Ear and King Ottokar's Sceptre.
The Seven Crystal Balls and its theme of an ancient curse were inspired by the speculation that members of the Howard Carter expedition, that had discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun, had died in tragic and mysterious ways (see Curse of the Pharaohs).
The Seven Crystal Balls began in the Belgian newspaper Le Soir on December 16, 1943. It was suspended on September 3, 1944, following the liberation of Brussels, Herge and many of his colleagues having to answer for working for a collaborationist newspaper. In Herge's defence, his last completed pre-war work, King Ottokar's Sceptre, was critical of the fascists and their policy of merging nations through armed aggression (Anschluss).
A video game has been released based on this book and Prisoners of the Sun. see Prisoners of the Sun Game for details.
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