The seven crystal balls
The seven crystal balls ( French original title: Les 7 boules de cristal ) is the thirteenth volume in the Tintin series by the Belgian comic artist Hergé .
This story appeared in the newspaper Le Soir from December 16, 1943 . Since Hergé had political difficulties after the liberation of Belgium from German occupation - due to alleged collaboration with the enemy - the first publication lasted until 1946.
action
A mysterious disease afflicts seven western members of an expedition who have carried out archaeological excavations in the Andes. There they discovered the grave of the Inca Rascar Capac. The members of the expedition one after the other fall into a kind of coma and one always discovers broken crystal next to their bodies.
At the beginning of the story, Tim visits Professor Bienlein and Captain Haddock , who live together in Mühlenhof Castle , and goes to a variety show with Haddock. There they meet again General Alcazar , who has lost his political power and is earning his living as a knife thrower. Alcazar's assistant is the Indian Chiquito. Tim, Captain Haddock and Professor Bienlein visit the imposing Professor Hippolytus Birnbaum, a good friend of Bienlein who also took part in this expedition. The mummy Rascar Capacs is kept in his house. Birnbaum's house is under police protection and Tim, Captain Haddock and Professor Bienlein spend the night in his house. At night, a lightning bolt penetrates the house, hits the glass box with the mummy and it disappears. Birnbaum suspects a prophecy that has come true. It is also mysterious that all friends have the same nightmare independently of one another: the mummy Rascar Capacs, who has come to life, enters her room and throws a crystal ball on the floor. Although the house is hermetically sealed, Tim and Haddock also find fragments of crystal next to Birnbaum's bed and this also falls into a delusional state. Then Professor Bienlein is kidnapped. Captain Haddock and Tim suspect that the professor was brought to the freighter Pachacamac , which left La Rochelle for Peru. General Alcazar had previously informed them that his assistant Chiquito, the descendant of the Inca, had disappeared without a trace. They decide to free the professor and take an airplane to travel to Peru.
The story is continued in the volume " The Temple of the Sun ".
Historical background
The seven crystal balls were written and drawn when Belgium was under German occupation during World War II . In order to avoid trouble with the occupiers, Hergé avoided political statements, such as in “ The Blue Lotus ”, “ King Ottokar's Scepter ” or “ The Arumbaya Fetish ”. The ominous mood that is conveyed in particular at the beginning of the volume fits in with the difficult time in the middle of the war, when the suffering and the number of deaths increased rapidly. This includes the allusion to the curse of the Pharaoh at the beginning of the volume, which is said to have fallen victim to some of the members of Howard Carter's expedition that discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun .
In addition to ball lightning and strange prophecies, there are also dark nightmares. Ball lightning, such as the one shown on the album cover, does exist, but it is extremely rare. Its cause is unknown. The nightmare scene in which the mummy climbs into the room at night was in a similar form in the early version of "The Arumbaya Fetish". This was later removed.
Hergé, who continues to try to perfect the reality of his drawings in these two volumes, then has to reach into his bag of tricks when the solar eclipse in the second part of the story occurs. This is reminiscent of the story of Christopher Columbus, who on his fourth voyage predicted a lunar eclipse on February 29, 1504 and thereby impressed the natives.
After the Allied liberation of Brussels on September 3, 1944, all editors of Le Soir were banned from working without discrimination. Hergé had been aware that it was not a good decision to continue his story in a medium dominated by the Nazis, but he decided, for the "good of the (Belgian) people" (following an appeal by Leopold III ), the entertaining stories to continue. Hergé was then arrested four times and had to spend depressing nights in prison. A parody even appeared depicting Tim as a sympathizer of the Nazis. Tim had always fought against fascism and against unjust occupiers. Most tintinologists today decidedly refuse to bring Tim or Hergé close to the Nazis.
The two years in which Hergé could not publish any new comics were stressful for him, but at least he was able to complete the coloring of most of the previous stories.
The story is finally continued on September 26, 1946 in the newly founded magazine Tintin . This was made possible by Raymond Leblanc , a wealthy resistance fighter. For the new weekly magazine, Hergé had to deliver a double page every week, which put a considerable workload on him. Since the new magazine appeared in color, Hergé saw no other option than to hire an assistant to do the work - the beginning of the Hergé studios.
Hergé also used extensive visual material for his drawings of the Incas of South America in the second part of the story, in particular to depict the colorful garments and rites of the fallen people. Among other things, he had an edition of National Geographic with drawings of Inca rites.
Nestor said: (The captain is) "aged by 10 years", Hergé also felt similar after the long break and added the part after the catalepsy attack and while Haddock was in the dressing gown. "Let's go", Haddock called and so began a new beginning for Hergé with Tintin.
Trivia
Professor Paul Cantonneau knows Tim from “ The Mysterious Star ”.
The last encounter with General Alcazar took place in the album "The Arumbaya Fetish" in San Theodoros.
Bianca Castafiore , who can be traced back to Maria Callas , appears in the variety theater.
The film "Bombs at Kilometer 92" (pilot of the series "Alarm for Cobra 11 - The Autobahn Police") takes up this story in which an assassin appropriates the name "Rascar Capac".
literature
- Michael Farr: In the footsteps of Tintin (Original title: Tintin - le rêve et la réalité, translated by Dirk Naguschweski and Marcel Le Comte, editors Michael Groenewald and Ralf Keizer). Carlsen, Hamburg 2005, ISBN 978-3-551-77110-0 .
- Benoît Peeters ; Jens Peder Agger (Ed.): Hergé - A life for the comics (original title: Le monde d'Hergé , translated by Petra-Maria Pärn). Carlsen , Reinbek near Hamburg 1983, ISBN 3-551-02819-2 .
swell
- ↑ Michael Farr: In the footsteps of Tintin and Struppi . Carlsen Comics, Hamburg 2006, p. 119.
- ↑ RTL video "Bombs at kilometer 92" https://www.cobra11-fanclub.de/episodenguide/s01_e001/
Web links
- The Seven Crystal Balls on tintinologist.org