The Seven Crystal Balls

The Seven Crystal Balls (French: Les Sept Boules de Cristal) is the thirteenth of The Adventures of Tintin, the series of comic albums written and illustrated by Belgian artist Hergé, featuring young reporter Tintin as the hero. The strange Incan mummy Rascar Capac seems to be at the centre of a mysterious illness, and a strange clue is discovered near each victim: shards of crystal thought to come from crystal balls.

This story was first published in the Le Soir newspaper from December 1943 to September 1944 but was postponed three-quarters of the way through when, following the liberation of Belgium at the end of World War II, Hergé and other members of the Le Soir were investigated for working for a collaborationist newspaper. The story was resumed in Prisoners of the Sun in the newly-launched Tintin magazine in 1946.