The Adventures of Tintin: 'Tintin and the Seven Crystal Balls': The original classic Tintin comics book, series 13.

The Seven Crystal Balls is the thirteenth series of The Adventures of Tintin, the comics series by cartoonis Hergé. The story was serialised daily in Le Soir Comics magazine, Belgium's leading Children's magazine, from December 1943 amidst the German occupation of Belgium during World War II.

The story was cancelled abruptly following the Allied liberation in September 1944, when Hergé was accused of collaborating with the occupying Germans and banned from working. After he was cleared two years later, the story was then serialised weekly in the new Tintin Comics magazine from September 1946 to April 1948. The story revolves around the investigations of a young reporter Tintin and his friend Captain Haddock into the abduction of their friend Professor Calculus and its connection to a mysterious illness which has afflicted the members of an archaeological expedition to Peru.

The Seven Crystal Balls was most favorited critics amongst and was published in book form by Casterman shortly after its conclusion. Hergé concluded the arc begun in this story with Prisoners of the Sun, while the series itself became a defining part of the Franco-Belgian comics tradition.

Critics have ranked The Seven Crystal Balls as one of the best Adventures Comics story of Tintin, describing it as the most frightening instalment in the series. The story was adapted for the 1969 Belvision film, Tintin and the Temple of the Sun and for the 1991 animated series The Adventures of Tintin by Ellipse and Nelvana.

The Seven Crystal Balls begins on a light note, as Captain Haddock tries to adjust to his new life as a gentleman following the events of Red Rackham's Treasure. He wears a monocle and frequents the music hall, where in a not-unusual coincidence he and Tintin happen to find General Alcazar (The Broken Ear) and the dreaded diva Bianca Castafiore. However, it's the act of fakir Ragdalam with Madame Yamilah, the amazing clairvoyante, that reveals the central adventure: the scientists excavating the tomb of Rascar Capac have incurred the curse of the Inca. Despite the efforts of bungling detectives Thompson ("With a P, as in Philadelphia") and Thomson ("Without a P, as in Venezuela"), the explorers are stricken, and one of Tintin's closest friends disappears mysteriously, leading to a trip to Peru in the second part, Prisoners of the Sun.

On board a train, Tintin reads a newspaper article about seven explorers who have returned from a two-year ethnographic expedition in the Andes, where they unearthed the tomb of the Inca, Rascar Capac. A man says to him, "Think of all those Egyptologists, dying in mysterious circumstances after they'd opened the tomb of the pharaoh...You wait, the same will happen to those busybodies violating the Inca's burial chamber."The train arrives at Marlinspike Hall, the new home of his friends Captain Haddock and Professor Calculus. The Captain, now a member of the aristocracy, invites Tintin to an evening at the music hall. There they witness an unsettling performance of a clairvoyant, Madame Yamilah who predicts the illness of one of the members of the expedition. They also view the act of Bianca Castafiore, as well as a knife thrower—whom Tintin recognizes is General Alcazar (under the stage name Ramon Zarate) former President of San_Theodoros. They have a glass of aguardiente with the general who introduces them to his assistant Chiquito.A mysterious illness begins afflicting the members of the expedition; one by one, they fall into a mysterious coma. The only clue is fragments of a shattered crystal ball found near each victim. Concerned, Tintin, Captain Haddock, and Professor Calculus go to stay with Calculus's old friend and only expedition member yet to be affected, the ebullient Professor Hercules Tarragon. Tarragon is keeping Rascar Capac's mummy in his house and is being tightly guarded against any attack. A lightning storm strikes the house and sends a ball of fire.... - Tintin Comics Series 13