From the summit to the sand

Following Hergé in the country of the Incas

Abstract

Tintin is one of the most characteristic characters of the Franco-Belgian comic art and of the "ligne claire" (French for clear line), a style in which content focused on adventures and, at a graphic level, characters are drawn in detail and landscapes take on special importance. One of the most important figures and, in a way, the promoter of this school was, without a doubt, Georges Prosper Remi (Etterbeek, Belgium, 1907-Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, Belgium, 1983), known as Hergé and creator of the iconic character of Tintin. Many of his adventures were based on his travels. Tintin traveled to the five continents and even to the Moon. One of the geographical spaces that he visited the most was precisely the American continent. Of the twenty-four albums created by Hergé, five took place in America. Among them, Seven Crystal Balls and The Prisoners of the Sun, published at the end of WWII and the first years of the postwar period, stand out. These two comics were decisive in the career of the Belgian cartoonist, as they marked a before and after in his way of understanding his creative work. His taste for detail and his obsession with building believable environments for the development of his characters' adventures led him to consult numerous sources before undertaking any of his later works. This article explores the sources of inspiration used in the creation of these volumes, paying special attention to those that served as the basis for the setting of Prisoners of the Sun.