Comic review - Tintin #14 - "Prisoners of the Sun" by Herge

This Tintin has a flawed idea at its centre - Calculus has been abducted by a lost tribe of Incas who take him all the way to their secret hideout in the jungle in Peru so they can sacrifice him... because he wore some Inca jewellery.

It seems to be an awful lot of trouble to go to (especially since they don't want anyone to know they're around) for a relatively small offence. I can understand wanting to attack the expedition who dug up their treasures but not poor old Calculus.

Also this adventure tends to be episodic in nature, with the story basically consisting of a series of misadventures as Tintin, Haddock and Snowy track down their friend. Having said that, the exotic location of Peru (teaming cities, mountains, jungles) really works and it gets better and better the more "lost" our heroes become - we really feel they are in danger and cut off from everything. It is a real roller coaster adventure, with odd creatures, avalanches, villainous Indians, freezing cold, cemeteries, sacrifices and Haddock hilariously doing constant battle with llamas.

The portrayal of the jungle compensates for some of the slack work Herge did in The Broken Ear. The idea of the lost Inca civilisation is a strong one - it's very H Rider Haggard, and there is another Haggard touch when Tintin gets out of a spot of bother by predicting an eclipse (which surely the Incas knew about). Herge's take on the Inca civilisation is an odd one - while they're bloodthirsty and very strict, and spend most the book trying to kill Tintin, their point of view is sympathetically portrayed - they just want to protect their secrecy and their ancestors' belongings, and the little orphan boy whom Tintin befriends (rid your mind of impure thoughts when I write that! He's just another version of the Chang character from The Blue Lotus) decides to stay with them in the end. I would argue against Tintin's contention, though, that the archaeological expedition members were just trying to promote Inca culture - they were grave robbers.