Rascar Capac, the sinister creature featured on Hergé's album The Seven Crystal Balls (1948), has left its mark on many generations of readers. To draw it, the Belgian cartoonist was probably inspired by a mummy exhibited in the first pre-Columbian exhibition organized by the Brussels Cinquantenaire Museum in 1923. Two intrepid archaeologists embark on a fascinating journey to reconstruct the story of the mysterious mummy.
Production
Seamlessly weaves Hergé's sketches with actual mummy forensics.
Writing
Noguerra's narration treats comics and corpses with equal reverence.
Director
Frédéric Cordier
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The 'mummy' Hergé sketched was actually a composite display—real parts, fake arrangement—common in 1920s exhibitions.
The documentary quietly notes Belgium still holds hundreds of unrepatriated Andean remains; the mummy's 'mystery' is partly colonial refusal to let it rest.
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