Animah (an allusion to anima), the keeper of the Light Incal, seeks it as well.

The Incal is then sought by many factions: the Bergs the corrupt government of the great pit-city the rebel group Amok (led by Tanatah) and the Church of Industrial Saints, commonly referred to as the Techno-Technos or the Technopriests, a sinister technocratic cult which worships the Dark Incal. During the questioning he denies that he received the Light Incal, a crystal of enormous and infinite powers (it guides and protects those who believe in it), from a dying Berg. It starts in medias res with Difool thrown from the Suicide Alley to the great acid lake below by a masked group, luckily saved by a police cruiser.

The story is set in the dystopian capital city of an insignificant planet in a human-dominated galactic empire, wherein the Bergs, aliens who resemble featherless birds and reside in a neighboring galaxy, make up another power bloc. From it came spin-off series Metabarons, The Technopriests, and Megalex. Originally published in installments between 19 in the French magazine Métal Hurlant, and followed by Before the Incal (1988–1995, with Zoran Janjetov), After the Incal (2000, with Jean Giraud), and Final Incal (2008–2014, with José Ladrönn), it has been described as a contender for 'the best comic book' in the medium's history. The Incal includes and expands the concepts and artwork from the abandoned film project Dune directed by Jodorowsky and designed by Giraud from the early 1970s. It is an epic space opera blending fantastical intergalactic voyage, science, technology, political intrigues, conspiracies, messianism, mysticism, poetry, debauchery, love stories, and satire. The Incal, with first pages originally released as Une aventure de John Difool ('A John Difool Adventure') in Métal hurlant and published by Les Humanoïdes Associés, introduced Jodorowsky's ' Jodoverse' (or ' Metabarons Universe' ), a fictional universe in which his science fiction comics take place. The Incal ( / ˈ ɪ ŋ k əl/ French: L'Incal) is a French graphic novel series written by Alejandro Jodorowsky and originally illustrated by Jean Giraud. Jean Giraud, Zoran Janjetov, José Ladrönn 2014 hardcover trade collection of The Incal.

Jean giraud the incal