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I would like to hear some opinions about this thesis of mine: the part in Destination Moon where Wolff acts as the cicerone to Tintin, Haddock and Snowy (pages 12-14), seems to me inspired by The Secret of the Swordfish (Part 3), (pages 18-21), where Mallow acts as the cicerone to "Harper" (actually, Olrik).

In both cases the characters don hazmat suits while visiting bunker-like concrete-walled facilities hosting power plants.

In both cases the cicerone gives plenty of technical explanations which otherwise would be difficult to convey to the reader.

Of course, Hergé draws on humorous remarks from Haddock to sweeten the "technical pill", whereas Jacobs makes the lecture bearable by having Harper/Olrik look too nosy (which is a tad suspicious).

Hmm... It's an interesting thought.
There's no doubt that there is a general trope in fiction of a thrilling or adventurous nature for a character to be guided (I confess I had to look up "cicerone" to find out it is an old word for a guide) around a facility or premises by another person, so that information about the locale and its uses can be presented through them to the reader, exactly as you suggest. It's often also given so as to suggest to the person being guided a means to effect an escape/ thwart the plans/ apprehend the adversary, etc.
However, E.P. Jacobs was not without influence on Hergé and his works, so perhaps there is a relationship between the two sequences beyond them just being necessary?

There is one ironical twist:

in "Secret of the Swordfish", a potential traitor and saboteur is being guided around the facilities;

in "Destination Moon", he is the guide.

Thank you both for your interesting comments.

You are right: a guided visit to a facility is a common trope in comics/films, able to deliver some potentially boring information in a palatable way. But, in my opinion, there is more going on here. I had not noticed that ironical twist, which seems to intertwine both passages even more.

The influence between Hergé and Jacobs is mutual, especially towards the start of the Blake and Mortimer series. And it is not only in visual aspects, but also in plot devices. Just for example, take the following passage in "The Mystery of the Great Pyramid": an Egyptian worker (which later turns out to be Blake in disguise) is hit by a brutish western foreman, and an Egyptian sheik intervenes on his behalf. The outraged foreman tries to whip the sheik, but Mortimer saves him by getting into a fist fight with the foreman (pages 51-52, part 1). Later, in recognition of his nobility and aware of the dangers that await, the sheik gives Mortimer an amulet (page 6, part 2). The atmosphere is "you westerners do not believe in these forces, but they do exist". The amulet is essential to save Mortimer's life just one page later.

Now turn to the earlier "Prisoners of the Sun". Two white Peruvian men mock and physically bully a native dark-skinned Peruvian lad (Zorrino). Tintin intervenes and gets into a one-sided fist fight with one of them. The man hits a wall when Tintin makes a feint (a motif that Hergé actually recycled from Tintin in the Land of Soviets, where the attacker hits a tree instead with his fist), and the other man is chased away by Snowy. Later, in recognition of Tintin's nobility and aware of the dangers that await him, a mysterious man who witnessed the scene gives Tintin an amulet (pages 18-20). The amulet helps save Zorrino's life later. Like the sheik above, the mysterious man (Huascar) is later shown to be the high priest of a hidden ancient religion.

Again, we have the "westerners do not believe in these things, but they should" atmosphere. In both albums the foreigners never reveal the incredible secrets they have witnessed first hand (in one case through an oath, in the other they are made to forget).

So, all in all, not an exact parallel, but, in my view, a clear influence of Hergé on Jacobs.

Thank you both for your interesting comments above.

You are right: a guided visit to a facility is a common trope in comics/films, a way to deliver some potentially boring information in a palatable way. But, in my opinion, there is more going on here. That ironical twist, which I had not noticed, seems to intertwine both passages even more.

The influence between Hergé and Jacobs is mutual, especially towards the start of the Blake and Mortimer series. And it is not only in visual aspects, but also in plot devices.

Just an example of Hergé influencing E.P. Jacobs. Take the following passage in "The Mystery of the Great Pyramid": an Egyptian worker (which later turns out to be Blake in disguise) is hit by a brutish western foreman, and an Egyptian sheik intervenes on his behalf. The outraged foreman tries to whip the sheik, but Mortimer spares him the whip by getting into a fist fight with the foreman (pages 51-52, part 1). Later, in recognition of his nobility and aware of the dangers that await him, the sheik gives Mortimer an amulet (page 6, part 2). The amulet is essential to save Mortimer's life just one page later.

Now turn to the earlier "Prisoners of the Sun". Two white Peruvian men mock and physically bully an indigenous dark-skinned Peruvian lad (Zorrino). Tintin intervenes and gets into a one-sided fist fight with one of them. The man hits a wall when Tintin makes a feint (a motif that Hergé actually recycled from Tintin in the Land of Soviets, where the attacker hits a tree trunk with his fist, instead a wall), and the other man is chased away by Snowy. Later, in recognition of Tintin's nobility and aware of the dangers that await him, a mysterious man who witnessed the scene gives Tintin an amulet (pages 18-20). The amulet helps save Zorrino's life later.

Like the sheik, the mysterious man (Huascar) is later shown to be the high priest of a hidden ancient religion.

In both cases, we have the "westerners do not believe in these things, but they should" atmosphere. In both albums the foreigners never reveal the incredible secrets they have witnessed first hand (in one case through an oath, in the other they are made to forget it all).

All in all, while not an exact parallel, in my view a clear influence of Hergé on E.P. Jacobs.