Tintin Forums

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?