 Literary critic Jean @-@ Marie Apostolidès of Stanford University believed that The Black Island expanded on a variety of themes that Hergé had explored in his earlier work , such as the idea of counterfeiting and Snowy 's fondness for whisky . He thought that there was a human @-@ animal link in the story , with Tintin 's hair matching Snowy 's fur in a similar manner to how Wronzoff 's beard matched Ranko 's fur coat . However , he added that while Tintin 's relationship with Snowy was wholly one based in good , Wronzoff 's connection with Ranko is one rooted in evil . By living on an island , Apostolidès thought that Wronzoff was like " a new Robinson Crusoe " , also highlighting that it was the first use of the island theme in Hergé 's work . Literary critic Tom McCarthy thought that The Black Island linked to Hergé 's other Adventures in various ways ; he connected the counterfeit money in the story to the counterfeit idol in The Broken Ear and the fake bunker in Tintin in the Land of the Soviets . He also connected Tintin 's solving of the puzzle in the airman 's jacket to his solving of the pirate puzzles in The Secret of the Unicorn , and that in transmitting from a place of death , Ben Mor , or mort ( death ) , it linked to Tintin 's transmitting from the crypt of Marlinspike Hall in The Secret of the Unicorn . 
