Professor Alembick (nice alchemical play on words!) is possibly a pre-cursor to Professor Cuthburt. He's got a lot of the same personality traits!
There have been some who have suggested that this album is where Tintin is finally developed, though as I have suggested, I consider that album to be [book:the Cigars of the Pharaoh]. This album though develops a number of elements that are going in reappear in later albums, the most important being...