In his psychoanalytical study of the "Adventures of Tintin", the literary critic Jean-Marie Apostolidès dealt only briefly with "Land of Black Gold", commenting that Calculus' development of a cure for the Thom(p)sons' consumption of N14 was a sign of his growing status and reputation as a scientist, as he moved from being the "small-time, ridiculous" inventor of "Red Rackham's Treasure" and came to establish himself as the internationally renowned scientist of "Destination Moon".