Shrinking again and superheroes (OT)

[Olaf Solstrand]

About "Les Petits Hommes":

Eta Beta:
> I'm afraid I've only read myself 2 of their early stories, as "Die
> Minimenschen", i.e. in german edition (Carlsen), a language I don't
> exactly master so I can't give you a lot more details... and I miss
> their first, "origin" adventure, but what I do understand is that
> they have been reduced to one tenth of their original size by a
> meteorite fall (kryptonite ? :-) and that, although they later found
> a way to "expand" again (possibly *that* is temporary ?), they
> preferred to remain small and founded their own Mini Town, well
> hidden from the world of "the Bigs".

I checked my collection, and I DO have the first album. At least it's 
marked "1" in a circle where the number is supposed to be...

The first two pages sum up what happened when the meteorite landed. It's in 
a kind of "flashback", though, as the first story find place long after 
they shrunk.

"How did the micro people * become as it did? No wonder you're asking, dear 
readers...
The answer is simple: It started in the little town Tiger Town *...
Everybody had normal size, when suddenly a morning...
A young scientist meant he'd found a meteorite in his garden. And he gave 
it to an expert he knew...
And the next day strange things happened...
It turned into an epidemy. Those who'd touch the meteor rock, shrunk into 
miniature people...
Many wanted to touch the micropeople...
...and through contact, a light handshake...
...or a kiss on the cheek...
...the shrinking phenomenon spread as fire in dry grass in Tiger Town *.
Finally they built themselves a city their own size in the shut down 
sisterns ** by an old castle."

* Norwegian name
** Sorry, I don't have a clue what that word means in English.



What's happening in the story, is that a (full-size) truck has an accident 
near Tiger Town, and runs into a river and destroys a wooden dam. Not much 
harm done to real-size people, but the "sisterns" get filled up with water, 
and the micro people have to evacuate. While they are talking about where 
on earth they could settle now (the Bigs don't have any plans on saving the 
"sisterns"), professor Hondegger (again, Norwegian names) reveal that he's 
finally managed to make a pill that can make them grow big again. However, 
after so much time being small, nobody wants to get big again - but they 
know it can be useful for this situation. They dive for the meteorite rock, 
so that they now are free to CHOOSE if they want to be big or small. And... 
basically, the story is about the journey to the new place to build 
Micropolis II.