Suske en Wiske Volume 3
| De sprietatoom | |
 | |
| English | The Zincshrinker |
| French | Le rayon magique |
| Info | |
| Series | Suske en Wiske |
| Volume no. | 3 42 107 |
| Release date | 1946 (black and white) 1961 (two color) 1970 (full color) |
| Country | Belgium |
| Studio | Studio Vandersteen |
| Writer | Willy Vandersteen |
| Artist | Willy Vandersteen |
| Content | |
| No. of scenes | 2 |
| Damsels | Wiske |
| Bindings | Rope |
| Gags | Handgag OTM |
De sprietatoom is the third volume of Suske en Wiske (though it was released second in the newspaper serialization). The story was originally released in 1946, but it was completely redrawn for a two-color re-release (#42) in 1961, and again in full color in 1970 (#107). The black-and-white and full color versions are both featured in this article due to the different art.
Description
The eponymous protagonists come across a tiny man and chase him to an old windmill. Here, Wiske is grabbed and handgagged by a mysterious assailant, who she fights off in the dark. Later on, the two return to the windmill in their little car Vitamitje to investigate further. Wiske is again captured, bound and OTM gagged. Suske comes to her rescue but is also captured and restrained the same way. The villain reveals himself as Savantas, a man with a machine that allows him to shrink people. He intends to use this device to rule the world, but he has to prevent the two snoops from revealing this.
Savantas places a candle on top of the windmill's mechanism, which will eventually fall into the hay as the mill turns and burn the entire thing to the ground. Fortunately, the windmill is stopped because Vitamitje was parked underneath, but fortune is quickly reversed when the resulting shock causes the candle to fall over immediately. Luckily, the resulting flames burn through Suske's ropes before any harm is done and he quickly unties Wiske so they can escape.
