Here's something that's been bothering me for some time.

I am a huge fan of Smallville, but I want to know why so many people have been affected by the meteor rocks that rained down on the sleepy little town. Every week it seems a new "freak" is discovered. Surely as these freaks are the exception to the rule, Smallville doesn't have that many inhabitants.

If the programme was set in a large city then it could be explained away, but how come all of a sudden they are coming out of the woodwork years after the event? I know that most of them have tried to keep their freakishness a secret since the meteor strike, but there still seems to be too many of them.

Sue Berman

Johnny Fanboy replies:

Despite its name, Smallville is far from being a small village. It's more a decent-size town, and only small by American terms, in comparison with a sprawling metropolis such as - er - Metropolis. According to the TV series, Smallville's population was just over 25,000 when the meteor shower hit, and more than 45,000 today. So those mutants still represent a minority.

Also bear in mind that people in the government may have tried to cover up many of the incidents over the years. Then there's the human tendency to block out or deny strange happenings that do not fit into our comfortable worldview. Or perhaps I've been watching too many episodes of The X-Files. (The makers of Smallville certainly have!)

I also dispute the assertion that the mutations have only recently started to crop up, though it is possible that some of the effects of the meteor rocks are subject to an incubation period. Mutations have been cropping up for several years now, as attested to by Chloe's "Wall of Weird". Only now that Chloe and her friends are on the lookout for mutants do their numbers truly become apparent.

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