Comic review: The Shrinking Man #1- Soggy Crackers

Original book by: Richard Matheson
Adaptation: Ted Adams
Art & Design: Mark Torres

Publisher: IDW Comics

Released: 29th July 2015


Is there a huge demand for new comic book adaptations of science fiction novels that were popular in the 1950’s?

I’m not trying to be a condescending a*** hole here. All I’m doing is posing a question that I myself would be interested in hearing the answer to.

I’m asking this question because I have just read a 2015 comic book that is setting out to faithfully adapt a 1956 novel, ‘The Shrinking Man,’ by Richard Matheson, and I’m thinking to myself, does this really have an audience?

I read ‘The Shrinking Man’ #1 blind, unaware of any of the history behind it, and my initial reaction to it was, why is it being set in the 1950’s?

Now I know, and I don’t quite know how to feel about it. The comic book certainly reads like an adaptation of a 1950’s novel. It’s slow, not much happens, and it’s all about the main protagonist, a bloke who is getting smaller and smaller.

This first issue tells the ‘before’ story of the shrinking man, exploring his thoughts and concerns about his condition. Understandably, he’s not very happy about it. During the book we see him moaning to his wife and going to some scientists in the hope that they can cure him. Evidentially they failed to stop the shrinkage, as when the book switches to the present he is shown to be just the right size to be gobbled up by a spider.

The spider action could have brought some excitement and danger into the narrative, but all the spider does is chase him. There is no confrontation, no fight, no dramatic escape, and when the spider is poised to attack our hero, the narrative jumps to the future, missing out on all of the exciting action that presumably happened in-between. I guess he survived the spider attack, because he’s still alive, but why wasn’t it shown? This is very unsatisfactory.

Strangely enough, the spider and imminent painful death isn’t our heroes main concern. His main concern is how he is going to get some food, and the issue concludes with a very hungry and frustrated little man looking at some soggy crackers. No imminent spider attack, no danger, no tension, no excitement, just boring old soggy crackers, a little man and a rumbling tummy.

Is that supposed to make me feel excited about getting the second issue? Soggy crackers are no cliffhanger. A venomous spider about to devour our protagonist as his hands slowly slip from a table is a cliffhanger, but soggy crackers? I’m sorry, that’s just not cutting it.

I love the retro cover (by Mark Torres), and I’m a huge fan of old comics, so I should have enjoyed this book, but there was something a bit too pedestrian about it all.

It should have been a thrill a minute rollercoaster ride with danger at every corner and a heart stopping cliffhanger to top it all off. That’s what it should have been, but what I’ve actually read here is a plodding narrative about a depressed little man and his box of soggy crackers.

The Shrinking Man will certainly be more interesting to read in trade-paperback, but as a monthly comic book it appears that the adventures of this miniature man from the 1950’s is going to be a long, slow, drawn-out, and not particularly exciting or urgent reading experience.

Rating: 4/10 (Slow, and lacking in moments of danger, tension, urgency and excitement)