Writer: Richard Matheson (Adapted by Ted Adams)

Artist: Mike Torres

Colors: Tomi Varga

We’ve heard about shrinking men before with Ant-Man and The Atom. Before them, there was The Shrinking Man, a novel published by Richard Matheson in 1956. I didn’t know this was an adaptation of the same name, but I have heard about it before. It’s interesting to note that this predates The Atom by five years and Ant-Man by six years. Scott Carrey, after being exposed to an unknown gas, shrinks 1/7 of an inch each day. This puts a strain on his life each day as he grows smaller.

Having not read the original The Shrinking Man before, this was a good issue. It highlights the life of a man going through the process of shrinking down to small proportions. Unlike the original Atom and Ant-Man, who are both scientists, Scott is just a normal guy with a family and bills to pay before the incident. Scott tries to hope for the best and plan for the worst of the situation. The story switches between him shrinking and completely shrunken. While being small, he has to navigate the similar, but foreign terrain of a basement to survive. Since everything has grown to gigantic proportions around him, it’s interesting to see how tries to survive. Featured on the cover is a black widow that makes an appearance in the issue, which spells trouble for Scott. Ted Adams does an admirable job of making the character sympathetic as he tries to cope with what’s happening to him. The dialogue has a lot of impact with the struggle that is going on between him and his wife as his condition worsens with each passing day. At the end of the issue, Ted Adams explains the process of how the novel was adapted to comic book format.

The artwork by Mike Torres looks good, but some of the detail does look a bit rough in some areas such as the faces. Panels show how small he is getting every day with how many inches lost which is a nice touch. You don’t really know how small he gets until the last few pages. Scenes where he is with his wife and the expressions they have about the situation, are impactful. Torres captures the look of the environments in great detail. When Scott is completely shrunken, you can see how monstrous everything has gotten around him. The colors by Tomi Varga, work well with the artwork. The colors match the tone of the story and it’s impact.

The Shrinking Man has an amazing story, notable artwork, and colors that have me excited to see what happens next. The art is a bit rough around characters but easy to follow what was going on in the story. If you like things shrinking or a fan of Richard Matheson, check this title out.

4 Shrinking Men out of 5