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The Shrinking Man #1
SHRINKING MAN #1
Richard Matheson's exploration of shrinking manhood is brought to vivid life in this comic-book adaptation! Scott Carey, reducing 1/7" per day, faces tension big and small as his body continues to shrink away...
- GenresGraphic Novels
Comic
First published January 1, 1956
3 people want to read
About the author
Richard Matheson
760 books4,766 followersBorn in Allendale, New Jersey to Norwegian immigrant parents, Matheson was raised in Brooklyn and graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School in 1943. He then entered the military and spent World War II as an infantry soldier. In 1949 he earned his bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri and moved to California in 1951. He married in 1952 and has four children, three of whom (Chris, Richard Christian, and Ali Matheson) are writers of fiction and screenplays.
His first short story, "Born of Man and Woman," appeared in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1950. The tale of a monstrous child chained in its parents' cellar, it was told in the first person as the creature's diary (in poignantly non-idiomatic English) and immediately made Matheson famous. Between 1950 and 1971, Matheson produced dozens of stories, frequently blending elements of the science fiction, horror and fantasy genres.
Several of his stories, like "Third from the Sun" (1950), "Deadline" (1959) and "Button, Button" (1970) are simple sketches with twist endings; others, like "Trespass" (1953), "Being" (1954) and "Mute" (1962) explore their characters' dilemmas over twenty or thirty pages. Some tales, such as "The Funeral" (1955) and "The Doll that Does Everything" (1954) incorporate zany satirical humour at the expense of genre clichés, and are written in an hysterically overblown prose very different from Matheson's usual pared-down style. Others, like "The Test" (1954) and "Steel" (1956), portray the moral and physical struggles of ordinary people, rather than the then nearly ubiquitous scientists and superheroes, in situations which are at once futuristic and everyday. Still others, such as "Mad House" (1953), "The Curious Child" (1954) and perhaps most famously, "Duel" (1971) are tales of paranoia, in which the everyday environment of the present day becomes inexplicably alien or threatening.
He wrote a number of episodes for the American TV series The Twilight Zone, including "Steel," mentioned above and the famous "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet"; adapted the works of Edgar Allan Poe for Roger Corman and Dennis Wheatley's The Devil Rides Out for Hammer Films; and scripted Steven Spielberg's first feature, the TV movie Duel, from his own short story. He also contributed a number of scripts to the Warner Brothers western series "The Lawman" between 1958 and 1962. In 1973, Matheson earned an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for his teleplay for The Night Stalker, one of two TV movies written by Matheson that preceded the series Kolchak: The Night Stalker. Matheson also wrote the screenplay for Fanatic (US title: Die! Die! My Darling!) starring Talullah Bankhead and Stefanie Powers.
Novels include The Shrinking Man (filmed as The Incredible Shrinking Man, again from Matheson's own screenplay), and a science fiction vampire novel, I Am Legend, which has been filmed three times under the titles The Omega Man and The Last Man on Earth and once under the original title. Other Matheson novels turned into notable films include What Dreams May Come, Stir of Echoes, Bid Time Return (as Somewhere in Time), and Hell House (as The Legend of Hell House) and the aforementioned Duel, the last three adapted and scripted by Matheson himself. Three of his short stories were filmed together as Trilogy of Terror, including "Prey" with its famous Zuni warrior doll.
In 1960, Matheson published The Beardless Warriors, a nonfantastic, autobiographical novel about teenage American soldiers in World War II.
He died at his home on June 23, 2013, at the age of 87
http://us.macmillan.com/author/richar...
His first short story, "Born of Man and Woman," appeared in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1950. The tale of a monstrous child chained in its parents' cellar, it was told in the first person as the creature's diary (in poignantly non-idiomatic English) and immediately made Matheson famous. Between 1950 and 1971, Matheson produced dozens of stories, frequently blending elements of the science fiction, horror and fantasy genres.
Several of his stories, like "Third from the Sun" (1950), "Deadline" (1959) and "Button, Button" (1970) are simple sketches with twist endings; others, like "Trespass" (1953), "Being" (1954) and "Mute" (1962) explore their characters' dilemmas over twenty or thirty pages. Some tales, such as "The Funeral" (1955) and "The Doll that Does Everything" (1954) incorporate zany satirical humour at the expense of genre clichés, and are written in an hysterically overblown prose very different from Matheson's usual pared-down style. Others, like "The Test" (1954) and "Steel" (1956), portray the moral and physical struggles of ordinary people, rather than the then nearly ubiquitous scientists and superheroes, in situations which are at once futuristic and everyday. Still others, such as "Mad House" (1953), "The Curious Child" (1954) and perhaps most famously, "Duel" (1971) are tales of paranoia, in which the everyday environment of the present day becomes inexplicably alien or threatening.
He wrote a number of episodes for the American TV series The Twilight Zone, including "Steel," mentioned above and the famous "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet"; adapted the works of Edgar Allan Poe for Roger Corman and Dennis Wheatley's The Devil Rides Out for Hammer Films; and scripted Steven Spielberg's first feature, the TV movie Duel, from his own short story. He also contributed a number of scripts to the Warner Brothers western series "The Lawman" between 1958 and 1962. In 1973, Matheson earned an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for his teleplay for The Night Stalker, one of two TV movies written by Matheson that preceded the series Kolchak: The Night Stalker. Matheson also wrote the screenplay for Fanatic (US title: Die! Die! My Darling!) starring Talullah Bankhead and Stefanie Powers.
Novels include The Shrinking Man (filmed as The Incredible Shrinking Man, again from Matheson's own screenplay), and a science fiction vampire novel, I Am Legend, which has been filmed three times under the titles The Omega Man and The Last Man on Earth and once under the original title. Other Matheson novels turned into notable films include What Dreams May Come, Stir of Echoes, Bid Time Return (as Somewhere in Time), and Hell House (as The Legend of Hell House) and the aforementioned Duel, the last three adapted and scripted by Matheson himself. Three of his short stories were filmed together as Trilogy of Terror, including "Prey" with its famous Zuni warrior doll.
In 1960, Matheson published The Beardless Warriors, a nonfantastic, autobiographical novel about teenage American soldiers in World War II.
He died at his home on June 23, 2013, at the age of 87
http://us.macmillan.com/author/richar...
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
November 21, 2015
Please note: I haven’t read the novel, so I can draw no comparisons. This is purely for the graphic novel. This is also for the entirety of the graphic novel.
Scott is shrinking. You’ll find out why, but it’s not that important since the book is more about his fear of diminished masculinity and the treatment he gets as he shrinks 1/7 inches a day.
The terminology changes as he shrinks. He is referred to as “boy” repeatedly by a stranger, who he doesn’t correct. This was the most obvious representation of the character feeling like he isn’t an adult, which is important to him being seen as a man, as is his ability to provide for himself and his family. At first he is angry, but he eventually consigns himself.
The black widow gets the attention on the fantastic cover, but an antagonist that Scott spends more time with an evil, woman-hating, gay pedophile. I won’t spend time railing about that because come ON people. Couldn’t we have trimmed some of that nonsense down at least? I spent way too much time with this antiquated stereotype!
Shortly after hearing the misogynistic nonsense of the pedophile, the main character begins to show signs of misogyny, resenting his wife for her larger status despite her constant support. It’s little surprise she begins to treat her shrinking husband as a child and stops sleeping with him. This further makes Scott feel less of a man.
But women aren’t just black widows (the parallel is definitely there). Shortly after, Scott meets a little person and has sex with her to reaffirm his manhood – something she supports, unlike his assertions that their state is “pitiful.”
I took the overall message to be that finding a way to survive and goals to achieve ultimately gives him more meaning than focusing on his state and how others perceive his manhood. He’ll always exist no matter how much he physically is diminished. I don’t really feel the book gets there in a good way since he gets to enlightenment by having sex with a “pitiful” woman and by killing the wife stand-in of the black widow, although I’m mixed on how misogynistic this book is. I do think the graphic novel is structured to show misogyny makes you an asshole – the pedophile is horribly hateful of women and Scott looks like a fool when he insults the looks of a Barbie doll. When Scott gets over his hatred of people he blames for his perceived loss of manhood, he loses his anger and finds optimism instead. But it still didn’t feel quite right to me, so I can’t rate it higher than I have.
The art was ok, although a scene where the black widow appears from nowhere. This jump scare wouldn’t be so much of a problem if it didn’t present directly over him. In the following frame had him far away from it running. This makes no sense. Other than that the layout and art worked well for me. And that cover! Fantastic.
A past coworker of mine – (former?) sci-fi fan and former lit professor that he was – once declared Matheson fun but sexist. I remembered this the other day when Netgalley gave me the opportunity to read this graphic novel. So here I am! Having only read “I Am Legend” and this book about a misogynistic character, the jury is out on the author, but I will agree that “Legend” is definitely a more fun book.
Scott is shrinking. You’ll find out why, but it’s not that important since the book is more about his fear of diminished masculinity and the treatment he gets as he shrinks 1/7 inches a day.
The terminology changes as he shrinks. He is referred to as “boy” repeatedly by a stranger, who he doesn’t correct. This was the most obvious representation of the character feeling like he isn’t an adult, which is important to him being seen as a man, as is his ability to provide for himself and his family. At first he is angry, but he eventually consigns himself.
The black widow gets the attention on the fantastic cover, but an antagonist that Scott spends more time with an evil, woman-hating, gay pedophile. I won’t spend time railing about that because come ON people. Couldn’t we have trimmed some of that nonsense down at least? I spent way too much time with this antiquated stereotype!
Shortly after hearing the misogynistic nonsense of the pedophile, the main character begins to show signs of misogyny, resenting his wife for her larger status despite her constant support. It’s little surprise she begins to treat her shrinking husband as a child and stops sleeping with him. This further makes Scott feel less of a man.
But women aren’t just black widows (the parallel is definitely there). Shortly after, Scott meets a little person and has sex with her to reaffirm his manhood – something she supports, unlike his assertions that their state is “pitiful.”
I took the overall message to be that finding a way to survive and goals to achieve ultimately gives him more meaning than focusing on his state and how others perceive his manhood. He’ll always exist no matter how much he physically is diminished. I don’t really feel the book gets there in a good way since he gets to enlightenment by having sex with a “pitiful” woman and by killing the wife stand-in of the black widow, although I’m mixed on how misogynistic this book is. I do think the graphic novel is structured to show misogyny makes you an asshole – the pedophile is horribly hateful of women and Scott looks like a fool when he insults the looks of a Barbie doll. When Scott gets over his hatred of people he blames for his perceived loss of manhood, he loses his anger and finds optimism instead. But it still didn’t feel quite right to me, so I can’t rate it higher than I have.
The art was ok, although a scene where the black widow appears from nowhere. This jump scare wouldn’t be so much of a problem if it didn’t present directly over him. In the following frame had him far away from it running. This makes no sense. Other than that the layout and art worked well for me. And that cover! Fantastic.
A past coworker of mine – (former?) sci-fi fan and former lit professor that he was – once declared Matheson fun but sexist. I remembered this the other day when Netgalley gave me the opportunity to read this graphic novel. So here I am! Having only read “I Am Legend” and this book about a misogynistic character, the jury is out on the author, but I will agree that “Legend” is definitely a more fun book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 of 1 review