In the Small

by Michael Hague, Devon Hague

When a mysterious cataclysmic event, "the blue flash," causes the population of the earth to shrink in size to six inches tall, suddenly humanity has the tables turned on The very civilization it has created becomes its greatest obstacle to survival. Animals and the environment, which have long suffered under the rule and/or destruction of humans, are now some of their most feared enemies.

Amid the confusion and turmoil, two strong teenagers, 18-year-old Mouse and his younger sister Beat, emerge as the most promising leaders, eventually setting out on a quest to discover the secret that could redeem this strange new world.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Comics, Dystopia, Young Adult, Fiction, Science Fiction

128 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2008

About the author

Michael Hague is renowned as the illustrator of many children's classics, including editions of The Wizard Of Oz, Peter Pan, The Hobbit, and The Velveteen Rabbit. He also illustrated The Book of Ghosts, Where Fairies Dance, The Book of Wizards, and The Book of Fairy Poetry as well as wrote and illustrated the graphic novel in The Small. Michael lives with his wife, Kathleen, in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Reviews

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75 stars
The fact that this graphic novel isn't easy to find on Goodreads was more than a bit frustrating. My bad for not memorizing the author name beforehand. The best way I can describe this story is The Hunger Games meets Honey I Shrunk the Kids. Sounds funny when I state it like that, but a post-apocalyptic world in which humans become pint sized.....well, it's not that much of a stretch.

First book in the series and I didn't realize I would be left with a cliffhanger ending. Illustrations held some violent images, so I am not sure it's appropriate for some readers.

[Brad · Rating 1 out of 5]

I used this book as a sleeping aide. For serious.
There's an interesting concept to this book--everyone's shrunk to six inches in height, which throws all technology, from planes to staircases, out of whack. It's a neat apocalypse, but it's handled terribly. Michael Hague can draw, but he can't tell a story with his drawings. His art may be arranged in comic-like panels, but the transitions between panels rarely makes any sense. And his dialogue is never particularly interesting. Same goes for the story after the great shrinkening. It focuses on one family, including a boy that has ominous dreams and premonitions. He becomes the leader of a band of office workers.
There could be a good book in here (and the front cover says it's "soon to be a major motion picture," so maybe there'll be a good movie out of it), but Hague isn't the guy to produce it.

[Paula · Rating 1 out of 5]

Michael Hague may be a talented illustrator (although you'd never know from the scratchy adolescent-looking work in this book), but he does not have the graphic novel format down. Passage of time is particularly poorly managed, with no visual indication of whether hours, days, or even weeks have passed between panels.

The entire thing seems condensed. I kept checking to see whether this was originally a serial comic book, and things got chopped out when they made the graphic novel out of it. New plot elements and even characters appear, and are accorded a significance that is mystifying to the reader.

[Tim · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hate to be harsh, but what the hell is this?

It is like somebody took a concept for an actual story, got as far as some generic dialog to briefly describe the plot with some storyboard pictures, and then decided to publish it.

The art is alright, but after seeing the other works by the author (who is primarily an illustrator), it seems sub par in comparison. The dialog is absolutely pathetic. Stilted, unrealistic, "tell" rather than "show" dialog. So much more information could have been conveyed and conveyed better if the author had used his significant artistic talents to actually show the expressions and actions.

The absolute worse thing was the lack of transitions. "This happened, then this happened, then this happened, suddenly we are here, suddenly we are there". It was confusing and wasted so much potential for build up, suspense, character development, and all those other features of a story that make it worth reading. It seems like this is the heavily abridged version of a work three or four times larger, or just plain incomplete.

Also, were the psychic oracle people really necessary? The whole "humans, and only humans, were suddenly shrunk down to 6 inches" plot was just fine, why add a bunch of wacky characters with unusual names that can see the future? Did they really help the story, other than to give an easy answer as why some of the more convenient plot points occurred?

This is not worth your time. Not even for the novelty reason of "so terrible you have to read it".

Also, supposedly it will be made into a movie. Of course.

[Traci Haley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This intriguing graphic novel would have gotten 5 stars from me if the plot hadn't barreled along at breakneck speed, glossing over days, weeks, and months in milliseconds. I would have preferred a little bit more character and plot development. It's almost as if Hague reeeeeeeeeeeeally wanted to stuff the entire story into one volume, so he had to fast forward through a lot of story. Still, despite that downfall, I found myself captivated with both the story and the artwork... and more than a little curious at the "Soon to be a major motion picture!" sticker on the front cover. I sincerely hope there will be a second volume -- or even more -- to this story as I think the plot premise is brilliant!

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

What if a strange catastrophe shrunk all of humanity to the size of six inches or so? This tale focuses on such a phenomenon but only partially delivers at best. There are a smidgen of interesting ideas within but I felt more could have been tapped. The threat of pets turning on their shrunken owners was chillingly well done.

ARTWORK: C plus to B minus; STORY/PLOTTING: C plus to B minus; CHARACTERS/DIALOGUE: C plus (the prophet kid was a bit irritating and transparent); WHEN READ: end of May 2012; OVERALL GRADE: C plus to B minus.

[Dominick Garrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

I personaly like survival books so this one impaticular cought my eye. i really recomend it if your are into that kind of thing. there is alot going on and its intresting to see how they make it "in the small"

[Oksana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really cool art but hard to understand time jumps. We follow several different timelines so I can see why some details get yada-yada'd but it was still jarring.

[Page · Rating 1 out of 5]

Loved the concept. Wasn't really interested in the story or the characters. I felt like a lot was missing. Why Mouse and Poppit were special. What happened and where things will go... I suppose this is the first in a series.

[Yvensong · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm glad that this was really quick to read. The artwork was okay, though not exceptional. The dialogue was stilted and the characters had no depth, nor were they interesting. The story had a good premise, yet never really lifted to the heights promised.

[Jennifer Wardrip · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reviewed by Candace Cunard for TeensReadToo.com

The premise of IN THE SMALL is fairly simple. Suddenly, a blue light washes over the entire earth and all of humanity is reduced to one-sixth of its original size. Nothing but humans are affected, and those who do survive the initial transformation are left to deal with the chaos of a world built for people too big. Suddenly, even the smallest animals and the simplest natural phenomena can cause great danger.

The story revolves around a brother and sister, Mouse and Beatrix (Beat for short), who together gather up groups of survivors and marshal them to create a new society. Beat is at home with her mother and grandfather when the transformation occurs, and the three of them begin to turn their house into a sustainable community, inviting neighbors and strangers alike to share the space with them.

Mouse is in the city working at his father's business when the transformation occurs. He has a talent for seeing things before they happen, or at least sensing them, something that his father has never understood. But even his father cannot deny the accuracy of the premonition that hits Mouse an hour before the transformation, and afterwards, Mouse becomes the natural leader of a group of people who make a pilgrimage through the city and back to the house that Beat is busy turning into a thriving community.

The one thing that makes this book stand out from all of the other stories of humans suddenly shrunken and at the mercy of nature and the elements is the graphic novel format. Hague's illustrations add to the sense of terror and urgency felt by the characters whose formerly-docile world has quickly turned against them. In addition, his characters present several musings about the cause of this transformation, several of which appear to be environmental in nature. Beat suggests that this is a way of Mother Earth getting back at a species that has abused her for too long.

The cause of the transformation is not decided upon during the course of the graphic novel, and although the main conflict is resolved for the time being, the story's ending opens up a whole new series of questions that a sequel will surely address.

[sweet pea · Rating 2 out of 5]

in my mind, i kept comparing this to the walking dead, another graphic novel about post-apocalyptic bands of human survivors. that was seemingly my first mistake. you can say "the zombie apocalypse" and i'll think "check". done. don't even need to know why it's happening. i believe it. a blue light that shrinks only humans? two seers and someone who listens to angels? not quite there yet. need some more convincing.

one of my main problems was that i didn't feel compassion for the characters. people were dying left and right. but, there wasn't enough emotional depth in the story to make me care. plus i hated the lettering. and the color was frequently too intense. that said, the arrangement of the frames was often wicked. perhaps i'm just a pissant. but, i'm a pissant who is not impressed.

[Bridget · Rating 1 out of 5]

The core idea of this book was sort of awesome. Weird blue flash, all of humanity shrinks down to a few inches in height, most technology is rendered useless by our new size, now what? But I just didn't enjoy the execution. The art is fine, but the panel transitions didn't always flow in ways that made sense. Plus, I felt like the text was too sparse and unimaginative to get me really involved with the characters. Add in some weirdly paternalistic and vauge religious overtones, and I was really happy it didn't take me long to get through.

[Cory B · Rating 2 out of 5]

It could have been better. The angel/demon thing was wierd and unneccesary, while there were many avenues that could have been covered for a better read. For my first graphic novel, it was disappoiting.

[Lord Battle · Rating 2 out of 5]

A blue light covers the whole world for about a minute. Suddenly every human on earth is 6 inches tall.

That might be one of the most thought provoking apocalypse scenarios I've ever heard. Airplanes fall from the sky, pets hunt their former owners, and fires engulf buildings after stove top burners were left abandoned...

You might be wondering why I'd give such an interesting graphic novel only 2 stars. Well, the book has many technical problems. The art ranges from fantastic to confusing, which is exasperated by large uninspired chat balloons. I feel like complaining about chat balloons is a little lame, but I've been reading so many graphic novels lately that really embrace the medium, using any and all visual avenues to tell the BEST story possible. In The Small is so unintuitive it feels like dream logic. If the creator were to contact me and say "you nailed it, it's all a dream that's purposely hard to follow!", I'd change my review to 4 stars.

Seriously, the paneling feels like a sentient algorithm took a shot at storyboarding. We jump in and out of very cool / emotional situations and have no warning, closure, or reflection. It's like we've died and our lives are flashing before our eyes.

I took pictures of some of my favorite panels which I thought about sharing here, but nah. If you're interested seek out the book. There's some serious effort here and it's NOT completely terrible. Also, I've learned a lot about what I like about comics from the absence of those elements here...

I mean a girl who just shrunk to 6 inches, put on her doll's clothes, and rescued her grandpa from a giant snake by stabbing it with a stick doesn't even stop to blink. 😶

[Rex Hurst · Rating 2 out of 5]

The entire human population is suddenly shrunk to miniscule size and must now rebuild society. Sounds lie a great idea, but the execution here is lacking. First, the narrative is marred by constant Deus Ex Machinas, people with visions from God, helping them along. It happens so often that the characters don't feel like they're in any real peril. The next poor point is the artwork. I can forgive some stiffness in the art in exchange for style, but here we see the limitations of the artist's visions. There is no experimentation of style, there is plenty of telling rather than showing - something which should be innate for a graphic novel. It was like the artist learned to pose the characters and didn't progress much beyond this point. By the end, I rushed through it just to get the book over with and end my boredom.

[David · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow this was garbage. I like the idea: an apocalypse event where all of humanity is shrunk down to about 6 inches. But ughh. The art is terrible, the dialogue/thought bubbles look like they were made with Microsoft paint and are incredibly garish. Speaking of the dialogue, its absolutely awful. It somehow manages to push the thin, haphazard plot along with every known cliché and an absurd level of bluntness. You don't need to point things out in comix! Just draw the stuff you want to show me. Avoid at all costs!

[Mouse · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m familiar with the illustrator and he’s done some amazing work, but unfortunately I don’t think this worked too well. The art was scratchy and looked like a kid drew it and it made it quite hard to tell who was who and what was going on.
I sort of like the idea of this premise, it feels like the Borrowers (or Littles) on crack! Unfortunately it just never quite delivers and it’s a slow, boring, confusing, lackluster book!

[Krystl Louwagie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love the cover to this book, but most of it fell flat. The font/placement of words in speech bubbles felt very amateur. For the most part, the writing did as well. It was still entertaining, but had some other uncomfortable elements-like the only main black character being overly exoticized, imo.

[NinjaMuse · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is all telling, no showing, and for a graphic novel, that's saying something. The story's really compressed and not at all original, and I finished it with regret that I'd read it at all.

[Jessica O · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fantastic idea, but lackluster execution. I think it would have been much better as a words only novel as opposed to a graphic novel.

[Casie Blevins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for Summerween. I love this concept! A blue light washes over the world and makes mankind 1/12th their proper size and adventure ensues.

[Jessada Karnjana · Rating 3 out of 5]

จะเกิดอะไรขึ้นหากวันหนึ่งมนุษย์ตัวหดลงเหลือเพียงไม่เกิน 6 นิ้ว ในขณะที่สิ่งมีชีวิตอื่น ๆ หรือวัตถุอื่น ๆ มีขนาดคงเดิม

[Elizabeth (Elzburg) · Rating 2 out of 5]

In The Small was interesting... I have never read anything like it. One day the world turns blue for a couple seconds and then every human shrinks down to the size of a shoe box. The reason behind this was never fully explained, there was just peoples theories that were thrown around.

It was enjoyable enough, I was never bored, but a main thing that kept me reading was the yearning for more information about what-the-heck is going on, which I never got. The ending was really weird... instead of answers it introduced more questions. Soo that's really bad if this is a stand alone (which is what I have been led to believe) but fine if there's another book.

The storytelling was kind of shotty though. A lot of times this would happen: a character reacts to something, but you never actually see anything. They're just like "Wow why's there so many people?" but said people were never actually shown. And fight scenes went like this: Frame 1: Oh no, enemy! Frame 2: Picture of the character stabbing the enemy.... that's it. Fight scene over, they continue on. Another big sequential art no-no: instead of putting a revelation on the page flip, a lot of them were on the right page so I would see it before I even read the left page, thus destroying any shock or feeling of revelation. All of these are just signs of the author not knowing how to properly draw comics. The art itself was alright.

Overall I'm not sure how much I liked this. It has it's faults but the story was interesting even though it wasn't told very well. So I might recommend it if you find the premise interesting and you don't mind the faults too much.

[Leland · Rating 4 out of 5]

(The following is extracted from a review I wrote on my blog.)

In the Small is Michael Hague's first foray into the wold of Graphic Novels. Michael has been a successful illustrator for nearly thirty years and is one of the few (if not the only) illustrators I know of who has illustrated J.R.R. Tolkien without making a career out of Tolkien. (In fact almost all other available illustrated editions of Tolkien currently available are from Alan Lee and John Howe).

In The Small is an apocalyptic tale of survival in which a young man's sensitivity to premonitions give rise to his leadership in the post apocalypse. The story very compelling despite its being one of many post-apocalyptic tales. Also, the details of how the apocalypse comes is quite new in interesting. But what really made this book so enjoyable for me was Michael's unparalleled talent as an illustrator.

There is indeed something refreshing in seeing a "traditional" illustrator make the transition to a more modern form like Graphic Novels and do it so well. I ran into Michael and his son Devon (neither of whom do I know particularly well, but who I have met a few times) about 2 years ago in a bookshop, and they both mentioned that they were interested in graphic novels and starting to work on one. I am disappointed to say that my first thought was, "why?" (More a commentary on my past snobbery towards Graphic Novels than my opinion of Mr. Hague.) Well, Michael, I am now pleased to say, I feel foolish for even thinking it. I'll be one of the first to purchase the second installment and I'll openly encourage others to check out In the Small.

[Nick · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am normally a big fan of Michael Hague's art, but in this book, the artwork is very odd. Animals are drawn well, but the people seem stiff and awkward. The writing shows why Hague is an artist, rather than a writer.
The basic premise, that a seemingly supernatural event shrinks all of humanity but NOT the rest of the natural world, makes for an interesting premise. Too many parts of normal life become dangerous if you are six inches tall instead of six feet tall. The potential was there for a truly gripping survival tale. The different ways in which people react to a crisis were also interesting, but a better writer was needed to convey this convincingly. The pacing was awkward at best, and the ending so jarring that, even though it hinted at a sequel, I'm not sure it would be a good idea.
Also, long-term, he has created a situation in which mankind will probably die off, and hasn't pointed to any possible solution.
1 1/2 stars for writing, 2 1/2 stars for art, averaging two stars.

[Karin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine, in the blink of an eye, in the flash of a blue light, you and every other human on the planet are reduced to less than six inches tall.

Imagine what it would be like in the world where nothing else was reduced in size. All the animals, insects, food, and shelter remained their regular size. Your backyard literally becomes a jungle.

IN THE SMALL presents just that scenario. Survivors struggle to make it to the safety of the home of their make shift leader, picking up stragglers along the way. Word has it, there are demons in their midst so Mouse, the leader, does his best to keep everyone together until they they make it to the safety of his home where he is hoping he’ll find his mother, sister, and grandfather alive.

The story moves very fast and anyone who enjoys reading about the post-apocalypse and survival will love this graphic novel. It is scheduled to be made into a movie in 2010.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this up because I remembered getting Michael Hague's unicorn calendar every year as kid. Those were some BEAUTIFUL calendars. Therefore, it took me a while to get used to the overall... ugliness of the artwork in this graphic novel. This is definitely not your standard superhero fare. The premise is very intriguing, and I think it's handled pretty well, but the art is gritty and rather unattractive, almost to the point of gruesome in cases. This book is NOT flattering to the human race in its physical OR behavioral depictions, except for rare characters such as Mouse or Beat.

Apparently there is more to this series—I don't think the local library carries it. It also bears a sticker that says it's going to be made into a movie. With such an intriguing premise, I would probably go see a film version. But my favorite Michael Hague work still involves unicorns. :)

[Selena · Rating 2 out of 5]

Michael Hague's debut graphic novel chronicles mankind's fate after a mysterious blue light reduces all humans to the size of a common drinking glass, while other creatures are unaffected. Published several years after 9-11, the story has some eery parallels to that fateful day on 2001 with the initial setting resembling New York. However, any similarities end there and the story develops as two teens, brother and sister Mouse and Beatrix must use all of their strength and wisdom to save others, reunite their family and ultimately, survive. Complemented by Hague's dramatic and sometimes ominous illustrations, this is an easy yet engrossing read. However, don't expect a neat and tidy ending - the story ends with a cliffhanger and leaves open the door for a sequel. Age 12 and up.

[Jessica Lower · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars
Honestly not impressed.
It was a super interesting concept. Honey I Shrunk the Kids: the Apocalypse. However, it was executed not super well.
First, the art style. It is rather sketchy and muddy. I prefer a cleaner style than this, and I know many others agree.
The story itself follows a family after this blue flash that shrinks everyone to 6 inches tall. As you could imagine causes a whole bunch of shit to go down. One weird thing is a boy in this family has visions, this is never explained particularly well, he has a vision that this will happened. Time passing also isn't done well, it is said some of these people have been traveling for weeks but other than stating that time has passed, there is no other indication.