Customer Reviews

Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is the black and white and 'dialogue-less' version of a similar comic title released by Darkhorse which is in colour and contains dialogue. If these elements are important to you, you may want to purchase the original version. Having said that, it is interesting that the narrative runs very smoothly even without the dialogue as the Big Guy and Rusty stories are very simple 'Rescue the World from Monsters' narratives.

The reason some may want to purchase this is to drool over the very detailed inking artwork done by the artists which is lost in the smaller version and obscured by the dialogue balloons. Personally I prefer this 'King-size' version as it allows me to examine in superb detail, the careful, intricate and excellent illustrations.

The first thing you'll notice is Geoff Darrow's knotty tight sublime hyper-etched artwork, lines running like veins into the architecture and broken glass that is Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot. This is not the Miller of Sin City or DK Returns et cetera,,,,watch him rip away the Chandler influence and dive into Japanese toy culture via Godzilla gggrraaaaaauu. This won't give you a typical Milleresque vision, whatever that means, but it's a cool trip through a world owned by toys and monsters. Great book for kids. Bedtime story and such.

An experiment goes wrong and an unstoppable force is unleashed in the form of a giant orange iguana with fire breathing abilities and shape shifting powers. Rusty the Boy Robot to the rescue! Only the Japanese Boy Robot can't save the day - enter the American Big Guy! Action and fighting ensues, etc etc.

The cover might make the book seem like a kid's comic but I assure you it isn't. Geof Darrow's incredible artwork is extremely graphic, especially in the fight scenes. Frank Miller's script is alright but reads a lot like a pastiche of 50s/60s comics propaganda than a true representation of his own abilities (for Miller's best see Dark Knight Returns and the Sin City series).

More troubling is the insinuation of Japanese weakness and American superiority. Rusty is the best the Japanese can offer in terms of fighting and he is a comical figure, insecure, weak, and completely ineffectual. It takes the might of the Americans to come in and destroy the threat. The Big Guy is just that, a big robot that kicks ass and does what the Japanese boy robot can't. Big Guy's own reaction to Rusty is similar to that of Batman's to Robin in "All Star Batman" so it's a similarly interesting relationship where the Big Guy is clearly the hero. Either way I wasn't particularly fond of Miller's depiction of the ineptness of Japanese military power. It seemed unnecessarily jingoistic.

As for the book? A bit tedious in a way because it's the simple comic book hero story of hero fights monster, monster loses, blah blah blah. For a better collaboration between Miller and Darrow, check out "Hard Boiled", a much more interesting comic book. "Big Guy and Rusty" is, well, kind of rusty.

In a modern (for the 90s) Tokyo, scientists, foolish with power, successfully recreate primordial ooze, only to discover it's the perfect host body for an evil, Cthulhu-like (in mindset and motive at least) creature who breaks free and follows the trend of giant monsters rampaging on Tokyo. What's worse, citizens discover after they've thrown everything at it from missiles and tanks to helicopters and super (prototype) boy robots, the creature isn't just out to destroy humanity, it can infect them, turning them into mutant dinosaur creatures that can further spread the disease, destruction and chaos. In a last ditch effort commanders beg for help from the good old U.S.A. and from the sea comes the Iron-Giant-ish hero, The Big Guy.

All American, a true blue hero, the Big Guy is determined to defeat the evil creature, save the innocents mutated into monsters and uphold decency standards all the while. The prose is a bit pretentious at times, and a bit old fashioned other times, but both reinforce the character of the Big Guy and heroic feel of the tale.

The only bad thing to say is that this two part series went nowhere as a comic, introducing dynamic characters but going no further, and, while the Fox Kids TV show (a mere 26 episodes) was a hilarious, spot on blend of tongue-in-cheek jabs at mechs, robotechnology, speculations on the future, Godzilla-inspired disasters and superhero comics, reading this book is a reminder that the Big Guy and Rusty still hasn't seen DVD release. Oh well, there's Youtube.

Off my head right now, I can't think of another comic that's drawn as detailed as this. Geof Darrow really packed in everything, carving every scale and wrinkle onto the monsters, and leaving no rumble unturned. That's a magnificent feat. I wonder how much time was spent on creating this graphic novel.

The premise of the story is straightforward. A science experiment gone wrong creating a horrible monster which wreaks havoc in the city. In comes the self doubting heroes, Rusty the Boy Robot who essentially can't do anything and Big Guy who puts up a better fight.

You want a clearer picture? Imagine Calvin, from Calvin and Hobbes, going off into one of his ridiculous imaginative play, the ones where major catastrophes can strike coincidentally on a single home or an impeding tsunami striking a coastal town. This graphic novel is like that, except it's told in more frames and more detail. In fact, I was surprise the writer isn't Bill Watterson.

(More pictures are available on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

The story in this book is not becoming my concern at all. What amazed me, it's the illustrations, the details and the unique characters like 'Big Guy and Rusty'. The book is more than just a comic but consider my best own comic collection from one of the best cult culture comic book.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of Frank Miller. I also love the illustrator Geoff Darrow. Together they produced Hard Boiled, a marveoulous, dark, confusing tale. The problems with Big Guy and Rusty...is that it's all flash and no substance. It's like that prom date you dreamed of all through high school. Pretty, shallow, and um...pretty. And it's short. It could be that this is what the artist and author were going for. It might be that it is built out of a reverence of Astro-boy, Manzinger-Z, and other popular "big-robot" old school cartoons. But for Frank Miller...I'd expect a bit more bite for my buck.

In any case. Three stars. 'Cause it's pretty.

Where is the animated series? Pokemon killed this show when it came out, I think it got more run time in Spain. Oh, Goef, come out of hiding in France. I know story board work is a lot more money but comic books need you. If a maligned by the network that owns it cartoon like Invader Zim can be in the top 25 at amazon so can Big Guy.

How about a Moon Pig one shot?

Big Guy and Rusty is a sci-fi story of a world that has..er..alien troubles. So, a city constructs a robot that will protect it's citizens. His name was Big Guy. Big Guy served for many years protecting the city, until another robot was constructed. His name was Rusty, a real robot with artificial inteligence. The creators of Rusty thought he could protect the city alone, but he show'd wrong. Therefore, Big Guy has to give Rusty some alien kicking techniques, so he can finally resign from being protector of the city.

I preview what I read to my kids. My 3 year old is a big superhero fan, and we enjoy Batman the Brave and the Bold together. As most comics these days are aimed at much more mature folks, its a challenge to find something age-appropriate. This looked like the ticket, but the overtly American-first, God-loving robot was too much for me. The story and characters were so derivative of things I've seen elsewhere. The artwork was good, but the story and characters just didn't do it for me.