{"id":24586,"date":"2021-08-07T08:00:47","date_gmt":"2021-08-07T08:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=24586"},"modified":"2021-08-06T12:11:07","modified_gmt":"2021-08-06T12:11:07","slug":"the-big-guy-and-rusty-the-boy-robot-2nd-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2021\/08\/07\/the-big-guy-and-rusty-the-boy-robot-2nd-edition\/","title":{"rendered":"The Big Guy and Rusty, the Boy Robot (2<sup>nd<\/sup> Edition)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/70E17666-2135-4B3A-8AB0-9A09414B6903-250x374.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"374\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-24587\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/70E17666-2135-4B3A-8AB0-9A09414B6903-250x374.jpeg 250w, https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/70E17666-2135-4B3A-8AB0-9A09414B6903-150x225.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/70E17666-2135-4B3A-8AB0-9A09414B6903.jpeg 334w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/6CF571E8-2459-49BC-9E9E-D01C093D770C-250x371.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"371\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-24588\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/6CF571E8-2459-49BC-9E9E-D01C093D770C-250x371.jpeg 250w, https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/6CF571E8-2459-49BC-9E9E-D01C093D770C-150x223.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/6CF571E8-2459-49BC-9E9E-D01C093D770C.jpeg 337w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/><br \/>\nBy <b>Frank Miller<\/b>, <b>Geof Darrow<\/b> &amp; various (Dark Horse\/Legend)<br \/>\nISBN: 978-1-61655-853-6 (HB) eISBN 978-1-63008-645-9<\/p>\n<p>Above all else, robots are an artefact of personal childhood mythology: a synthesis of comics and toys and cartoons absorbed without inhibition as your brain was laying out the blueprints of the mature (don&#8217;t snicker, it&#8217;s childish) person you became. They&#8217;re always going to taste of fear and wonder and uncomplicated joy. That doesn&#8217;t mean you can&#8217;t revisit them with adult eyes and sensibilities, only that the results might be a little\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 off-kilter.<\/p>\n<p><b>The Big Guy and Rusty, the Boy Robot<\/b> was an occasional but intense collaboration between Legendary creators Frank Miller &amp; Geof Darrow (<b>Hard Boiled<\/b>): a gloriously madcap, stridently ironic tribute to 1950s\/1960s B-movie madness and a post-modern love letter to the magic of Osamu Tezuka&#8217;s <b>Astro Boy<\/b>.<\/p>\n<p>The characters first popped up in Dark Horse Comics&#8217; Legend Imprint title <b>Mike Allred&#8217;s Madman Comics<\/b> #6-7 before graduating to their own oversized 1995 miniseries, and elsewhere. Like Bosch or Brueghel, Darrow&#8217;s exuberant, meticulously extravagant manically-detailed tableaux churned with life and macabre animation whilst Miller played with revered plot tropes and movie memes and took measured swipes at contemporary American society.<\/p>\n<p>It all begins with <i>&#8216;Rusty Fights Alone!&#8217;<\/i> as a landmark genetics experiment in Japan opens a doorway to ancient supernal terror, releasing a demonic beast that rampages through Tokyo devouring and transforming the populace into monsters. With police and defence forces helpless, the authorities have only one hope: a plucky prototype android boy determined to do his best\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n<p>His best is nowhere near enough and with deep regret and trepidation Japan&#8217;s Prime Minister concedes to the pleas of his panicked Cabinet and accepts an offer of assistance from the Americans\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n<p>Concluding chapter &#8216;<i>The Big Guy Kicks Butt!&#8217;<\/i> sees a blockbusting, armed -&amp;-armoured mammoth mechanoid &#8211; programmed with the amiable personality of a salt-of-the-earth US GI and carrying the acme of American ordnance &#8211; deployed to save the city and the world. It&#8217;s a knock-down, drag-out no-holds barred battle that devastates everything, but ultimately true grit and American know-how win the day. In the aftermath, the battered warrior-bot is lauded by the survivors and awarded the rather annoying little robot as his eternal companion, sidekick and prot\u00c3\u00a9g\u00c3\u00a9\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n<p>Added extras include a hilarious spoof cover gallery by Darrow &amp; colourist Dave Stewart plus an extra vignette of comics fun. <i>&#8216;Terror Comes on the Fourth!!!!!!&#8217;<\/i> finds the mechanoid marvels battling a disgusting giant bug-beast menacing Moonsanto Beach with its genetic atrocities, just as vacationing patriots seek to celebrate the nation&#8217;s birthday. Not on the rowdy, righteous robots&#8217; watch, no sirree!\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n<p>Topped off with a bevy of brillant pin-ups by Darrow &amp; Stewart, and guest cameos from Todd McFarlane&#8217;s <b>Spawn<\/b> and Joe Quesada &amp; Jimmy Palmiotti&#8217;s <b>Ash<\/b>, this is a bombastic, blustering action riot: a sly pastiche dipped in satire and a powerfully self-indulgent treat for unrepentant kids of all ages.<br \/>\n\u00e2\u201e\u00a2 &amp; \u00c2\u00a9 1995, 1996, 2015 Frank Miller, Inc. and Geofrey Darrow. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Frank Miller, Geof Darrow &amp; various (Dark Horse\/Legend) ISBN: 978-1-61655-853-6 (HB) eISBN 978-1-63008-645-9 Above all else, robots are an artefact of personal childhood mythology: a synthesis of comics and toys and cartoons absorbed without inhibition as your brain was laying out the blueprints of the mature (don&#8217;t snicker, it&#8217;s childish) person you became. They&#8217;re &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2021\/08\/07\/the-big-guy-and-rusty-the-boy-robot-2nd-edition\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;The Big Guy and Rusty, the Boy Robot (2<sup>nd<\/sup> Edition)&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[125,111,107],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-humour","category-satirepolitics","category-science-fiction"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-6oy","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24586"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24586\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24590,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24586\/revisions\/24590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}