The Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot

This is a reprint of a two-part miniseries from the 90’s (plus a “Dark Horse Presents” short from 2015), back when Frank Miller could regularly be counted on to produce quality work – whether he was writing or illustrating.  He’s doing the former here, paired up with artistic sensation Geoff Darrow as the two channel the spirit of Japanese kaiju movies with a little “Astro Boy” thrown in for good measure.  There’s very little plot to this as the story opens with a scientific experiment that goes wrong and unleashes a giant monster upon Tokyo that proceeds to destroy everything in its path while eating and transforming humans in equal measure.  The military is helpless against it, leaving the pinnacle of Japanese robotics – Rusty the Boy Robot – to step up and save the day.  If he fails, no worries – the Americans have the Big Guy on hand if Japan decides to ask for help.

As that last sentence implies, there’s a bit of American nationalism in play with the back half of the story that was likely a lot easier for audiences to overlook or take in stride back in the 90’s.  Today, it puts a damper on an energetic homage that’s easy to appreciate based on the insanely detailed art from Darrow alone.  I do regret not picking this up in its oversized original edition as the artist’s work feels too constrained in this smaller format.  You can still appreciate the intricate level of detail the artist brings to the art and the glorious carnage therein, but this is work that’s meant to be seen in an oversized format.

While Darrow is the real star of the show here, Miller does bring something to it besides nationalistic cheerleading.  The tone of the dialogue feels knowingly on-the-nose as it tries to evoke old-school monster-movie thrills and he keeps the action moving at a steady clip and with enough variety to keep the reader invested.  Don’t believe me?  Check out the short “Terror Comes Forth on the Fourth” written and illustrated by Darrow which has the artist indulging his love of puns while delivering barely-there social commentary.  If nothing else, this collection shows that the man has always been a great artist, but he works better when dealing with someone who knows (or knew) how to write a good story.