Rust is sure draw comparisons to Iron Giant and the Rocketeer due to the boy with the jetpack and giant robot on the front cover. In reality this all age’s tale is nothing like either of its “sources” and only people who have never watched or read either product would make such a careless comparison. Rust is in all actuality one of the grimmest sci-fi worlds created and could be seen as Metropolis in the country. The story begins 48 years in the past as it silently shows a war between two fractions that resembles WWI. The two sides continue to “one-up”each other with technology in a Looney Tunes sort of fashion, until the robots come into play. We follow one soldier as he crawls through the battlefield looking for dead robots so that he can steal one particular part. In the modern time line we’re introduced to Roman through a letter he writes his father. He tells his father in the letter about the day Jet Jones came to the farm by crashing into their barn. Again we flashback to see the event of Jet’s arrival and sure enough he crashes through the barn, but there seems to be some question of whether it was from within the barn or not. Jet is being chased by a giant robot killing machine. Roman discovers this as he’s trying to get Jet help, but Jet seems to be doing okay even after the robot throws his through a tree.

From there the two battle until Jet tells Roman what to do in order to stop the robot. After everything is settled, Jet stays on the farm to help Roman. Roman on the other hand is rebuilding one of the robots from the war in order to turn it into a helper on the farm. Jet gets really upset by this and spills a fact about himself… he was a part of the war. What other secrets does Jet have and how long before Roman is the only to work the farm?

Rust was a great story; I really enjoyed it through and through. I loved the world that Royden Lepp created and just the sheer richness of it all. I became emerged in the world that is Rust and became invested in the story and the two main characters.The story was perfect from beginning to end and I really couldn’t find any fault in it. I’m looking forward to the next volume for sure and hopefully Archaia doesn’t keep us all waiting too long. I did have some issues with the art as I found Lepp’s style to be lacking in detail a lot of the times. It was still very impressive, but in general I think he’s coloring and foreground/background work saved the art a lot. I would love to see Lepp’s style develop more as this was only a good start. The art is still good and doesn’t distract from the story which is the most important part. I just wish it added more to the story rather than falling kind of flat.

I’ve been interested in Rust since Archaia announced it at Wonder Con this year and I have to say I’m more interested in the next volume than I ever was in this one. That is to say that this first volume was so good that I’m hooked on the series and will be waiting with bated breath for its return. This is a solid all-ages book that is simple enough for children and yet if you dig deeper you’ll find its very complex for adults as well. Don’t let the “source material” fool you; this book is far more complex.

Score: 4/5

Writer/Artist/Creator: Royden Lepp Publisher: Archaia Entertainment