Rust was Weird

This week the score from an ebay auction came in: All 13 issues of the 1987 series of Rust by Now Comics. My brother had two issues of this (as it turns out, the last two) when we were kids, and those issues had left us curious about the rest of the comic. 

Well, since I bought them as a gift for my brother, I haven't read them yet, so I can only report what I know from the internet and the two issues I have read, but in brief, Rust is the story of a cop who presumably through some sort of accident gets super-tough skin, acid blood, and a gruesome appearance. The original writer was Steve Miller, but most of the run is written by Fred Schiller. The art is most by Tony Atkins and Jim Brozman.

I gather most of the series is Rust taking on various non-super-powered bad guys. The first issue we read was issue 12 that is the culmination of a storyline involving Rust taking on a cult. It had an eye-catching cover and a preview for Now's Terminator comic. The next issue blurb promises: "the end of the world."

And this was not hyperbole.

The final issue (September 1988) has a deadly plague spreading across the globe. Rust and his (I guess) love interest are separated by events and presumably unaware the other is alive for most of the story. It's a hell of a way to bring a truncated run to an end!

While I admire the audacity of that ending, it's no wonder the 2nd Rust series in 1989 completely ignores it.

The Adventurers

This weekend, I won an ebay auction on the Malibu collections of The Adventurers from 1990. If you don't remember this minor title of the 80s black and white boom, it's a fantasy series started at Aircel in 1986 by artist Peter Hsu (later replaced by Kent Burles on interior art) and scripter Scott Behnke. After 2 issues, it moved to Adventure Publications where it ran for 10 issues. 

In 1987, it was followed by Book II than ran for 7 issues. Adventure was acquired by Malibu as in imprint in 1989 and there was a Book III that ran for 6 issues. 

In an era when Sword & Sorcery comics not based on a work by Robert E. Howard were disappearing from the stands, The Adventurers was practically its own small universe. There were also spinoff series: Warriors, Ninja Elite, and possibly Hsu's Elf Warrior, though I'm unclear if it's in the same world.

While clearly drawing inspiration from the S&S comics of the 70s and earlier 80s, The Adventurers explores new territory by borrowing the adventuring party from Dungeons & Dragons, and other fantasy rpgs and making a recurring character a representative of the important 80s group: the ninja. 

I can say that The Adventurers is anything phenomenal but if you are a fan of S&S comics (which I am) or 80s black & white indies (also me), I think they are at least worth checking out. There's one fansite I've found dedicated to the series.