The Monstrous Misadventures of Rusty & Co.

[RustMonster]

Hi there! I hope you'll enjoy my webcomic, Rusty & Co., located at http://rustyandco.com

It's a once-a-week comic following an adventuring group of monsters out to show that they, too, can be brave heroes.

The first arc is about to wrap up so now's a great time to catch up on the archives.

[Atronach]

Cool, nice comic. By the way, how do you make these?

[RustMonster]

how do you make these?

I sketch and ink in Paint.NET using a stylus, then layout the panels and color in the characters in Photoshop. I usually treat the characters and backgrounds as separate layers, coloring the characters with directed shadows and the backgrounds with gradients.

I occasionally throw a simple texture on the backgrounds to separate them a little more and set the mood.

Word balloons are done last, since I usually don't have the dialog finalized until the very last moment. To keep them clean and quickly editable, I use a vector layer for the balloons themselves.

At the start I relied heavily on cut-and-paste and shaped Photoshop brushes but as the comic turned into "a thing" I put more effort into it, now.

[Atronach]

How long do you think your comic will last, if you (hopefully) do not mind me asking?

[RustMonster]

How long do you think your comic will last, if you (hopefully) do not mind me asking?

I have the next 40 or 50 strips already scripted out, so at least that much for certain. I'm sure that by the time I've actually drawn them, another 40 or 50 will have been written.

I'm doing this comic as sort of a third job, so once a week is all I can manage.

[RustMonster]

Hey guys, if you haven't been keeping up with Rusty & Co, now's an excellent time to get into it.

And if you like the current Munchkin-themed strip, then please give it a vote for the Munchkin webcomic contest!

[Esch]

Thanks for the post, just saw your comic for the first time. I absolutely love the artwork, it's very well done. I started at the very beginning and made it through the Level 1 strips and noticed a huge progression as far as honing your craft when I scanned through the other levels to see how well you've progressed artistically. I'm digging it! Good job!

[The Glyphstone]

been following this since it started, excellent as always 2.5 years later!

Also, as an avid Munchkin player, this latest update is fantastic.

[Gez]

Why is it called Rusty & Co. when the real star is the Mimic?

Was the "maul of the titans" in a recent strip a subtle reference to Shortpacked! That toy is Amber's superhero weapon.

[Vizzerdrix]

I'm a fan. +1 vote.

[BiblioRook]

I have to say, even if I wasn't already a big fan, looking over those other Munchkin comics yours was easily one of the best.

Really though, most of them were... not very good at all.


Was really surprised how many submissions there were from non-english comics. Some looked good enough to continue reading, but then I hit 'next' and... I no longer have any idea what's going on.

[RustMonster]

Hey, thanks guys!

Was the "maul of the titans" in a recent strip a subtle reference to Shortpacked! That toy is Amber's superhero weapon.

I got it from my AD&D second edition books. Yeah, I still keep them on the shelves. (But not on the nice shelves.)

Was really surprised how many submissions there were from non-english comics. Some looked good enough to continue reading, but then I hit 'next' and... I no longer have any idea what's going on.

Me too. Most of them seemed to have English translations, though... you just have to hunt for them.

[Keld Denar]

Mike, I gotta say, I really really really like your comic. The art is fantastic, and the puns are delightful. The pirate level was one of my favorites, especially the rap. I seriously can't heap any more praise on you for this. I hope it is as fun for you to write as it is for us to read. I've even "liked" it on Facebook, and I don't generally "like" ANYTHING (don't like clutter). Do you ever have plans to attend any big comic conventions? I go to Emerald City Comicon in Seattle every year, and its always awesome to meet the webcomic artists you enjoy the most. I met Jeph Jacques (Questionable Content) last year. It would be fun to meet the mastermind behind on of my favorites and buy some signed art. Keep up the great work!

(I post under the comics occasionally under the pseudoname "Wyvernhand", btw)

[Gamall]

I have read the entire archive in one sitting yesterday evening. I must say, it considerably brightened my mood

Also, the rust monster is simply squeedorable; I demand a rusty plush toy. Now.

[Domochevsky]

Huh, this is actually surprisingly good. I dig the humor.

[Welf]

Nice.
Added to my webcomic bookmarks.

[Tropper]

As I was reading through your archive I realized I was laughing more at your comic than I had at any comic in a long time. Just about every page got a laugh out of me. Nice work!

Also, the strip where the bear cave encounters Green Cube is one of my favorites!

[jpreem]

I don't even remember how I ended reading your comic. But only today I discovered this thread in this forum here. So well I take my chance to give you my kudos - it is an awesome comic you got there. BTW Rust Monsters Rule

[Johnny Blade]

This really is pretty good.

The whole Plaidbeard thing was hilarious, especially the Liefeld parody.

Nice to see that you stay away from the overdone "D&D rules are kinda stupid, amirite?" jokes, by the way.


In short, subscribed.

[RustMonster]

Awesome to hear, guys.

Regarding conventions, it's pretty unlikely I'll be getting a table at one any time soon. It'd be nice to meet some fans but I don't yet have any of the merchandise that make cons lucrative for artists.

The good news is: I've been looking into plushes, custom tabletop minis and (of course) t-shirts. I don't quite have the audience size for it yet, but maybe soon.

(Plus, I'm still trying to figure out if one can sell rust monster likenesses. Intellectual Property is a complex issue.)

[Keld Denar]

OMG! I NEED a Rusty plushie. I don't care if every girl I bring home until the end of time laughs at me, I NEED one.

Seriously...make it happen, if you can.

[The Glyphstone]

a Rusty plushie with matching Mimic and Cube pillows...

[Agi Hammerthief]

your shameless selfpromotion just got you another subscriber

[RustMonster]

Hey, so after lots of feedback from various sources, we're giving this plush rust monster thing a try! There's a lot of steps and hurdles but you guys can make it happen by voting for it and spreading the word:

http://www.patchtogether.com/designs...ster-4659.html

Thanks again!

[BiblioRook]

Good luck! Hope you don't get sued.

[The Glyphstone]

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/rustMonster.htm - so he's not violating product identity, at least.

[Keld Denar]

Well, I registered just to vote, so I did my part. If you can get this thing going, I'll totally buy at least one, maybe another one as a gift for a friend. Good luck to you. I don't mind spending money on things I see that deserve it, and you're talent definitely deserves it!

[Scarlet Knight]

Lady Gaga speaks gnomish? Suddenly, it all makes sense!

[RustMonster]

Some awesome news! Thanks to the good people at Steve Jackson Games and my wonderful fans, Rusty & Co. won the 2011 Munchkin Webcomic Contest, AND took second place in the Popularity Vote! Thanks everyone!

[The Glyphstone]

Woots! And a double-category win, to boot.

Was there any prize for the 1st-place victory?

EDIT: $1,000 apparently. Excellent...seed money for the Plushie project. maybe?