Rusty Brown is a continuing series of comics and comic strips by Chicago cartoonist Chris Ware, named after its protagonist. In the strip, Brown is shown as a young Nebraskan boy and as a man approaching middle age, who has a lifelong obsession with the collection of action figures and similar pop cultural detritus, particularly Supergirl.
Rusty Brown's only friend throughout his life is Chalky White. White is also a collector of G.I. Joe and other action figures, but gives up collecting as he grows up, gets married, and starts a family, unlike his friend Rusty, who remains locked in a permanent manchild state, always looking for elements of his lost childhood like lunchboxes, Funny Face drink cups, and more.
A recurring theme in the series is Rusty's greedy, egocentric, and bold behavior opposed to Chalky's kind, timid, and often naïve nature. Rusty is often utilizing tricks to swindle Chalky of his action figures, while Chalky, being highly gullible, is never able to see through Rusty's true nature.
Famous quotes containing the words rusty and/or brown:
“It was a maxim with Mr. Brass that the habit of paying compliments kept a man’s tongue oiled without any expense; and that, as that useful member ought never to grow rusty or creak in turning on its hinges in the case of a practitioner of the law, in whom it should be always glib and easy, he lost few opportunities of improving himself by the utterance of handsome speeches and eulogistic expressions”
—Charles Dickens (1812–1870)
“Freedom is poetry, taking liberties with words, breaking the rules of normal speech, violating common sense. Freedom is violence.”
—Norman O. Brown (b. 1913)