Cartoonist Royden Lepp and BOOM! Studios will launch the fourth and final volume of Lepp’s long-running comics epic Rust, due in stores this spring.
Titled Soul in the Machine, Rust vol. 4 is the final chapter to his critically acclaimed graphic novel series about a mysterious boy who suddenly appears on a farm struggling to survive after a long apocalyptic war and changes the fate of the family who runs it. This original graphic novel debuts simultaneously in hardcover and softcover in comic shops and bookstores in February 2018.
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At the center of the Rust saga is Jet Jones, a boy with a jetpack who crashes into the Taylor family farm. As Jet deals with his uncertain future, members of the Taylor family each view his arrival—and subsequent stay—in different ways.
Lepp joined ComicBook.com to exclusively discuss the ending of Rust, what it means to him, and what’s next on the horizon.
You’ve said before that Rust is a very personal story for you. What does it feel like to finally be concluding it after all this time?
Honestly, it’s a little hard. There was a bittersweet element in finishing this series but as I write this, the bitterness is a little stronger than the sweetness. I’m wondering if I’ll ever be able to do another book, if it’ll be as good, if this is all I’ll do in my comics career? I have a lot of questions swirling around in my head this week. Drawing these characters every night for years has become part of my day-to-day life. This isn’t just the end of a chapter for the Taylors; it’s the end of a chapter for me as well.
This last book all takes place over a single night. Given the way you have played with time and depicted its passage in the past, what made you want to kind of box yourself in like that?
That’s a good question. I’m not sure I planned it, honestly. I knew where the story was heading and how many pages the climax would require so I knew much of this part of the story would be in one book, but I never sat down and realized that it all happens in one night. I hope it’s not too jarring for readers. It was a joy to write and draw and work my way through the moments of this climatic end.
While the look of Rust is kind of Fleischer-adjacent and the characters look cute, this is still a story that has a lot of horror-ish elements to it. What will the mood of Soul in the Machine be?
If you’ve ever detected a horror-ish element in Rust it will be the strongest in this last volume. This is the culmination of the bad choices that Jet made and the bad choices that Roman made. It’s funny you call it horror-ish, actually. When I described this volume to the Archaia editing team a few years back I used a comparison to Night of the Living Dead. I personally think it has the most drama of any of the volumes so far.
Are you still working with Rebecca Taylor on this project, or did the team get shaken up a little bit for this last volume?
Tay stepped away for this final book though I’ve continued to work with [Associate Editor] Cameron Chittock, who’s been along for the ride since mid-series. Sierra Hahn joined the BOOM! Studios editing department as Senior Editor a couple years ago so she’s been heavily involved along the way.
Both Cam and Sierra are my first readers. They read everything first and they’re the forefront of feedback and changes. They’re fantastic, supportive, and encouraging but willing to challenge me at any point no matter what the cost. Good editors truly make a good book great and I have the best at BOOM! Studios. Tay will always be the one person who blew the dust off this story very early when I was burned out and she gave it a new life.
I feel like we waited a long time to learn things that come out in Soul in the Machine. Have you always had this ending pretty much written, or did it evolve over time?
I waited, too. I am forever thankful for the fans who’ve stuck around to discover the end. The end wasn’t always in place. It came together for me many years ago as I was lying in bed (literally) staring at the ceiling. I suddenly saw the whole last volume play out in my mind and I was so excited I quietly pumped my fist so as not to wake my sleeping wife. In the last 10 months, I’ve had the pleasure of drawing panels and scenes that I’ve been imagining for years. It’s the best experience an artist can have.
Without giving too much away about the ending, what was the hardest part of approaching this final volume?
Partly the art. The entire book taking place at night required dark values and limited range. When you don’t have light to paint a scene with, you can be stuck with a very flat composition. This was a big challenge.
Line mileage was another. Without giving anything away, I had some… things I had to draw that required way more pencil strokes than a lot of the rest of the book. We call this line mileage. It just takes more time.
And lastly, time management. I had Emerald City Comicon 2018 as my goal shelf date and I was going to be very depressed to miss that mark. Finding time to work between my day job, my 3-year-old son, and my marriage meant that I was up late at night with no energy left, falling asleep at my computer. There was a period where the task of finishing felt insurmountable.
Do you have a “next” comics project on the horizon, or are you going to focus on your other work now that Rust is in the books?
I’m not sure what’s next for me. I just got down from Mount Everest—I may not climb for a while. I have tons of ideas of what I’d like to do next in comics but I’ll need to rest for a bit. I may dabble in children’s books for a bit to clear my palette and get something out easily.
Recently, we saw some test footage from the Rust movie show up online. Is there anything positive to report there, or was that an indication that it is not happening?
Positive and negative. There are lot of Hollywood folks that are working hard to get RUST made but the timing hasn’t worked out. I’m hopeful that one day I will get to see it on the big screen but it’s still going to take a lot of work to get the cameras to be turned on.
Rust Vol. 4: Soul in the Machine
HC/SC Publisher: Archaia, an imprint of BOOM! Studios
Writer, Artist, Cover Artist: Royden Lepp
Format: Hardcover: 192 pages, Softcover: 176 pages; sepia-toned
Price: Hardcover: $24.99, Softcover: $14.99
On sale: February 2018
Synopsis: Seven years in the making, the breathtaking conclusion to Royden Lepp’s Rust graphic novel series is here! As an unprecedented robot force closes in on the Taylor farm, Jet Jones must embrace his true identity if he’s to defend the family he loves.
