When the pizza topping consists of nails, knives, or keys, when hats speak in rhymes and tin stars are baked at Christmas – then we are in the world of Knight Rusty. The knight with the big mouth and little courage is the hero of a children's book and musical series, with which Jörg Hilbert and Felix Janosa celebrate endless successes. And they deserve it. After all, it took long enough for a publisher to discover the potential of the lovable coward with the weather vane on his head and the cash register body. Amazing, because anyone who has once made acquaintance with the knight and his friends will always want to hear and read more about them: about the castle maiden Bö, who wears a red dress but still wears the pants, and the cheeky dragon Koks with his lighter-nose. They all live in the Iron Castle on the edge of the Forest of Fabled Beings, which belongs to the realm of King Leadfoot of the Hidden, and you can find them if you take the small path between Right and Left and then turn just before Going Straight towards Back.
That the (audio) books and CDs of Knight Rusty are bestsellers, that his adventures are now seen around 400 times a year on musical stages and are aired on the "Sendung mit der Maus", and that in 2012 even a 3D movie comes to theaters, is the provisional highlight of a success story that started off rather slowly. Jörg Hilbert, who had already drawn small dragon stories as an elementary school student in Sindelfingen, probably had to move to the Ruhr area for his breakthrough, study communication design in Essen, and become at home in the region. The effort was worth it: In September 2024, the author and illustrator was honored with the unawarded honorary prize of the Literature Prize Ruhr. The occasion for the award: His most famous character, Knight Rusty, celebrated his 30th anniversary in 2024.
Also of crucial importance is that Hilbert met the musician and music cabaret artist Felix Janosa, who studied composition and school music at the Folkwang University in Essen – today Folkwang University. Janosa devised stylistically diverse, wonderfully original songs and musicals with catchy tunes for Hilbert's characters. The fact that parents enjoy the stories and songs about Knight Rost just as much as their children is due as much to the witty lyrics – Jörg Hilbert is related to Ringelnatz in a roundabout way – as to the captivating melodies. Sometimes it sounds like a hit, sometimes like tinny disco-pop, sometimes honestly rock, and sometimes melancholic.
Knight Rost, Bö, and Koks have existed since the late 1980s, but only in the drawer. "Neither my texts nor my illustrations matched the lovely style of the time," Hilbert speculates today. It wasn't until 1994 that Hilbert and Janosa managed to publish their illustrations, stories, and songs – at a small publishing house named ConBrio. When the series was taken over by the Munich-based Terzio publishing house around the turn of the millennium, Knight Rost finally advanced from a tip to a hit.
Knight Rost works all over Germany and beyond – license editions are published, among others, in Hungary and Spain. However, the tin man has a special relationship with the Ruhr area, which he elected as a "scrap land" as a travel destination back in 2000 (“Knight Rost Goes on Vacation”). Ten years later, Knight Rost became the ambassador of the Cultural Capital 2010 and not only explained the region to children.
In Knight Rost books, there are ventriloquists who scare away their females with terribly long poems and diseases like the “whistling can fever,” which must be treated in Rostpital. There is a “Witch Verstexe,” a prince of and to Cleaning and Show, along with his cleaning-mad mother Kehrlinde – and countless other puns that are just fun. Above all, there are songs that you can't get out of your head for days. For example, the song sung with an Italian accent about the chivalrous pizza delivery man: "Here comes Paolo with the pizza-whizz, even the pizza sometimes slips into the crack of the seat / Yes, doesn’t matter, the pizza tastes good, it’s much better than in a stupid pizza place." Rustily funny. By the way, the great knight has received reinforcements: With "Ritterchen Rost," a new book series has been published, suitable for children from two years old.
