You Can’t Go Wrong With Groo the Wanderer

You Can’t Err with Groo!

Groo the Wanderer is a parody of the “sword and sorcery” characters popularized by Conan-creator Robert E. Howard. Currently published by Dark Horse Comics, Groo is a bumbling simpleton whose stupidity constantly causes him to misunderstand what’s going on around him and invariably leads to chaos.

Plotted and drawn by Mad magazine artist Sergio Aragonés, the scripts — often with elaborate rhymes — are written by long-time comics and animation writer Mark Evanier. Aragones and Evanier clearly have a lot of passion and energy for Groo as they’ve been producing the title for more than a quarter of a century.

Aragonés’ style is overtly cartoony, but also impressively detailed. His crowd scenes are particularly excellent, as he gives each character their own unique appearance and expression. When he draws a town, each building looks completely different, and each place as a whole stands out.

The recent Groo mini-series, Friends and Foes, featured a year-long series of encounters between Groo; his faithful pooch, Rufferto; and a parade of different acquaintances — or enemies — with the usual dire consequences! In the first issue, Groo crosses paths with Captain Ahax, the seaman with the world record for most ships sunk by the all-time stupidest character in comics! According to Evanier, the stories in Friends and Foes, “are not really continued but they are connected. That is, you’ll want to read them in the proper order and if you do, you just might see an interesting sub-plot develop.”

Evanier closed his comment on Friends and Foes by noting, “Gee, it’s fun to be doing this again. Hope it shows through.” After reading Groo for more than 25 years, I can assure you the fun shines through on every page. Groo the Wanderer gets our highest recommendation — and with our “Celebrate Independents” promotion this month there’s never been a better time to start reading Groo!