Groo the Wanderer
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Groo the Wanderer is a fantasy/comedy comic book series written and drawn by Sergio Aragonés, rewritten, coplotted and edited by Mark Evanier, lettered by Stan Sakai, and colored by Tom Luth. Over the years it has been published by Pacific Comics, Eclipse Comics (one special issue), Marvel Comics (under its Epic imprint), Image Comics and Dark Horse Comics.
Groo was one of the first widely successful creator-owned comics, one of the few successful humorous comic books (outside Archie Comics) during its time, and one of the longest running collaborations in comic book history.
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[edit] The characters
Groo the Wanderer (a parody of the Robert E. Howard character Conan the Barbarian) is a fantasy era large-nosed buffoon who constantly misunderstands his surroundings, and, despite his generally good intentions, causes mass destruction wherever he goes. Most of his adventures end with him walking away oblivious to the mayhem he has wrought, or fleeing an angry mob. Groo occasionally meets with respect and good fortune, but it does not last. Businesses, towns, civilizations and cultures have all been unwittingly destroyed by Groo. Such is Groo's incompetence that so much as stepping onto a ship (except in Rufferto's company) will cause it to sink.
The only thing that has kept Groo alive through all of his adventures is his excellent swordsmanship. Groo has slain entire armies on his own, with nothing more than his swords. Groo loves these frays, as he calls them, and often charges into the melee with a cry of "Now Groo does what Groo does best!" So great is his love for battle that Groo seldom bothers to consider which side he is fighting for, and goes on to slay soldiers from either side.
In all of his travels, Groo has encountered literally thousands of characters. However, there is an assortment of recurring characters:
- Captain Ahax, who has, over time, become wise to Groo's effect on ships. Not that it helps him or his sanity.
- Arba and Dakarba, a pair of witches who have suffered much trying to take advantage of Groo. They have repeatedly been stripped of their powers because of him.
- Arcadio, a handsome warrior, with an especially pronounced chin, who is considered the greatest hero of his time. He has often enlisted Groo as his "lackey", and while Groo has succeeded in his quests time and again, Arcadio always gets the credit.
- Chakaal, a beautiful female warrior who is Groo's equal in swordplay. Chakaal is strong, noble, and wise, and Groo is madly in love with her. She is as well known as a hero and skilled warrior as Groo is for being a walking disaster, and travels the land seeking people in need of her help. Though she respects Groo's prowess as a warrior, Chakaal is all too aware of his incompetence in other areas, as well as his general stupidity and lack of social graces, and finds Groo at best tolerable when she is in need of his sword, and contemptible otherwise. Romantically speaking, she considers his idiotic advances repulsive, and does her best to ignore them, though she is not above using Groo's feelings for her to convince him to help her in her quests, and will often use Groo as a decoy or sacrifical lamb.
- Granny Groo, Groo's gypsy grandmother. Granny Groo often tries to use her grandson to aid her in her moneymaking schemes, but invariably ends up giving him a good spanking when he fails.
- Grativo the Wizard, who often punishes Arba and Dakarba for their failures.
- Grooella, Groo's sister. While she greatly resembles her brother, the two of them are totally different: Grooella is a Queen. However, her occasional reliance on her brother for aid has spelled disaster every time, and she despises him. Grooella had long, beautiful blond hair as a child, but one of Groo's "games" (which nearly always ended in the injury of at least one other child) damaged it so that it became black and frizzy. (The Sage developed a one-time-only formula to restore her hair, but Groo "erred" again and rendered the damage permanent.)
- The Minstrel, a singing jester who speaks exclusively in rhyming sonnets. He often likes to sing of Groo's deeds, but Groo seldom appreciates his unflattering descriptions of his bungling. The Minstrel seldom appeared in later issues, due to the difficulty of creating his dialogue - "unless the Minstrel vanish / then Mark will go, and Sergio / can write this crap in Spanish."
- Pal and Drumm, two con men. The diminutive Pal is always looking for easy money, but his hulking partner Drumm isn't very bright. Their dealings with Groo have often left them in trouble with the people they were scamming.
- Pipil Khan, a short and short-tempered conqueror who speaks like Elmer Fudd.
- Rufferto, Groo's dog and only true friend. Rufferto ran away from his boring life as a spoiled and pampered royal pet to seek adventure, and endeared himself to Groo. In Rufferto's eyes, Groo is a hero and a tactical genius. Groo can also safely board a ship in Rufferto's presence.
- The Sage, a wise old man who is usually never far from Groo. The Sage often attempts to give Groo sound advice, but Groo's stupidity often means that the advice is misinterpreted and only makes situations worse. The Sage is never without his dog, Mulch. The Sage has known Groo since childhood and often tells his tales for all who are willing to listen.
- Taranto, a corrupt general who has had his plans for glory dashed by Groo several times, and is obsessed with killing the wanderer. Groo can never remember whether he is friends with Taranto, or if Taranto wants to kill him.
- Weaver and Scribe, a successful author and his amanuensis, who look suspiciously like Groo’s own Evanier and Sakai.
- The Witch of Kaan, an eccentric old hag who always has a potion ready for anybody who visits her.
[edit] The setting
Groo's adventures take place in an environment that generally resembles Medieval Europe, although his travels have also taken him to places that resemble Africa, Japan, the Middle East and elsewhere. In addition to regular flora and fauna, dragons and other legendary creatures occasionally appear, and several cultures use dinosaur-like creatures as beasts of burden.
[edit] Running gags
Groo's adventures have resulted in these "running gags" that have become staples for years.
- Mendicant: Groo becomes violently angry whenever someone calls him a mendicant, even though he doesn't know what it means.
- Early Groo tales began with a poem. Almost every Groo story ends with a moral.
- The head of the minstrel's mandolin changes shape in every panel.
- Cheese Dip: Groo's favorite food. Whenever Groo comes across money, cheese dip is the first thing that comes to his mind.
- Mulch: This agricultural process is often mentioned in casual conversation. The Marvel/Epic Comics editions had a long-running gag in the letter column, in which fans would ask Mark Evanier to define "mulch" and he would oblige with the same dictionary definition in every issue.
- "Did I err?": Groo's understatement when he surveys the destruction he has caused, and the closest Groo usually ever gets to grasping just what his effect on the world around him is. (A letter from a fan once pointed out that since "to err is human", the constantly-erring Groo must be the most human character ever created.) This gag was paid homage to in an issue of letterer Stan Sakai's own comic book, Usagi Yojimbo. When stopped by enemy samurai and asked for the password Usagi responded, "Uh... did I err?"
- "I am the Prince of Chichester.": Granny Groo once made Groo memorize that phrase during one of her ill-fated scams. The con fell apart, but the phrase still sticks in Groo's head, and he says it from time to time when he cannot think of anything to say. (The in-joke here is that Daniel Chichester was editor of the comic book at the time.)
- "What do you mean, 'slow of mind'?": Groo is often called "slow of mind", but it is usually much later in the story when he finally responds to it. The most extreme example was when Granny Groo called young boy Groo "slow of mind" in a flashback, and adult Groo in the present asked her what she had meant.
- "I can plainly see that!": Groo's response to when somebody says "...as any fool can plainly see."
- "What pirates?": To raise the reward for Rufferto offered by its previous owner, a Queen, Pal once told her that the dog had been kidnapped by pirates, who were demanding a ransom. Drumm asked "what pirates?" (there were none, of course) in front of the King and the Queen, and later in the story he kept asking Pal that. From time to time, he still asks "(and) what pirates?", especially when he's trying to kill Pal (usually at the end of a story) because one of his plans failed again.
- "I can drink eight beers! Bring me eight beers!" This phrase appears several times in the comics, uttered by some characters who are in a tavern. The origin of this is unknown.
- Hidden Messages: Many of Groo's Marvel/Epic issues have a hidden message concealed in the artwork or the dialogue. The hidden message usually reads "This is the hidden message."
- The Sage's dog: During the Marvel/Epic run of Groo, the question of what the Sage named his dog became one of the most frequently asked questions in the comic's letters page. Eventually, Evanier and Aragones made an announcement that the name of the Sage's dog would be revealed in an upcoming issue, an event which was first postponed from its first scheduled publication either to further the "suspense" or mess with readers' minds. Eventually, after a storyline in which the Sage's dog had been kidnapped and Groo aided him in recovering the dog, the "secret" was revealing in a throw-away moment, with Groo asking in a "by-the-way" manner what the dog's name was, and the Sage replying with the nondescript name, "Mulch" (in itself a reference to another running gag in the Marvel/Epic run, see above).
- Issue #1: Because of its unusual publication history (see below) there have been at least three different issues of the comic book that were numbered as the "first" issue. Part of the reason for this is that first issues tend to have higher sales and each publisher took advantage of this by starting the numbering over again when they took over. Aragonés satirized this by proclaiming that every issue he wrote was #1.
[edit] The creators
Groo is initially plotted, roughly written (it has been said that Aragonés does to English, his third language, what Picasso did to faces), and roughly drawn by Aragonés, after consulting with Evanier. Evanier then writes the dialog, poetry, moral, acts on "insert joke" or "insert Mark-ism" instructions, and changes things around if needed, and then returns the work to Aragonés, who may or may not change things back. Sakai then does the lettering, after which Aragonés does the final artwork, including the word balloons. Finally, Luth does the coloring, described as an unenviable task, since Aragonés' artwork is usually quite detailed (with fancy clothing, building and nature scenes inspired by National Geographic and other sources) and can be full of hundreds of people in one scene.
Evanier also answers the letters page, something he takes special pride in, since the practice in mainstream comics is to pass this task off to low-level assistants, something he didn't know when his own teenage fan letters were published. He claims that no one knows what he does, and that he doesn't get paid. His official credit, during the Marvel/Epic run, was usually a ludicrously polysyllabic title that changed every issue.
Caricatures of Aragonés, Evanier, Sakai, and Luth often appear as background characters within the stories, sometimes with family members. Evanier and Sakai are also the role models for the characters Weaver and Scribe.
Rufferto was based on Aragonés' own dog named Rufferto, who is actually more mottled than spotted.
[edit] Publication history
Aragonés created the character of Groo in the late 1970s. However at that time no comic book company would allow creators to retain the rights to their characters and Aragonés did not wish to surrender those rights. In 1981, a comic book, Destroyer Duck #1, was published by Eclipse Comics as a benefit to raise money for a legal battle over creator rights; a four-page story contributed by Aragonés featured Groo's first published appearance. His second appearance was a few months later in a back-up story in Star-Slayer #5, published by Pacific Comics.
In 1982, Pacific Comics began publishing Groo The Wanderer as a regular series. However, Pacific faced various financial difficulties and was only able to publish eight issues of the title. With Pacific unable to publish new material, a single shot issue of material that was originally written for them, titled the Groo Special, was instead published by Eclipse.
Aragonés and Evanier eventually negotiated a deal with Marvel Comics (in their Epic imprint) for that company to take care of publication while preserving creator rights, and this resulted in the longest run of Groo the Wanderer with 120 issues. In 1994, with Marvel facing financial difficulties, the title switched to Image Comics and was retitled Groo.
When Image in turn faced legal problems after publishing twelve issues, the title switched to Dark Horse Comics in 1998. (It may appear that Groo is a jinx destroying its publishers. The reality is that comic book publishing is a financially difficult business. Groo is popular and creator-owned, and can thus quickly and noticeably change publishers.) Dark Horse is not publishing the title as a regular series but is releasing new material, as well as reprints, as periodic mini-series and collections.
[edit] Bibliography
[edit] Original publications
- Vol I - Pacific (Dec. 1982 - Apr. 1984)
- Groo the Wanderer #1-8
- One shot intermediate printing - Eclipse (Oct. 1984)
- Groo the Wanderer Special #1
- Vol II - Epic/Marvel
- Groo the Wanderer #1-120 (Mar. 1985 - Jan. 1995)
- The Death of Groo (Nov. 1987)
- The Life of Groo (Apr. 1993)
- Vol III - Image (Dec. 1994 - Nov. 1995)
- Groo #1-12
- Vol IV - Dark Horse (Jan. 1998 - Present)
- Groo #1-4 (MiniSeries)
- Groo & Rufferto #1-4 (MiniSeries)
- Groo Mightier than the Sword #1-4 (MiniSeries)
- Groo Death & Taxes #1-4 (MiniSeries)
- Special appearances
- Destroyer Duck #1 Eclipse (Feb. 1982)
- StarSlayer #5 Pacific (Nov. 1982)
- Epic Illustrated #27 Epic/Marvel (Dec. 1984)
- Wizard #78 Wizard Press (Feb. 1998)
- Dark Horse Presents Jr. Annual '99 Dark Horse (Aug. 1999)
- Dark Horse Extra #42 Dark Horse (Dec. 2001)
[edit] Reprint collections
- Groo Adventurer (reprinting Epic/Marvel issues: 1, 2, 3, 4)
- Groo Bazaar (reprinting Epic/Marvel issues: 5, 6, 7, 8)
- Groo Carnival (reprinting Epic/Marvel issues: 9, 10, 11, 12)
- Groo Dynasty (reprinting Epic/Marvel issues: 13, 14, 15, 16)
- Groo Exposé (reprinting Epic/Marvel issues: 17, 18, 19, 20)
- Groo Festival (reprinting Epic/Marvel issues: 21, 22, 23, 24)
- Groo Garden (reprinting Epic/Marvel issues: 25, 26, 27, 28)
- Groo Houndbook (reprinting Epic/Marvel issues: 29, 30, 31, 32)
- Groo Inferno (reprinting Epic/Marvel issues: 33, 34, 35, 36)
- Groo Jamboree (reprinting Epic/Marvel issues: 37, 38, 39, 40)
- Groo Kingdom (reprinting Epic/Marvel issues: 41, 42, 43, 46)
- Groo Library (reprinting Epic/Marvel issues: 44, 45, 47, 49)
- Groo Maiden (reprinting Epic/Marvel issues: 50, 51, 52, 53)
- Groo Nursery (reprinting Epic/Marvel issues: 54, 55, 56, 48)
- Groo Odyssey (reprinting Epic/Marvel issues:57, 58, 59, 60)
- Groo: The Most Intelligent Man in the World (collecting the
four-issue 1998 comic book series)
- Groo & Rufferto (collecting the four-issue 1999 comic book
series)
- Groo: Mightier than the Sword (collecting the four-issue 2000 comic book
series)
- Groo: Death and Taxes (collecting the four-issue 2002 comic book
series)
- Others:
- The Groo Chronicles (reprinting the Pacific and Eclipse series)
- The Life & Death of Groo (Flip Hardcover. Includes The Life of
Groo and The Death of Groo)
[edit] Awards
Sergio Aragones received the National Cartoonist Society Reuben Award for 1996 for his work on Groo and Mad Magazine.
