Groo was among the first widely successfulcreator-owned comics creations, one of the few successful humorous series in the United States (outsideArchie Comics), and is one of the longest-running collaborations in comic book history.[1] In 2011,IGN ranked Groo 100th in the "Top 100 comic books heroes".
Groo (the epithet "the Wanderer" is informal and rarely mentioned within the stories) first appeared as a parody of the brutalsword and sorcery heroes that were popular at the time of his creation in the 1970s, especiallyConan the Barbarian as presented inMarvel Comics. Groo is a large-nosedbuffoon of unsurpassed stupidity who constantly misunderstands his surroundings. Possessed of superlative skills in swordsmanship (the only task at which he is remotely competent, apart from his knack for creating musical instruments), he delights in combat but otherwise is a peaceable and honest fellow who tries to make his way through life as a mercenary or by working odd jobs. He is incredibly accident prone, and despite generally good intentions causes mass destruction wherever he goes. Most of his adventures end with him either oblivious to the mayhem he has wrought or fleeing an angry mob. His penchant for destruction has become so widely known that just the news of Groo approaching is sometimes enough to cause chaos among the population. 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 his stepping onto a ship can cause it to sink.
Groo has slain entire armies with nothing more than his swords, which are a pair ofkatanas. 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!" He is indiscriminate in the use of his battle skills, usually leaping into the bloodshed before attempting to ascertain the reasons for the fight, or even who is on what side. Even when Groo does join battle intending to fight for a particular side, he is prone to forget which side he is on or be tricked into fighting his unfortunate allies, often causing him to utter "Did I err?" in confusion once everybody is dead.
The following is a sample of the thousands of characters Groo has encountered:
Captain Ahax, who has, over time with the loss of many vessels under his command, become wise to Groo's effect on ships, although he does not know about Rufferto's ability to restrain it.
Arba andDakarba, a pair ofwitches who have suffered much trying to take advantage of Groo. They have repeatedly been stripped of their powers because of him. Their names, when put together, spell "abra-kadabra" backwards.
Arcadio, a handsomewarrior with an especially pronounced chin, who is considered the greatest hero of his time, especially by himself. 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, and Groo's equal in swordplay. Chakaal is also 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 sacrificial lamb.
Granny Groo, Groo'sgypsy grandmother. Granny Groo often tries to use her grandson to aid her in her moneymaking schemes, but invariably ends up giving him a goodspanking when he fails.
Grativo theWizard, 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 aqueen. 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.
TheMinstrel, asingingjester who speaks exclusively inrhymingcouplets. He often likes to sing of Groo's deeds, but Groo seldom appreciates his unflattering descriptions of his bungling. An unusual aspect of the Minstrel is that the ornately carved head of his lute differs in every panel in which it appears. The Minstrel seldom appeared in later issues, due to the difficulty of creating his dialogue: "Mark takes a stance, and if by chance / The Minstrel doesn't vanish / Then Mark will go, and Sergio / can write this stuff in Spanish". He has since returned to being a regular character, especially after Groo inadvertently reunited him with his hitherto unknown young daughter, Kayli, who is now his constant companion.
Pal andDrumm, two con men. The diminutive Pal is always looking for easy money, but his hulking partner Drumm is not very bright. Their dealings with Groo have often left them in trouble with the people they were scamming. Their names are a play onpalindrome.
Pipil Khan, a short and short-tempered conqueror who speaks likeElmer Fudd. He correctly views Groo as the cause of many of his later attempts at conquest ending in disaster, but having never met the man personally, imagines Groo to be a far more imposing figure than he actually is. When he finally meets the real man who's haunted the latter years of his life, the shock kills him.
Rufferto, Groo's dog and inseparable companion. 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 tacticalgenius. Initially, Groo viewed Rufferto as a potential meal but eventually came to regard him as his faithful companion. Groo can also safely board a ship in Rufferto's presence. His collar is immensely valuable.
The Sage, awise, old man who is usually never far from Groo. The Sage often attempts to give Groo sound advice, but Groo's stupidity 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 histales for all who are willing to listen. Apart from Rufferto, the Sage is the only character in the Grooniverse who genuinely counts Groo as a friend.[2][3]
Taranto, formerly ageneral, and a friend of Groo, turned bandit leader. He became Groo's enemy when he was hired to kill Groo. He has since tried to exploit Groo in his schemes, sometimes successfully, but often being ruined. Groo can never remember whether he is friends with Taranto, or if Taranto wants to kill him. He was one of the first recurring characters to appear.
Weaver andScribe, a successful author and hisamanuensis, who look suspiciously likeGroo's ownEvanier andSakai. The Scribe never speaks.
The Witch of Kaan, aneccentric oldhag who always has apotion ready for anybody who visits her.
Groo's adventures take place in an environment that generally resemblesMedieval Europe, although his travels have also taken him to places that resembleAfrica,Indonesia,Japan, theMiddle East, and elsewhere. In addition to regular flora and fauna,dragons and otherlegendary creatures occasionally appear, and several cultures usedinosaur-like creatures as beasts of burden. Over the years, Groo has also encountered several "non-human" cultures such as the Kalelis and the Drazil. The currency in Groo's world is usually the Kopin.
Although many technologies and peoples inGroo appear ancient, moremodern innovations such as theprinting press can be found as well.
Groo is initially plotted and drawn bySergio Aragonés, andMark Evanier then writes the dialog.[4] Sakai then does the lettering, after which Aragonés does the final artwork, including the word balloons.[citation needed] Finally, Luth does the coloring.
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 did not know when his own letters as a teenage fan were published.[citation needed] He claims that no one knows what he does.[5] His official credit, during the Marvel/Epic run, was usually a polysyllabic title that changed every issue (examples from the first eight issues of volume 2: Interpreter, Interlocutor, Cryptographer, Amanuensis, Construer, Verbalizer, Articulator, Scholiast). His actual function, as revealed at the end of issue #6 of volume 2, was to interpret Aragones's broken English storytelling to write the dialog.
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's own dog named Rufferto, who is actually more mottled than spotted.[citation needed]
Starting with issue #87 of Marvel's ongoingGroo series, issues of Groo ended with a wordless one page gag involving Groo's dog Rufferto. When the Groo comic went to Image and Dark Horse comics, these one-page Rufferto stories continued.
In one instance (Groo issue #9 from Image Comics) Rufferto's brother Arfetto replaced Rufferto as the star of the backup story.
In all, 93 of these Rufferto one page stories were printed.
Aragonés created the character of Groo in the late 1970s. 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 byEclipse 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. A few months later, Groo appeared in a two-page preview ad and the back cover art inStarslayer #4, published byPacific Comics. The second Groo story appearance was in a five-page backup story inStarslayer #5.
In 1982, Pacific Comics began publishingGroo the Wanderer as a regular series. Pacific faced various financial difficulties and was only able to publish eight issues of the title. With Pacific unable to publish new material, a one-shot issue of material that was originally written for them (titled theGroo Special) was instead published by Eclipse. When Groo was published by Pacific, he was not portrayed as a bumbling idiot. In fact, one issue had him use his brains to create sophisticated traps and his speech was similar toConan the Barbarian's.
Aragonés and Evanier eventually negotiated a deal with Epic Comics, an imprint of Marvel Comics, for that company to take care of publication while preserving creator rights. This resulted in the longest run ofGroo the Wanderer with 120 issues. In 1994, with Marvel facing financial difficulties, the title switched toImage Comics[6] and was retitledGroo. In the first issue Groo remarks "themarvels of the world are butimages before me".
When Image in turn faced legal problems after publishing twelve issues, the title switched toDark Horse Comics in 1998. Dark Horse did not publish the title as a regular series, but periodically released new material and reprints as miniseries and collections.
At the 2007WonderCon, the creators revealed that since 2005 they had been trying to produce aGroo/Conan crossover (both titles being then published by Dark Horse). The project encountered a number of postponements; although two issues had been completed by the spring of 2011,[7][8] the series was further delayed because of a backache suffered by Aragonés.[9] The book finally saw print in July 2014, with Aragonés and writer Mark Evanier working with artist Thomas Yeates, who drew the Conan portions of the book.[10]
The character of theGroosalugg in the TV seriesAngel is generally called "Groo" by other characters, and is a somewhat naïve wandering barbarian hero who is a highly skilled swordsman.
Also in Norway, when the local version ofMad magazine ran a parody ofRonia, the Robber's Daughter, the "gray dwarves" pestering Ronia had become "Groo dwarves".
The Groo Odyssey (Dark Horse, 2003; collecting Epic/Marvel issues #57–60)
Groo: The Most Intelligent Man in the World (1998; collecting the 1998 four-issue comic book seriesSergio Aragonés' Groo)
Groo & Rufferto (2000; collecting the 1999 four-issue comic book series)
Groo: Mightier than the Sword (2002; collecting the 2000 four-issue comic book series)
Groo: Death and Taxes (2003; collecting the 2002 four-issue comic book series)
Groo: Hell on Earth (2008; collecting the 2007–2008 four-issue comic book series)
Groo: The Hogs of Horder (2010; collecting the 2009–2010 four-issue comic book series)
Groo vs. Conan (2015; collecting the 2014 four-issue comic book series)
Groo: Friends and Foes Vol 1 (2015; collecting issues #1–4 of the twelve-issue comic book series)
Groo: Friends and Foes Vol 2 (2016; collecting issues #5–8 of the twelve-issue comic book series)
Groo: Friends and Foes Vol 3 (2016; collecting issues #9–12 of the twelve-issue comic book series)
Groo: Friends and Foes (hardcover) (2017; collecting the 2015–2016 twelve-issue comic book series)
Groo: Fray of the Gods (2017; collecting the 2016 four-issue comic book series)
Groo: Play of the Gods (2018; collecting the 2017 four-issue comic book series)
Groo meets Tarzan (2022; collecting the 2021 four-issue comic book series)
Groo: Gods Against Groo (2023; collecting the 2022 four-issue comic book series)
Others
The Groo Chronicles (hardcover limited to 1,500 printings, collectingThe Groo Chronicles)
The Life & Death of Groo (flip hardcover limited to 1,000 printings, collectingThe Life of Groo andThe Death of Groo)
Sergio Aragonés' Groo the Wanderer: Artist's Edition (IDW, July 2012; 12" × 17" hardcover B&W, collecting the four-issue story "Wager of the Gods" Epic/Marvel issues #96–99)[15] also published in a limited edition (250 copies) with variant cover[16]
The comic protagonist of the same name has also received positive reviews.Wizard ranked him as the 135th-greatest comic book character of all time,[18] whileIGN ranked Groo as the 100th-greatest comic book hero of all time stating that "while he may not be the brightest bulb on the battlefield, Groo is an earnest and kind-hearted adventurer whose travels are never short on laughs and adventure".[19]
