Mom always called my comic books "funny books."
"Mom," I would groan, "They're not funny. They're adventure stories."
Of course, that was before the first appearance of Groo!
Created by Sergio Aragonés along with Mark Evanier (who co-writes and scripts, I guess - it's never quite clear), here was a book that combined adventure with actual, laugh-out-loud humor.
The stupidest barbarian of all time has had a long career, parading through many comic book companies and outlasting a couple of them - he's been published by Pacific Comics, Eclipse, Marvel, Image and finally seems to have a permanent home at Dark Horse.
It's an amazing achievement, for a (more or less) independent comic to continue after hundreds of issues - but Groo and his creative team are indefatigable. The stories are an amazing mix of humor, satire, action and unbelievable attention to detail.
And can we all just agree that, given the passing of Jack Kirby, Sergio is now the King of Comics? Is there anyone who has created more top quality comics, an incredible volume of work, has spread more joy and earned so much love from fans around the world? Just give him the crown already!
And I should admit an ulterior motive here - just to prove how crazy this creative team is, pick up your copy of the Groo vs Conan collection and flip over to the back page - there you'll find a pull quote from this humble blog! How can you help but love a comic with such a deliciously lowbrow taste in reviews?
So yes, when I pared back my collection, I kept a tight grip on my complete collection of Groo, a timeless series with endless potential. They'll have to pry that series from my cold dead hand! (Ahem, hopefully not anytime soon.)
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Grade: A
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