The Neverending Fray: Groo is definitely still Groo

Groo the Wanderer #105
By Sergio Aragones, Mark Evanier, Stan Sakai (lettering), and Tom Luth (coloring)
Published by Epic Comics, 1993



With this issue, the Groo Crew seems to have hit their stride, finding the perfect way to handle Groo's adventures now that he is slightly smarter, with him seeking to help people out and actually using his brain a little bit, while still being impulsive and destructive and managing to screw things up for the most part. It starts when Groo comes across a guy who has an animal's head, and he learns of a labor camp where all the prisoners have been forced to take an elixir that gives them animal heads, preventing them from escaping. Groo sets out to liberate them, but first he has to come up with a disguise that will allow him to infiltrate the camp:



He eventually settles on wearing a pig's carcass over his head, which is rather gross. Once in the camp, Groo gets up to other various antics, such as trying to come up with a secondary disguise:



But when he eventually succeeds in freeing the slaves, it turns out they were being held there for a good reason, giving us a classic Groo ending where he seems to have succeeded, only to find out he screwed things up even worse without realizing it. The fun thing about the story is seeing Groo actually come up with plans and use his "smarts" to try to accomplish his goal. He also is beginning to learn from his mistakes, as we see in this moment when he tries to find the elixir which will cure the slaves from their beast-headedness:



It ends up being a really fun story, a near-ideal use of Groo's current status quo to tell a classic Groo story with a new wrinkle. This is pretty great stuff.

I also really like the Sage backup story for this issue, in which he comes across some kids who are lazing around with nothing to do, so he suggests they race some horses around a lake. Returning to the area a few months later, he finds that the town's adults have taken over the horse races, turning them into big business and muscling the kids out. So Sage teaches them a new game, one that seems suspiciously familiar to modern eyes, only to return later and find out that the same thing has happened again:



He resolves to teach them something the adults cannot co-opt, so he shows them how to play Capture the Flag, and upon his return, well, you can probably figure out the results, but Sergio and company still make it rather amusing, while making a nice point about the ridiculousness of adults taking childish pursuits so seriously. This is classic stuff for Groo, a perfect use of the Sage character for his own little stories. I wasn't sure how well this stretch of the series was going to hold up, but it looks like I needn't have worried; it's turning out to be as good as I could hope for.

Next: Since I'm missing the next few issues, I think it's time for "The Life of Groo".

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This issue's stats:
Recurring characters: The Sage has what seems to have become a regular backup strip, and Chakaal is featured in the Groo-Grams header:



Also, a story full of people with animal heads makes for the perfect opportunity to feature an Usagi Yojimbo cameo:



Moral: "There are two sides to every cause. Do not join one until you know the other." And for the Sage: "The older a man is, the greater the stakes in his games!"

Spanish words: The mines of Criaturas are named after the word for "creatures". Sergio says "amigos" ("friends") and "adios" ("goodbye").
Running jokes: Groo imagines that the slaves' terrible conditions include rationed cheese dip. Groo updates one of his catchphrases to "You take me for the fool I used to be and occasionally still am!"
Intro follies: Sergio tries to spell out the issue's welcome message in fireworks, and is, surprisingly, mostly successful:



Note also that Stan Sakai is wearing a shirt covered with Usagi Yojimbos.
Value-added: Another fun maze this month:



Mark Evanier's job(s): Lector ("lecturer")
Letter column jokes: Keith McCafferty congratulates the Groo Crew on 100 issues and says he's impressed that they don't just beat a dead horse month after month. Mark says they've received suggestions that doing so would be funnier than what they do print. Keith also notes that he doesn't know Brent Anderson, and Mark says he's a lot like Groo, but doesn't draw as well. Thor Newman wonders why, according to the credits in each issue, Groo has three editors. Mark isn't sure, but he thinks there's a rule about one editor for every ten readers. Jonah David Weiland (is that this Jonah Weiland?) sends in a list of things that are cool (Groo, Rufferto, getting six back issues of Groo at a convention for $2, the movie Night on Earth, The Life of Groo coming out soon, the L.A. Clippers) and not cool (The Life of Groo being delayed, the Clippers not doing well, the wacko in Waco, people writing to demand that their letter be printed (which he does, in a P.S.)). Mark replies by listing some other things that aren't cool, including "people telling us what's cool and what's not" and "having your letter printed in Groo-Grams". Elisa Blanquez says her life has been ruined by reading Groo, and as proof she notes that she named her three kittens Rufferto, Mulch, and Rufferto II; she doesn't date anymore because nobody lives up to the "virile and handsome" standards of Groo; and she finds herself plotting to murder Chakaal. She asks Mark to arrange for a date with Groo, and asks him to be their best man. Mark refuses, saying that the last time he went to a comic book wedding, he caught the bouquet and got stuck with this job. He can't imagine what the next step down would be, but when Al Weinberg  writes to say that Mark should be "King of all Comic Books, ruler of all companies, getting credit for everything good in comics today and blaming everything bad on people who won't do exactly what you tell him to do", Mark thinks Al has figured it out. Frederick Schweig writes that he realized how incongruous Rufferto's articulate thoughts are in "this otherwise highly realistic comic", so now that Groo is somewhat intelligent, he demands they make Rufferto comparably stupid. John Bunco notes that with 100 issues, Groo has outlasted all but four non-funny animal humor comics (Police Comics starring Plastic Man, Bob Hope, Jerry Lewis, and Millie the Model), and around the year 2000, it will be the longest-running of them all. But then he remembers Archie, so he realizes Groo #100 was of no significance at all, and apologizes for wasting everybody's time. T. Newman wonders what Groo did in a previous life to merit being reincarnated as Groo, and also what he could possibly end up as in the next life that's even worse. Mark says he may come back as a Groo reader.

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The Neverending Fray: Rufferto is too insecure

Groo the Wanderer #104
By Sergio Aragones, Mark Evanier, Stan Sakai (lettering), and Tom Luth (coloring)
Published by Epic Comics, 1993



Rufferto-centric stories are often nice, but it seems like they tend to go over the same territory repeatedly, with our favorite canine becoming worried that Groo is going to replace him in his affections with some other animal. I end up irritated at him and wanting him to just realize that Groo looooooves him, so quit being so touchy. However, it's easy to forget that even though we're privy to his thoughts, he's still a dog, and he follows the typical doggy behavior of craving constant affection from his master, fixating on what happened to him when he's absent, and overflowing with happiness every time they are reunited. Rufferto might seem smart (especially compared to Groo), but he's still an animal, and sometimes we need a reminder of that.

So, with fellow dog Oso sticking around after the last issue, Rufferto is worried that he's being replaced, so he sets out to find a home for him. They go through several amusing scenarios, including a house full of children who abuse him mercilessly and a circus that wants to dress him up like a clown, before he earns a position as a guard dog, leading to a classic Grooish ending in which he refuses to let anybody enter the building he is guarding, whether they are supposed to get past him or not. It's a decent enough tale, highlighting the relationship between Groo and Rufferto and reiterating that nobody will ever come between them.

There's an interesting bit in the middle of the story in which Rufferto sort of relates his origin story to Oso, describing how, as a royal dog, he was constantly pampered, but when he got a glimpse of the way the common people lived, he grew ashamed at the luxuries he was granted when there was so much suffering going on outside his door. It's an interesting aside, making for a good demonstration of why he gets along with Groo so well, and it also fits in with Groo's burgeoning sense of social justice.



It's not a bad issue, although it's kind of light on the jokes. I did like this gag though, even though I'm often not especially enamored of jokes about Groo not being able to count:




I also found the Sage backup story pretty amusing; upon encountering a town full of workers who are being exploited by their bosses, he urges them to strike, leading to a funny misunderstanding and a great example of the sheer chaos that Sergio does so well:



At this point in the series, I'm wondering if the Groo Crew is slightly past their prime; the stories are still enjoyable enough, but they're not quite as packed full of gags as they used to be, and the focus seems to be more on the plots, which may or may not lead to good jokes. It seems like they're still trying to get a handle on the new direction that came with Groo's increased intelligence, so we'll see if they can manage to find a balance of funny stuff, character work, interesting stories, and good artwork. But even if the series is in a decline from here on out, I'm happy to keep reading it. I can never get enough Groo.

Next: "The Curse of Criaturas"

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This issue's stats:
Recurring characters: Oso, and Rufferto's former owners show up in a flashback, plus the Sage has a backup strip.
Moral: "One lesson learned is never enough." And for the Sage backup story: "No one ever fixed a broken system by destroying it."

Spanish words: Sergio says "mucho", which means "much".
Running jokes: Oso still wants to tear everything apart. A new running joke seems to be forming in which Groo makes sure prospective employers know he can read, whether it is relevant or not.
Intro follies: Inspired by Groo learning to read, Sergio brushes up on his English and decides to read the letter columns from Groo back issues:



Value-added: The inside back cover features a craft where you can make one of those booklets where you can mix up characters' body parts:



Mark Evanier's job(s): Realtor
Letter column jokes: This month mostly features semi-serious letters, many of which congratulate the Groo Crew on getting to 100 issues, but there are still some jokes. David Schuldt compliments Mark and company on coming up with a new joke in issue #100. Mark says expecting a new joke out of them is ridiculous, and next people will start expecting the stories to make sense. Carter Himes asks if Groo considers himself a samurai or a barbarian. Mark says he just considers himself Groo, but the Groo Crew considers him Sergio's rent, Stan Sakai's part-time job, Tom Luth's life work, and Mark's role model, which means something is terribly wrong with their value system. David Zackin writes to Bob Smith asking how his family is because he's a lot more interesting than Mark. Mark says "Ha! Let's see if Bob Smith will print your letter!" Somebody calling himself "The Marshmallow Dragon" says he shoved a stack of Groo comics into his Nintendo in an attempt to create a Groo video game, but now they're stuck inside and when he turns it on, it just flashes the word "Zigfried" on the screen. Mark suggests he take up checkers. Brad Griffin asks if the warrior chicks that often show up in the bottom corner of the comic's title pages are modeled after the Barbi twins. Mark can't think of a funny answer, so he suggests readers send some in. I'm looking forward to seeing if this becomes a new running gag.

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The Neverending Fray: Dogs and jails

Groo the Wanderer #103
By Sergio Aragones, Mark Evanier, Stan Sakai (lettering), and Tom Luth (coloring)
Published by Epic Comics, 1993



It's nice to get a Rufferto-centric plot once in a while, and that issue does this, splitting its main duo up for most of its length and giving our canine pal a fellow dog to hang out with. It starts when Groo and Rufferto stop to hang out with some guys who turn out to be bandits, and when the authorities show up to arrest them, Groo ends up tasked with escorting them to jail. This separates him from Rufferto, who, along with his new buddy Oso, searches for his master, who he thinks has been imprisoned. And from there, hijinx ensue, with the best stuff focused on Rufferto and Oso repeatedly causing massive breakouts when they try to free Groo from various jails. The two of them have a pretty fun relationship, with Oso being dumb, impulsive, and violent (kind of a stand-in for Groo, come to think of it, although he's more talk/bark than action) and Rufferto often being frustrated with him, but still accepting of him and happy to have a fellow animal that he can communicate with.



Meanwhile, Groo continues to demonstrate his newfound (semi-)intelligence as he accepts the task of delivering his prisoners to a jail and sticks with it, refusing to be swayed by the bandits' guile. When he can't find a jail that has enough room for them, he ends up figuring out a way around the problem by helping to rehabilitate them:





The issue touches on some social issues, such as the necessity for jails weighed against people's preference not to have them nearby, and the way a lack of options can drive those on the lower rungs of society toward crime, but it's a pretty cursory glance at the subject, which is fine for a story like this. If anything, it's an indication of Groo's increasing awareness of the world around him, demonstrating that the knowledge he has gained from his reading is making him consider new ideas and pay attention to how people are affected by his actions. Luckily, he still enjoys frays and does dumb stuff, so we don't suffer for a lack of laughs, but it's fascinating to watch his character develop.

Next: "A Home for Oso"

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This issue's stats:
Recurring characters: The Sage stars in a backup story, and Oso will be hanging around for at least one more issue.
Moral: "Where there are hearts of gold, there is no need for bars of steel." And the moral for the Sage backup is "You do not solve a problem by making it someone else's."

Spanish words: Sergio says "lo siento" ("I'm sorry") again. Oso is named after the word for "bear". The town of El Bote means "the pot".
Running jokes: There aren't many of the regular running gags, but within this issue, the robbers mention several times that they like to "rob, loot, and pillage (usually in that order)." And Oso constantly wants to tear people or animals apart, but he never gets to.
Intro follies: Sergio prepares to read an introductory speech that Mark wrote for him, but he forgot it, so he tells the readers to wait until he comes back before they start reading, with the page just ending on a blank panel. I disobeyed him and read the story anyway.
Value-added: This month's puzzle page is an actual puzzle:



Mark Evanier's job(s): Warden
Letter column jokes: The initial theme this month seems to be threats to Mark's person if he doesn't print people's letters. Matt Peck threatens to go to Mark's house and make him read every Groo ever written. Mark begs for mercy, then realizes he read the letter wrong, thinking Matt had said he would make him write every Groo ever read. Robert Feldman threatens to flood the Marvel offices with cheese dip. Mark isn't worried, since he is located more than 3,000 miles away from New York, and he doesn't think the smell would go much further than Kansas. Joey Cool Nicolosi threatens to reveal Mark's secret fear of Kermit the Frog, which is apparently the last straw, prompting Mark to announce that he's retiring the running gag (or attempting to do so) of sending in these sorts of threats. As a replacement, he suggests "Groo is so dumb..." jokes, providing some examples, including "Groo is so dumb, he thinks Rush Limbaugh is a very fast dance from the Caribbean." He also offers an autographed copy of The Life of Groo to anybody who can get a "Groo is so dumb..." joke printed in some other comic's letter column. I'm not sure if this prize was ever awarded, but I wouldn't be surprised, since Groo fans can be pretty resourceful. Rayson Lorrey compliments Sergio and company on their inclusion of explicit morals in their stories, saying that Sergio is like a modern Aesop. Mark agrees, saying that when Sergio promised to pay him, it turned out to be a fable. Charlie Ehrenpreis thinks James Horton's suggestion of a Groo 2099 comic would be a good idea. Mark says that he wants to revive the 2001 comic as 2001 2009, and since Dark Horse has a book called 2112 and Image has 1963, they should all do a crossover and call it 8175. John Lewis wonders if he's the oldest Groo fan on record, at 60, so Mark asks if anyone else wants to lay claim to the tile of oldest Groo fan (or Groo fan, period). He also notes that his mom is older, but he doesn't think she counts, since she gets her copies from him at 20% off. Zeke Saed says that he chose to write to Groo instead of to his grandmother, so he asks Mark to print the letter to make sure she reads it. And in an M. Wayne Williams reference, he says she only reads one issue of Groo a year, so he wants to make sure his letter gets printed in an issue she'll read, not one she'll skip. Mark agrees, claiming he'll print the letter each month for the next 12 months. We'll see if he keeps his word.

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The Neverending Fray: Even when he's smart, Groo is still pretty dumb

Groo the Wanderer #101
By Sergio Aragones, Mark Evanier, Stan Sakai (lettering), and Tom Luth (coloring)
Published by Epic Comics, 1993



Following the incremental upgrade to Groo's intelligence in issue #100, it looks like the Groo Crew is trying out some new variations on the kinds of jokes they can tell with the character. Now that he can read, he's a bit more confident and less prone to just wandering into whatever circumstances he finds. He's also eager to use his newfound abilities, giving us fun scenes like this one:




His main goal in this issue is to relocate to a new land where people don't hold such a low opinion of him, which necessitates a sea voyage and allows for the inclusion of everybody's favorite panicky skipper, Captain Ahax. He's as funny as ever, having formulated a grand plan to sail to new territories and escape his ship-sinking nemesis, Groo, but as one would expect, Groo himself ends up on that voyage, prompting more nervous breakdowns. This also provides another chance to demonstrate Groo's increased intelligence when he provokes Ahax for a laugh, something he would have been too oblivious to do previously:



Between Groo and Ahax's quests to move to someplace new and the tension of Groo's expected destruction of the ship, we would seem to have enough plot for one story, but there's also an undercurrent of commentary about the exploitation of resources. The king who sponsor's Ahax's voyage has two advisors, a religious leader and a general, and they both seize the opportunity to expand their influence into new territory. But when they get to the new land, it is populated by what appear to be simpleminded natives who don't put up any fight when attacked and happily hand over any food or riches that the more "civilized" people demand. I'm not sure what the Groo Crew is going for here; there's the obvious power-hungry characters who seek to control others, but the portrayal of the natives as happy to be exploited is kind of problematic. There is an interesting bit about their realization of the ultimate uselessness of gold:



This plot does provide the opportunity to demonstrate another aspect of Groo's increased intelligence: his sense of fairness. When he realizes that he's fighting against people who have no ability or desire to fight back, he switches sides and defends the defenseless, indicating a new sense of honor and a desire to help people out. That might be the real reason for the conqueror/native story, but it seems kind of shoehorned in to the issue when the real focus should be on the Groo/Ahax conflict.

Whatever the case, it ends up being a pretty fun issue nonetheless, indicating a new direction (or maybe just a slightly refined focus) for the series, one that should breathe some new life into it and provide opportunities for more interesting uses of the character and his milieu. Not that it was getting stagnant or anything, but maybe the jokes about every issue being the same had gotten to the Groo Crew and they wanted to prove they could do something (slightly) different. They're still pros, so there will always be plenty of hilarity to be found. I know I'll be happy to keep experiencing it.

Next: Next up is issue #103, "Jailbirds".

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This issue's stats:
Recurring characters: Captain Ahax, and Pal and Drumm show up in a backup strip.
Moral: "Some fair deals are fairer than others."

Spanish words: Sergio says "lo siento!" which means "I'm sorry!"
Running jokes: Despite Ahax's best efforts, Groo manages to sink his ship. Rufferto bites a guy on the ass.
Intro follies: Sergio tries to construct a large "welcome" sign for the issue, but it collapses and flattens the rest of the Groo Crew, so he then welcomes everyone to the "big first issue after one hundred old ones!"
Value-added: This issue's puzzle page is a cool maze:



Mark Evanier's job(s): Wordsmith (again!)
Letter column jokes: Aaron Belisle asks why his letter was printed in both issue #93 and 94, wondering if he's the next M. Wayne Williams. Mark explains that it was originally omitted from issue #92 for lack of space, so he added it back into issue #94 without realizing that someone had already included it in issue #93. He also promises to reprint Aaron's most recent letter next month to make sure he sees it. Joel R. Pierce states that he is only writing to prove he can write an intelligent letter, and Mark responds that he's supposed to actually buy a stamp rather than just draw one on the envelope in crayon. Mark Gagnon notes that he realized writing to Groo-Grams is a waste of a stamp, and Mark suggests following Joel Pierce's example and drawing one on (he also makes a joke about Elvis stamps, which were a big deal at the time). Scott Murray contributes a twist on the numbered list of questions by providing a list of answers and asking Mark to "question them". These include "Soon" ("When will Scott Murray write us an intelligent letter?"), "The Minstrel's poems" ("What did Evanier spend most of 1992 writing?"), "Sergio's mustache and Tom Luth's sanity" ("Name two things Mrs. Aragones can kiss goodbye."), and a plug for Mark's writing on the TV show "Bob" ("Describe a shameless plug for a TV series that actually hired Evanier."). Jason Potratz suggests some titles and 90s-style gimmicks for Groo spinoff series, including "The Amazing Groo" (with a cover with a holographic picture of cheese dip), "The Spectacular Groo" (with a glow-in-the-dark picture of cheese dip), and "Groo 2099" (with a 3-D cover of some tubed cheese dip).

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The Neverending Fray: Ha ha, Arcadio is lame

Groo the Wanderer #68
By Sergio Aragones, Mark Evanier, Stan Sakai (lettering), and Janice Cohen (coloring)
Published by Epic Comics, 1990



A lot of the stories in Groo work as one-off tales, wrapping up their plots in a single issue without any need for a follow-up, but there are occasional "sequels" that work surprisingly well. This issue is one of those, following the events of the previous issue, in which Groo tried to replace a dragon that he had killed. However, this one doesn't just pick up where the previous story left off; it's actually presented as a story told by the Minstrel, after he wanders into a town who reveres Arcadio for slaying a dragon, and tells them the real story of what happened. It makes for an interesting theme of the way legends can often completely distort the reality of what happened, and it's also quite funny.

Minstrel's story tells about how Groo was trying to get rid of the "sissy" dragon that he was stuck with after the events of issue #67, but when he takes it to a town to try to sell it, the people panic and send for Arcadio to slay the beast. And thus begins what is probably my favorite Arcadio appearance in the series, since it's all about making a complete fool out of him. He's a character that I don't often enjoy, since he gets treated as a hero simply because he's handsome, and he usually ends up making Groo do all the work while taking all the credit for himself. Here, however, he's presented as vain and self-centered, and every attempt he makes to slay the dragon just makes him look like an idiot:




He tries to get help from Arba and Dakarba, asking them to make the dragon savage, but they mostly just laugh at him, make him look like even more of a fool, and force him to become romantically involved with Dakarba, the uglier of the two witches:



He eventually defeats the dragon (by accident), allowing for his reputation as a hero to be redeemed over time, but it's nice to see him get what he deserves for once. It ends up being a very satisfying issue, with the Minstrel providing a nice framing sequence that deflates the idea of heroism and legends. I really dig it.

Plus, there are some great moments, like this scene in which Groo tries to sell his dragon, resulting in one of those scenes of total chaos that Sergio does so well:



And I really like the title page, which has a nice poem by the Minstrel about why he tells the stories he does, in the middle of a great example of the amazing detail-packed scenes of people living their lives:



I love examining pages like that, discovering all the moments of domesticity that Sergio fits into his scenes and reveling in the way the world gets fleshed out so beautifully. The amount of work that goes into what could just be a shallow, silly barbarian comic continues to stagger me, even after I've read over 100 issues. I'll say it again: this series is something special, and each new issue reveals new depths. I'll be sad when I've got no more issues left to read.

Next: We're finally getting back to issue #101, "A New Land".

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This issue's stats:
Recurring characters: Minstrel, Arba and Dakarba, and Arcadio.
Moral: None.

Spanish words: The town of Lerolero is named after a sort of children's taunt, similar to "nyah nyah". Another town, Gafas, is named for the word for "glasses". Some books in Arba and Dakarba's lair bear the titles Brujas ("witches") and El Diablo ("the devil").
Hidden message(s): This jar says "this is not the hidden message":



The real hidden message comes later, with the writing on these books reading "This hidden message is to say farewell and thanks to Margaret Clark from Mark and Sergio":



Running jokes: In a callback to the old gags about Groo considering eating Rufferto, the dog gets jealous when he mistakes Groo's hungry look at a dragon with a look of love. People comment on the size of Arcadio's chin. Rufferto gets upset when Arcadio calls Groo his lackey. Somebody calls Groo a mendicant.
Mark Evanier's job(s): Reptile Choreographer
Letter column jokes: Joe Fonte says he has been reading Groo to his five-week-old son, and the child has yet to speak, so they will be hearing from his lawyer. Jim True complains that Mark has never printed any of his letters, so he's following his friend's ridiculous suggestion to place the letter in a paper pocket called an envelope, affix a sticky piece of paper in the corner, and deposit the letter in a blue box bolted to the sidewalk, even though he thinks the whole enterprise is rather silly. Mark responds by asking if his father read Groo to him when he was five weeks old. Joel Pierce writes a weird letter claiming he was captured by Iranian terrorists and forced to write a letter, but it was funny, and he doesn't think anything funny has ever appeared in Groo. In a P.S., he asks Mark to print the letter twice, so Mark does, although he says that he doesn't think it made it any funnier. Greg Bigoni contributes the issue's Grooism, in which a friend's little brother stuck a Reese's Pieces up his nose and had to wait for it to melt to get it out, which is something he thinks Groo would do. Mark replies that he doesn't think Groo would stick a Reese's Pieces up his nose, but he could probably fit a Whitman Sampler up there.
Miscellaneous: I like the newspaper headlines in this ad for the games Snake's Revenge and Super C:



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The Neverending Fray: Groo vs. breakables

Groo the Wanderer #40
By Sergio Aragones, Mark Evanier, Stan Sakai (lettering), and Tom Luth (coloring)
Published by Epic Comics, 1988



Going back to older issues that I had previously missed can make for a slightly jarring experience, since the tone of the series has shifted subtly over the dozens of issues that took place in the interim. Or maybe this is just a so-so issue, featuring a few laughs, but nothing especially memorable, aside from a demonstration of Groo's single-mindedness when he sets out to achieve a certain goal. That's the story here, with our favorite mendicant looking for a job, but souring relations with a potential employers when he accidentally breaks a glass carafe. He pledges to replace the carafe, and sets out to find a new one, in a quest that ends up taking months, as he searches far and wide for the object, succeeding in obtaining several of them, but always managing to break them before he can get them back to his goal. And when he finally succeeds, it turns out to have been a pointless quest, since the original job would have been at, wait for it, a glass-blowing factory. Hey-o!

It's not a terrible premise or anything, but it gets a bit monotonous, with Groo repeatedly finding carafes and then immediately breaking them. There's one bit in which his stupidity gets kind of frustrating (yet still amusing), when he storms the castle of a king who owns a carafe, and he gets offered a bunch of gold, which would have precluded his need to get the job he's working toward, but he ignores it in favor of the object of his obsession. There are other decent gags here and there, but nothing hysterical enough to make this issue a classic.

I did like this scene of Groo searching far and wide for his carafe:



And this moment, in which Groo pointlessly demonstrates his prowess with his swords, was amusing, if a bit more show-offy than the character usually is:



There's always something to enjoy, but having read so many of these stories, I'm starting to feel like I need them to be really good to stand out. I hope I'm not burning out on the series, but I expect I'll quickly be laughing along with the next story I read, any rough spots immediately forgotten.

Next: Another issue which I had previously missed, #68, "The Hero of Lerolero",

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This issue's stats:
Recurring characters: None in the story, but the Groo Crew is featured in the Groo-Grams banner:



Moral: "A little work with your brain can save you a lot of work with your body."

Spanish words: None.
Hidden message(s): There's one in the flowery decorations surrounding the story's title:



And another one on the papers in this panel:



Running jokes: Groo errs. He also manages to sink a boat without even boarding it, and he does some mulching.
Mark Evanier's job(s): Factotum
Letter column jokes: Kuasa Ali hypnotizes Mark and commands him to shave off half of Sergio's moustache, which gives Mark a joke for the rest of the column, interrupting his answers to the rest of the letters to laugh about how ridiculous Sergio looks. This precludes most of the rest of the jokes for the column, although Chris Blunt has a good gag when he asks if when Groo sent Sage to the top of the world, that made him the Ice Sage. Puns!

The Neverending Fray index

The Neverending Fray: Reading is fundamental

Groo the Wanderer #100
By Sergio Aragones, Mark Evanier, Stan Sakai (lettering), and Tom Luth (coloring)
Published by Epic Comics, 1993



Most mainstream comics exist in a state of stasis, with each issue beginning and ending in the same basic place, the status of the characters rarely changing from story to story. This is especially true for humor comics, and Groo is no exception, with each new story seeing him wandering into a new locale and getting up to his usual hijinx. So when a real change occurs, it's pretty notable; up until this landmark issue, the only real shake-up to the status quo was the addition of Rufferto as Groo's faithful companion. But after over 100 issues, the Groo Crew must have been itching to tweak their formula, if only slightly, so they do so here by altering one of the fundamental truths of the series, that being that the main character is very, very stupid. He's so dumb that any increase in his intelligence makes a pretty big difference, and the change that he goes through here by learning to read ends up being kind of fascinating, a real development of his character. It's a bold step, one that the creative team certainly didn't take lightly.

The story builds organically to the big event, giving Groo some motivation to increase his intelligence by having him get frustrated with his illiteracy. He has rarely been bothered by his lack of intelligence in the past, but his constant confusion is starting to get to him:



His worries are alleviated somewhat when he gets recruited into an army of fellow dimwits who are sent on a suicide mission as a ploy by a general to take over a kingdom that supposedly is hiding a vast treasure. But we learn that the king doesn't know where the treasure is either, and wouldn't you know it, Groo just happens to stumble across its hiding place:



Unfortunately, there is no way out of the cavern hiding the treasure, and Groo is stuck there, along with its decrepit guard, a fellow named Abecedario. With no place to go, the old man decides to take on the monumental task of teaching Groo to read, which gives us some enjoyable gags:




Groo can't stay trapped in the cavern forever, so following the old man's death, he actually figures out how to get out (he's gotten smarter already!), but once he's free, it seems his priorities have changed somewhat:



When he comes across a library in a nearby town, it's like a whole new world has suddenly become available to him, and much to Rufferto's chagrin, he seems less interested in his typical passions:



This contentedness cannot last, of course, or else there wouldn't be much of a comic, so events soon transpire to destroy Groo's life of tranquility. Various characters, including the aforementioned king, Taranto, and Pal and Drumm, show up looking for the hidden treasure, and they turn the town upside down. Groo's first impulse is to attack, but the librarians convince him that violence doesn't solve anything, so he tries to reason with them, to no avail. And then the real tragedy strikes, when looters set fire to the library, and when nobody is willing to help put it out, Groo has to resort to what he does best:



It's a powerful moment, a collision of Groo's new ideals with his old way of life, and watching him beat down those too ignorant to appreciate the treasure that is knowledge is both cathartic and sad, providing a realization that Groo will never be able to leave behind his life of violence (not that we would ever want him to). The issue ends with him deciding to make his way to a new land where he can belong, away from those who would judge him based on his reputation for stupidity. We'll have to see how that works out.

This issue ends up being an odd one, a bit more serious than the comic usually is, but that seems necessary when making such a big change to Groo's life. As much as he had previously seemed to enjoy his life of vagrancy and adventure, there was obviously something missing, a struggle for respect, or at least not to be hated by everyone he encountered. Is he actually going to be intelligent now? From what I recall, he does seem to have gained some minimal smarts, but he still gets up to his usual activities, jumping into frays with no warning and getting caught up in the schemes of those seeking power and wealth. It ends up being a fairly small tweak to the status quo, but one that has a lasting impact, and maybe even makes Groo a bit more sympathetic. We'll see how it goes, but I'm excited to rediscover what the Groo Crew did as they struck out into bold new territory. As always, I'm happy to be going along for the ride.

Next: "A New Land"

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This issue's stats:
Recurring characters: Just about everyone. Taranto and Pal and Drumm appear in the main story (along with Minstrel, Sage, Arba and Dakarba, Arcadio, Grooella, Chakaal, and Ahax in Groo's imagination), and see some of the images below for appearances by anyone and everyone else.
Moral: No moral, surprisingly. 

Spanish words: Abecedario means "alphabet". A book in the library is called "Brujeria", which means "witchcraft". General Maton is named after the word for "bully".
Hidden message: I knew they wouldn't be able to resist putting one in the big anniversary issue. It can be seen on the spines of some of the books in this panel, reading "A hidden message in this issue? That is absurd!":



Running jokes: Groo gets called a mendicant. Groo surprises Rufferto by seeking out something to read instead of cheese dip or a fray. Drumm asks Pal to buy him a house. Somebody asks if Groo is slow of mind, and he surprisingly answers in the affirmative, and never gets around to questioning what they meant, at least not in this issue.
Intro follies: The intro page features a big gala for the landmark 100th issue, with cameos from a bunch of Groo characters, friends of the Groo Crew (I'd love to see some annotations of who's who; I'm sure there are lots of famous cartoonists in there), and even the back of Alfred E. Neuman's head:



Value-added: This issue's puzzle page is a cool ladder maze:



Also, in lieu of a back-cover Rufferto strip, this issue has an image packed with just about every notable supporting character from throughout the entire series, including Al Jaffee, Groo's wife, Groo's parents, Groo's "girlfriend", and even Lat:



Mark Evanier's job(s): Funambulist ("tightrope walker")
Letter column jokes: Mark gets some anniversary thanks to the comic's readers, editors, and creative team out of the way, then he moves on to print a letter from the infamous M. Wayne Williams, who had previously said he could only afford to buy every other issue of Groo, inspiring Mark to print his letter in every issue. He promises to buy every issue from now on, which makes Mark happy that he can stop printing his previous letter. I seem to have missed a running joke involving Brent Anderson in the last few issues; apparently Mark asked people who know who he is to write in? Kevin Cunningham provides the example for this issue, mentioning a miniseries called The Spacing Dutchman which was supposedly going to be published by DC (from what I can tell, it was eventually published by Slave Labor as part of a series called Spin World; note the name of the letterer). Mark Whiteford provides a creepy description of his duct tape fetish, and Mark says he feels the same way about his Wham-o Slip n' Slide. Chert Pellett writes in with a Grooism, telling of the time his dad was about to cut down a tree for a customer at the family Christmas tree farm, and the person stopped him to ask if the tree was fresh. He also notes that he typed "Sergio" into his spell-checker, and it suggested "sage" as a replacement. Mark says he tried the same thing, and his spell-checker suggested "Antonio Prohias". Adam Hodgin notes that he had a letter printed in issue #89 that said what "[Mark] did at the party last night was inexcusable," but wonders if a similar letter from David Schuster in issue #95 was an homage. Mark says no, he just behaves very badly at parties. In other news, Mark notes that Sergio guest-starred on an episode of the TV show Bob, along with Jack Kirby, Bob Kane, Marc Silvestri, Jim Lee, and other comics luminaries.

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