Groo the Wanderer
Groo the Wanderer cover page, issue #1 (Marvel).
Publication information
Publisher	Pacific Comics Eclipse Comics Epic/Marvel Comics Image Comics Dark Horse Comics
First appearance	Destroyer Duck #1 (May 1982)
Created by	Sergio Aragonés
In-story information
Alter ego	Groo
Notable aliases	Prince of Chichester
Abilities	Master swordsman

Groo the Wanderer is a fantasy/comedy comic book character created by Sergio Aragonés. His stories are written and drawn by Aragonés, dialogued and edited by Mark Evanier, lettered by Stan Sakai and colored by Tom Luth. Over the years, Groo 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 among the first widely successful creator-owned comics creations, one of the few successful humorous series in the United States (outside Archie 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".

The characters

Groo (the epithet "the Wanderer" is informal and rarely mentioned within the stories) first appeared as a parody of the brutal sword and sorcery heroes who were popular at the time of his creation in the 1970s, especially Conan the Barbarian as presented in Marvel Comics. Groo is a large-nosed buffoon of unsurpassed stupidity who constantly misunderstands his surroundings. Possessed of superlative skills in swordsmanship (the only task at which he is remotely competent), 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 appear to be a pair of katanas. 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 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. Their names, when put together, spell "abra-kadabra" backwards.
• Arcadio, a handsome warrior 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'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 couplets. 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".
• Pal and Drumm, 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 on palindrome.
• Pipil Khan, a short and short-tempered conqueror who speaks like Elmer 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 tactical genius. 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, a wise, 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 his tales 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 a general, 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 and Scribe, a successful author and his amanuensis, who look suspiciously like Groo's own Evanier and Sakai. The Scribe never speaks.
• The Witch of Kaan, an eccentric old hag who always has a potion ready for anybody who visits her.

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, Indonesia, 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. 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 in Groo appear ancient, more modern innovations such as the printing press can be found as well.

The creators

Groo is initially plotted and drawn by Sergio Aragonés, and Mark Evanier then writes the dialog.^[4] Sakai then does the lettering, after which Aragonés does the final artwork, including the word balloons. 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. 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.

Rufferto one page stories

Starting with issue #87 of Marvel's ongoing Groo 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.

Publication history

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 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. A few months later, Groo appeared in a two-page preview ad and the back cover art in Starslayer #4, published by Pacific Comics. The second Groo story appearance was in a five-page backup story in Starslayer #5.

In 1982, Pacific Comics began publishing Groo 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 the Groo 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 to Conan 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 of Groo the Wanderer with 120 issues. In 1994, with Marvel facing financial difficulties, the title switched to Image Comics^[6] and was retitled Groo. In the first issue Groo remarks "the marvels of the world are but images before me".

When Image in turn faced legal problems after publishing twelve issues, the title switched to Dark 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 2007 WonderCon, the creators revealed that since 2005 they had been trying to produce a Groo/Conan crossover (both titles are 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]

Similar characters

The character of the Groosalugg in the TV series Angel is generally called "Groo" by other characters, and is a somewhat naïve wandering barbarian hero who is a highly skilled swordsman.

In Norway, the magazine Pyton once parodied the comic by placing the Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland in the role of Groo, as a pun on her name.

Also in Norway, when the local version of Mad magazine ran a parody of Ronia, the Robber's Daughter, the "gray dwarves" pestering Ronia had become "Groo dwarves".

Bibliography

Stories

Awards and nominations

Sergio Aragonés received the National Cartoonist Society Reuben Award for 1996 for his work on Groo and Mad magazine. In 2009, Groo: Hell on Earth was nominated for the Eisner Award for Best Limited Series.^[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,^[17] while IGN 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".^[18]

References

External links

• Official website
• Groo the Wanderer at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on September 1, 2016.
• Who Wants to be a Mendicant? Groo the Wanderer article on ComicsBulletin