This Comic Is Good - Groo the Wanderer #5

Groo the Wanderer really is one of those rare breeds of comics where a Groo from 1983 (like #5, as seen below) is no better or worse than a Groo from a couple of years ago.



The main asset of the book, of course, is Sergio Aragonés' brilliant comical art. He has such an eye for cartoon detail that makes every issue of Groo really look like Aragonés was treating it like it was the most important work in the world to him.

However, this should not diminish Mark Evanier's efforts on the title. First of all, Groo is one of the few comics I have seen where the rhymes are not terrible. The rhymes in Groo are actually funny (and good).

Meanwhile, the morals at the end of each issue are interesting, and the dialogue is quite good.

Groo, for those who do not know, is basically like Conan. He wanders around (hence the title) and gets into battles wherever he goes. Groo is not a GOOD person, but nor is he necessarily malevolent in disposition. He is more like a force of nature. When he is hungry, he wants to eat. When he sees a fight, he wants to be in it.

#5 is a story of Groo being taken prisoner and put to work as a slave oarsmen on a pirate boat. Through a series of events, whichever ship Groo is on keeps coming across other ships, which they try to plunder.

However, Groo keeps managing to find a way to sink the ships, through various comical means.

The comic is especially interesting to see the actual work that goes into the characterizations of the peripheral characters. Evanier makes sure to give each character in the book (most of whom are just totally minor characters) distinct personalities that remain consistent throughout the book. Aragonés helps by making each character LOOK distinct as well (and since Groo sinks a lot of boats, we're talking a lot of characters here).

Very fun, very good story.

On top of it, we also get a nice map of Groo's sea voyage depicted in the comic.

And a fun (although a bit darker) story starring a Groo supporting character - The Sage.

Well worth your while, as the comic is filled with stuff to entertain you.

Highly recommended (as is, well, most Groo issues. If you can't find #5, try another number! They're almost all winners!).

Read More