Grab Some Cheese Dip Before Reading about the World’s Most Ignorant Barbarian

Whatcha doin’ Groo?

(EDITOR’S NOTE: This post was from 2017 and it seems appropriate to run it again as a Countdown to Conan weekend feature! If you love Conan, you’ll laugh like crazy at Groo. He’s the ultimate anti-Conan.)

If you’re a fan of the swords-and-sorcery genre in comic books, you’ve no doubt heard of Groo the Wanderer, by the team extraordinaire of Sergio Aragones and Mark Evanier. Groo is a walking antonym of Conan the Barbarian.

Where Conan is muscular and commanding, Groo is flabby and a wimp. Where Conan can take charge and rescue damsels in distress, Groo will rescue the dragon and leave the damsel tied up instead. In other words, he’s a complete buffoon.

Long before the days of funny fantasy comics like Knights of the Dinner Table (which takes place around an RPG game table usually while Dungeons and Dragons is being played), an artist named Sergio Aragones came up with the idea for the blundering barbarian. He began his career as an artist for Mad Magazine – he contributed to over 400 issues of Mad during his time there. Aragones has a reputation for being lightning fast with his cartooning. According to his Wikipedia entry:

“Al Jaffee (cartoonist for Mad Magazine) once said, “Sergio has, quite literally, drawn more cartoons on napkins in restaurants than most cartoonists draw in their entire careers.” ]In 2002, writer Mark Evanier estimated that Aragonés had written and drawn more than 12,000 gag cartoons for Mad alone.”

Look out! Our favorite Cimmerian paired up with Groo for the four-issue Groo Vs. Conan mini series. You can buy the trade paperback here: www.darkhorse.com

Together with Mark Evanier (who does an amazing job narrating the series, often utilizing  a rhyming minstrel character), Sergio has worked on Groo for well over two decades.

Groo was one of (if not the) first creator-owned characters published in the industry. The knucklehead barbarian has spawned miniature figurines, t-shirts and even a lunch box, too.

And the books are funny! I haven’t picked up a single issue that hasn’t made me laugh out loud, and it’s a series worth collecting in its entirety. Groo has been published by Marvel (Epic) Comics, Image, Pacific and Dark Horse Comics throughout the life of the character.

Buy Groo’s most current issues and trade paperbacks here at Dark Horse.

Each issue comes up with a fantasy plot that Groo is most likely to bungle. If it’s a village in need of saving, he’ll make sure the village winds up destroyed. If he’s leading other warriors into a fray, you can always rest assured everyone will be wiped out but Groo. He’s got a dog named Rufferto, who worships the ground Groo walks on, and a great supporting cast of characters, too.

For lots of laughs and a fun poke at the fantasy genre, Groo the Wanderer – from any publisher – is a joy to read.

Groo The Wanderer comes highly recommended from Paint Monk’s Library with an average series rating of 8.4. And if that isn’t enough reason to pick up the series, you can always join Mark Evanier’s ongoing debate about “mulching.“

As always, I am – Wally (AKA Paint Monk)