Well, after Conan, Red Sonja, and Thor, where do you go? Gotta go with Groo.

I remember seeing issues of Groo in my LCS back when I was collecting G.I. Joe and The Transformers in 1986-1987. It looked like a silly comic book and I may have even flipped through an issue or two that my friends owned, but I never picked it up myself. A few years later, I’d start buying Mad Magazine on occasion and recognized Sergio Aragones’ artwork between those pages. Still, these are the only two issues of Groo that I’ve ever owned, and they were in a Marvel Comics Grab Bag that I bought at my LCS.

Those grab bags probably deserve their own episode or post or something. Probably a post. Professor Alan did a great Grab Bag episode recently on one of his own shows, so I probably don’t need to do it.

Anyway, both of these stories, like the Conan and Red Sonja, are one-and-done tales so I didn’t need to know much going in. In fact, I didn’t. All I knew was that Groo was: A) a Conan parody, and B) probably very funny. I was right on both accounts.

I mean, they’re goofy as hell and that’s the appeal. I’ve always loved Aragones’ Mad stuff, so there was very little convincing here. The books are well-drawn, well-paced, and rely on funny and often dumb visual gags, all of which work. I especially loved issue #37 where Groo is heading to a town so that he can get some food and the townspeople tear the town apart all the while saying that Groo is going to come and tear the town apart. Like I said, goofy and dumb, but the way Aragones draws each book like Richard Scarry meets Monty Python makes it completely worth it.

I read these two issues and wanted to read them again. Now I’m wondering if collecting a Groo run might be worth it. Who knows? I guess I’ll hold onto these and see what I can find in the cheap bins at this year’s Baltimore Comic-Con

Keep, Sell, Donate, or Trash?

Keep.