{"id":36422,"date":"2026-09-06T08:00:54","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T08:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=36422"},"modified":"2026-09-04T18:06:57","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T18:06:57","slug":"the-death-of-groo-the-wanderer-marvel-graphic-novel-32-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2026\/09\/06\/the-death-of-groo-the-wanderer-marvel-graphic-novel-32-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Death of Groo the Wanderer (Marvel Graphic Novel #32)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Sergio Aragon\u00e9s, Mark Evanier, Stan Sakai<\/strong> & Tom Luth<\/strong> (Epic\/Marvel)
\nISBN: 978-0-87135-290-3 (1990 Album TPB)<\/p>\n

Groo is a living paradox: a brilliant fighting man and unbeatable warrior sell-sword, and also – AT THE SAME TIME – far too stupid to be harmed and the dumbest loose assemblage of organic molecules on the planet. Always hungry, he wanders because most places where he pauses burn down, wash away or crash into rubble soon after he gets there. He loves to fight and the entire world trembles at the mention of his name. They do the same whenever they are downwind of him too…<\/p>\n

Produced in unique fashion by Sergio Aragon\u00e9s, wordsmith Mark Evanier, letterer Stan Sakai (creator of Usagi Yojimbo)<\/strong> and colourist Tom Luth, the idiot\u2019s adventures form one of the longest running humour comic book series in America and there seems to be no chance of stopping the creators as long as we keep buying these incredible, hilarious sagas…<\/p>\n

Both in comic narrative and the infinitely more strenuous idea-consuming field of gag-cartooning, Sergio Aragon\u00e9s Domenech (born today in 1937 so Happy Birthday amigo!) has produced vast volumes of excellent stuff. His darkly skewed sensibilities and deathgrip on the cosmically absurd, wedded to a utterly unique, anarchically meticulous drawing style and frankly terrifying professional discipline, have made his (frequently) silent doodles a vibrant proof of the maxims that laughter is universal and a picture is worth a thousand words.<\/p>\n

Also an actor of some merit and repute, the Spanish-born Mexican-American most famously worked for years at Mad Magazine<\/strong> and on DC\u2019s horror anthology titles when he first moved to the USA. Here he mostly delivered pages of gags and occasional full comic scripts and strips. Then in 1981, with comics scripting, screenwriting associate Mark Evanier, Aragon\u00e9s knocked out a madcap 4-page parody of the entire Sword-&-Sorcery genre as his contribution to the Creators Rights benefit comic book Destroyer Duck<\/strong> being published by Eclipse Comics.<\/p>\n

Following a second outing in Mike Grell\u2019s Starslayer<\/strong> (#5), Pacific Comics launched Groo the Wanderer<\/strong> in his own title. After 8 issues (December 1982-April 1984) that beleaguered, troubled company folded but the unsinkable yet unwashed barbarian (that\u2019s a joke I\u2019ll explain later) resurfaced in a Groo Special <\/strong>one-shot from Eclipse (October 1984), before finding a relatively stable home at Epic Comics, Archie Goodwin\u2019s creator-owned corner of the Marvel Universe.<\/p>\n

Aragon\u00e9s had first doodled his witless warrior in the 1970s, but no publisher would take on the property unless he sold all rights – a nigh-universal situation in the industry until the advent of the Direct Sales market transferred power from companies and distributors to creators and consumers. Groo is arguably the most successful creator-owned property of the US comic book market, and this randomly selected volume of so very many pretty much epitomises what the meandering (but never a mendicant!) moron is all about. Since that Epic incarnation (an uproarious 120 issue run plus dozens of graphic novel compilations) the witless wall-eyed wanderer moved on to Image and Dark Horse Comics, but they haven\u2019t completely gone belly-up yet. Moreover, he has teamed up with the best in the biz (like Tarzan<\/strong> and Conan<\/strong>) and continues to escape in new editions whenever you least expect it…<\/p>\n

This all original volume from 1987 reintroduces readers to the ugliest, stupidest, stinky-est itinerant mercenary in the world. Luckily he\u2019s also the best swordsman in creation and too thick to be harmed, because when he shuffles his unshod, dirty feet into the domain of King<\/em> Krag<\/em> he inadvertently encounters a thoroughly nasty man with a good many reasons to psychotically hate him…<\/p>\n

At this time the kingdom is being ravaged by a colossal dragon, but as the only man on the planet crazy enough to fight it has a huge bounty on his head, how stupid would he have to be to come and attempt to kill it? If you\u2019re having difficulty answering that, either you\u2019ve not been paying attention or Groo has found a new apprentice…<\/p>\n

Due to the kind of circumstance-concatenation that only happens in this series, everybody in the land of Groo-haters thinks the oaf is finally dead – even Groo – but with all the folk who have ever suffered at his hands gathered in one place, they all start to realise that a world without Groo just isn\u2019t the same…<\/p>\n

Fear not, however. Order, if not sense, is eventually restored… but only after a grand display of confusions, contusions, conflagrations, conflicts, pratfalls, pitfalls, punch-lines and punch-ups. There\u2019s even a little room left over for a soup\u00e7on of romance (Mmmm, Soup! Mmmm, leftovers…)<\/p>\n

Originally published in the extravagant, luxurious over-sized 285mm x 220mm European album format (other later versions are available!) allowing even more room for the artist\u2019s tireless tornado of visual hits and narrative graffiti, this is a masterpiece of mirth and madness comedy addicts will adore and the great most telling strength of the series is that new readers can start practically anywhere – and still be none the wiser…<\/p>\n

Marvellously cynical, wildly witty and stunningly silly, Groo <\/strong>remains the comic of first resort for people who hate comics: titanically tongue-in-cheek, sharply sarcastic and searingly self-deprecating. An irresistible humour tour-de-force astoundingly scribed and illustrated by jesters who don\u2019t know when – or how – to stop.<\/p>\n

The unstoppable brain-donor (Groo, not Aragon\u00e9s) has since rambled on to other ventures but there\u2019s still plenty of material for you to track down…<\/p>\n

Oh yeah, that sinking thing: among his other lack of abilities Groo cannot travel by ship. He\u2019s not seasick or anything, it\u2019s just that his physical presence on nautical apparatus of any sort causes it to sink. This book has one of the very best riffs on that running (swimming? sinking?) gag I\u2019ve ever seen… and while we\u2019re sharing secrets, according to our admittedly so-very-wry and untrustworthy narrator\/creators, a hallowed, unchanging creative process forms the basis of the prolific partnership.<\/p>\n

Groo\u2019s tales are initially plotted and pencilled by Aragon\u00e9s before being handed off to Evanier (Scooby-Doo<\/strong>, Blackhawk<\/strong>, Crossfire<\/strong>, DNAgents<\/strong>, New Gods<\/strong>, Garfield<\/strong>) to dialogue in those bits least filled with pictorial idiocy and graphic contumely. After all that, Stan Sakai (Usagi Yojimbo<\/strong>, The Adventures of Nilson Groundthumper and Hermy<\/strong>, 47 Ronin<\/strong>) letters the pages (in indelible ink!) before Sergio gets them back to embellish and change back to what he wanted in the first place. A colourist (usually Tom Luth) colours it all in for picky customers who want no truck with measly monochrome…<\/p>\n

If you must read only one Groo book, any one will do. I like this one and so do all of these dissatisfied customers…
\n\"\"
\n\u00a9 1987, 1990, 2026 Sergio Aragon\u00e9s. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Sergio Aragon\u00e9s, Mark Evanier, Stan Sakai & Tom Luth (Epic\/Marvel) ISBN: 978-0-87135-290-3 (1990 Album TPB) Groo is a living paradox: a brilliant fighting man and unbeatable warrior sell-sword, and also – AT THE SAME TIME – far too stupid to be harmed and the dumbest loose assemblage of organic molecules on the planet. Always … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “The Death of Groo the Wanderer (Marvel Graphic Novel #32)”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[113,102,143,66,125,242,367,256],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comedy","category-fantasy","category-groo","category-horror-stories","category-humour","category-pirates","category-sergio-aragones","category-sword-sorcery"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-9ts","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36422"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36425,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36422\/revisions\/36425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}