Showing posts with label Groo the Wanderer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Groo the Wanderer. Show all posts

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Spies! (Groo the Wanderer #27) 3.5Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot, by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Spies!
Series: Groo the Wanderer #27
Author: Sergio Aragones
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 23
Words: 2K




I don’t know why I keep “reviewing” these. Mainly to keep track I guess. I mean, these are regularly funny. Every time I read one I enjoy myself. How many ways can I say “I enjoyed this funny comic because Groo is an idiot”. So far, I’ve said it 27 times. I guess that’s enough. I think after this I’ll just start using this “review” place to talk about whatever is on my mind at the time. So be prepared to be wowed and amazed as I pontificate on matters most important.

★★★✬☆


From Bookstooge.blog

The Minstrel and the Sage are captured as spies and they tell a couple of stories about Groo as a spy to fend off their deaths. Groo is in the camp and when everyone starts making fun of him he attacks them. Minstrel and Sage use the chaos to escape and the issue ends with Groo furiously attacking everyone.


Thursday, February 22, 2024

Arba and Dakarba (Groo the Wanderer #26) 3.5Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot, by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Arba and Dakarba
Series: Groo the Wanderer #26
Author: Sergio Aragones
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 23
Words: 2K




Hahahahaahaha, this was another laugh out loud comic. Man, if Groo can DO something and yet still not do it, he will find a way. I am in awe at how Aragones even comes up with these ideas. What kind of mind is so fiendishly twisted that something this funny, this amusing and this twisted is even thought of? It’s just brilliant!

It is one thing to be funny, it’s not too hard to make Groo a complete idiot. But at the same time Aragones has made him this completely unstoppable force of nature who simply cannot do things as people want him to. Sure, he can stop an army. By burning down a forest and destroying all the villages in it. Whatever he is tasked with, Groo will do. But he will do it badly and in such a way that comes back to bite the person who made the initial request. Without fail!

The page I’m including is the last one. Groo has done his job but done it so wrongly that EVERYONE wants to kill him. Classic!


★★★✬☆


From Bookstooge.blog


Groo is hired by two witches to recover an amulet from some tiny people. The witches make Groo small and he attempts to steal the amulet. He fails but is told if he steals ANOTHER amulet from a wizard that the little people will let him have the first amulet. Both amulets end up being a part of an Artifact of Power. Groo steals the wizard’s amulet but in the process of giving it to the tiny people ends up stealing the first amulet, thus owning both. He throws away the wizard’s amulet, since “he” doesn’t need it any more and gives the original amulet to the two witches. Who turn out to be working for the wizard. The comic ends with the two witches, the wizard and the entire tribe of tiny people waiting in ambush to kill Groo for destroying all their plans.



Thursday, January 11, 2024

Divide and Conquer (Groo the Wanderer #25) 3.5Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot, by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Divide and Conquer
Series: Groo the Wanderer #25
Author: Sergio Aragones
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 23
Words: 2K




Groo is a pretty obvious comic, so when I saw this page (page 5), I knew exactly where the comic was going to go. I didn’t know how it was going to get there, but I knew the destination:

And sure enough, that is exactly what happens.

The fun is watching Aragones lead us down the path to that destination. Just because we know the destination doesn’t mean we know the path the journey will take. Especially as Groo is involved and no journey with him is straightforward or logical at all! :-D

★★★✬☆


From Bookstooge.blog

Groo rescues a town from bandits, only to have them be attacked by another group of bandits. He rescues the town from those bandits as well. Then the two bandit groups unite. Groo teaches the villagers how to fight and it is a three way fight. Then they realize they have destroyed the town and all three groups join up to go pillage a different village. Good job Groo!



Thursday, December 14, 2023

Arcadio’s Quest (Groo the Wanderer #24) 3Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot, by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Arcadio’s Quest
Series: Groo the Wanderer #24
Author: Sergio Aragones
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 24
Words: 2K




This was a little bit repetitive for my taste. The only change in the situation was each time that Groo had to get a new chess piece for the witch so she’d give him another potion. He’d attack the town and THAT was different each time. Even Aragones can only show that so many times before it gets boring. Considering we see Groo uglify the other town each time and Arcadio un-uglify it, it felt very much like complete and utter filler. Just something for Aragones to do to meet a deadline.

It was amusing but not really funny. Part of that was just how tired I am and how busy life feels right now and how my emotional life is relentlessly acting like a teenager and I’m just exhausted on every front. I’m too tired to even pick a page from the comic and showcase it.

★★★☆☆


From Bookstooge.blog

Groo is called by Arcadio to help break a spell on his town. Someone has turned them all stupid and mindless. They used to be ugly but Arcadio broke that spell when he married the princess. But it happened after Groo had left the village. So when Groo shows up and sees everyone absolutely gorgeous, he thinks THAT is the curse and gets a potion that turns them all ugly again. Arcadio had also gone to get a cure so when he returns he finds everyone ugly AND stupid. So he uses the cure to make them beautiful. This back and forth happens 32 times until Groo and Arcadio finally meet. Arcadio explains what is going on and of course Groo doesn’t understand. He uses the final potion to uglify everyone, including Arcadio and the Minstrel. The whole town is now smart again thanks to Arcadio and they all chase Groo out of the town, trying to kill him.


Thursday, November 09, 2023

Groo Meets Pal and Drumm (Groo the Wanderer #23) 3.5Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot, by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Groo Meets Pal and Drumm
Series: Groo the Wanderer #23
Author: Sergio Aragones
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 24
Words: 2K




Hahahahahahahaaa. This was another great entry in the Groo comic. Groo is suckered into putting on fake fights with another warrior and of course, he bungles, every single time.

I thought it showed Aragones’ creativity to be able to think of these “simple” situations and then make comedy gold out of them. It’s not easy to do humor on demand (as shown by almost all of our modern media writers, who are nothing but hacks, at best) but Aragones hasn’t let me down yet.

One thing I don’t think I’ve mentioned about the artwork before is how Aragones manages to draw a scene filled with people and it is busy and full but he shades things in such a way that your eye is drawn to the important part. That takes skill too and I appreciate it. The artist of a comic should be directing the audiences’ eyes and if he’s not, he’s a complete failure of an artist and should be tarred, feathered and run out of town on the rails! (I’m looking at you, modern comic artists who draw 2 page spreads with so much crap going on that the reader gets epilepsy just looking at it!) The following pix is the last page in the comic and I think illustrates this principle perfectly.



★★★✬☆


From Bookstooge.blog

Groo meets another warrior, Drum, who is working with a schemer called Pal. All three work together to put on “fights” which are rigged. The problem is that Groo keeps messing everything up and eventually everyone else catches on and the comic ends with Groo, Drumm and Pal all running for their lives.


Thursday, October 12, 2023

Groo and the Ambassador (Groo the Wanderer #22) 3.5Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot, by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Groo and the Ambassador
Series: Groo the Wanderer #22
Author: Sergio Aragones
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 24
Words: 2K




Groo gets into trouble, causes trouble and eventually just wanders out of the picture leaving death and destruction in his wake, as usual. Hhaahahahahaa!

Ahhhh, I love this comic :-D

★★★✬☆


From Bookstooge.blog

Groo the Wanderer is wandering around and at the same time an Ambassador named Gru is accidentally following the same path. Gru ends up taking all of the consequences that Groo creates by not paying for anything. Eventually war breaks out between two kingdoms and Groo is left wandering in the woods, clueless as ever.



Thursday, September 14, 2023

Groo and the Witches of Brujas (Groo the Wanderer #21) 3.5Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot, by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission


Title: Groo and the Witches of Brujas
Series: Groo the Wanderer #21
Author: Sergio Aragones
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 24
Words: 2K



I not only like the humor of these comics, but I really appreciate Aragones ability to tell a silly story from start to finish in 24 pages. Not only does he do that, he keeps me entertained the whole time and never leaves me feeling like I wasted my time. I appreciate that he appreciates that my time is valuable.



★★★✬☆




From Bookstooge.blog


>Groo is attacked by a wizard and then forced to help two witches against the wizard. They multiply Groo, he fights himself and then escapes with a scary boatman. The comic ends with Groo, the boat and the Boatman about to be sucked down into a whirlpool.



Thursday, August 10, 2023

Groo and the Siege Second Try (Groo the Wanderer #20) 3.5Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot, by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Groo and the Siege Second Try
Series: Groo the Wanderer #20
Author: Sergio Aragones
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 24
Words: 2K



Hahahahahaa! Oh man, I totally did not see the final part coming. I knew the Sage was going to be able to help Groo, but I just didn’t see him misunderstanding the whole situation. Oh, it took Groo’s level of destruction to a whole new level. If I lived in a world with a Groo, I’d try to figure out a way to harness his contrary-luck (it’s not necessarily “bad”, it just doesn’t work for anyone but Groo).

Of course, the enemies of Grooella do just that. Well, maybe not quite “harnessing” it, but they figure out how to make it work for them. Which is more than Grooella has ever done, hahahahahaa.

I’ve included the final panel where the enemies make use of Groo’s particular disability ;-)



★★★✬☆


From Bookstooge.blog

Groo tries to help Grooella again and just makes things even worse. As always. To the point where the enemy uses Groo. Finally Groo decides to get help from the Sage, who helps Groo destroy the castle, because Groo forgot to tell him that the castle belonged to Grooella. The comic ends with both the Sage and Grooella chasing Groo down so they can kill him.



Thursday, July 20, 2023

Groo and the Siege (Groo the Wanderer #19) 3.5Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot, by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Groo and the Siege
Series: Groo the Wanderer #19
Author: Sergio Aragones
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 24
Words: 2K


Hahahahahahaa! Grooella is trying to get her castle back and of course Groo tries to help. With predictable results. Of course, even when Grooella tries to kill Groo by having him shot by arrows, he manages to escape. What a scamp! ;-)

And the funny thing is, the castle still isn’t recovered by the end and so Grooella makes sure to tell us that this IS STILL NOT THE END.

This reminds me of the Alcatraz vs the Evil Librarians series by Brandon Sanderson. Each of the Smedry’s had a power that was utterly ridiculous, but they all found ways to make use of it. Everyone in this comic keeps trying to use Groo as a conventional weapon when what they need to do is some very unconventional thinking. Of course, then things wouldn’t be nearly as funny :-D

★★★✬☆




From Bookstooge.blog

Grooella is besieging her own castle to take it back from the cominos. Groo attempts to help with creating a catapult and destroys it. He attempts to dig some tunnels under the castle walls and ends up digging under Grooella’s army, nearly destroying them.

There are also some flashback scenes of Groo and Grooella as kids where Groo is attempting to play with Grooella and her friends. Every attempt ends in disaster.



Friday, June 09, 2023

Sister’s City (Groo the Wanderer #18) ★★★✬☆

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot, by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Sister’s City
Series: Groo the Wanderer #18
Author: Sergio Aragones
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 24
Words: 2K




From Bookstooge.blog

Groo has a sister who is Queen of a city. Said city is about to be attacked and so Grooella summons Groo to her aid. As Groo travels to the city he has many fond memories of his time growing up with Grooella. Of course, in the process of “helping” his sister, he allows the city to be taken over.




Man, Groo was just as much of a spaz, bad luck charm and general el stupido as a kid as he is now. Every time he tried to do something nice for his sister he ended up destroying something of hers. Obviously, his sister never learned HER lesson either, because why else would she try to get his help?

And as soon as I heard it, I knew Groo was going to mess things up. So the castle being taken over by the enemies was no surprise. What did surprise me is that apparently we are going to be treated to our first ever multi-issue Groo story! The next issue is going to deal with Grooella trying to take back her castle. I can’t even imagine how things are going to go wrong in that, hahahahaah!

The ending page was a perfect wrapup of the relationship between Groo and Grooella.



★★★✬☆



Friday, May 12, 2023

Pescatel (The Hatchery) (Groo the Wanderer #17) ★★★✬☆

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot, by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Pescatel (The Hatchery)
Series: Groo the Wanderer #17
Author: Sergio Aragones
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 24
Words: 2K



From Bookstooge.blog

Groo is lost, starving and drowning. He eventually makes it to land, finds a village surrounded by a lake filled with man eating fish and gets a job at the village being their war chief. He is sent out to destroy the villagers’ enemies. Only, being Groo, he attacks their allies and makes them their enemies. When a second ally village is called to make peace, Groo attacks them as well thinking they are the enemies. Now everybody is an enemy of the village.

But thanks to the man eating fish, the village is safe. Until Groo releases the only fish that eats the man eating fish. The villagers finally kick Groo out and he runs into the villagers enemies. And proceeds to tell them everything.




When I read the previous Groo comic, Wakizashi mentioned that #17 was the first comic he had bought with his own money and was very nostalgic about it. So I figured I’d give him a shout out because things like that are important. Why you ask? Because I said so, that’s why! And if you disagree, you can go sit in the corner without dinner and think about what a miserable wretch you are to even contemplate disagreeing with me. Wakizashi knows better and that’s why he is eating a delicious fish dinner, just like Groo.

Groo is a walking disaster. I mean, if he “could” do something the wrong way, invariably he does it the wrong way. And yet he always walks away from the situation alive, even if he should have died. Aragones knows this is the formula and as such doesn’t try to put pat endings on the comics. For example, in this issue the last page is of Groo walking into an ambush by the original villagers who hired him. Aragones doesn’t show the battle but we know we’re going to see Groo next issue, even if he’s hurt and bleeding, hahahaa.

The other thing is just how ridiculous Groo continually is. I’m going to include a page from the comic to illustrate this. I laughed hard enough when I read that Mrs B had to ask what was going on. When I said “I’m reading a Groo comic”, she just rolled her eyes and understood.

This whole page just sums up Groo to perfection.

★★★✬☆


Friday, April 14, 2023

Groo and the Shipyard (Groo the Wanderer #16) ★★★✬☆

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot, by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Groo and the Shipyard
Series: Groo the Wanderer #16
Author: Sergio Aragones
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 24
Words: 2K



From Bookstooge.blog

Groo tries to find work as a guard at a flying ship yard. They need no guards as they have a whole pack of savage dogs. So Groo joins as a common laborer and pegs and caulks a ship. To the usual Groo standards.

He runs across Taranto and his crew who have been pillaging and plundering. They steal an airship only to find out it is the one Groo work on. So it falls apart and they all go crashing to the ground.


SEPARATOR


Ahhhh, appropriately silly and asinine. Just what every Groo comic should be.

What was interesting was the Checklist ad though. It has the latest GI Joe comic and it’s the introduction for Sgt Slaughter:



I remember Sgt Slaughter because he was also a World Wrestling Federation actor at the time and boy did Hasbro make a big deal about promoting his character to sell all the toys. His picture, real or as the animated version, was yelling at everyone to do everything, all at once. And he did it all first so he could yell at you for not doing it fast enough.



★★★✬☆



Thursday, March 09, 2023

Groo and the Monks (Groo the Wanderer #15) ★★★✬☆

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot, by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Groo and the Monks
Series: Groo the Wanderer #15
Author: Sergio Aragones
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 23
Words: 2K




From Bookstooge.blog

Groo meets a battle taking place. He finally joins a side after they’ve won. But the winners are all going to commit ritual suicide for having killed their master and fellow brethren. Groo doesn’t want to die and so the last warrior tells him he can join a monastery to atone.

Groo finds the monastery and with predictable results. Chaos ensues. Silence is broken. Groo is kicked out to go earn money for them. He threatens the town until they give a lot of money. Groo then uses the money to carve a staircase into the mountain to the Monastery, hire belly dancers, buy wine and fine foods. Considering his duty done, he then leaves. Hahahahaa.


I think the following panel pretty much sums up this particular issue of Groo:



He doesn’t know what he is doing, or why, or even how, but because he’s Groo, he’s going to do it no matter what. Of course, apparently he can’t read any of the rules, or he’s just so dense that he doesn’t think they apply to him. It just goes to show that Groo causes chaos no matter where he goes or what he tries to do.

As much as I am really enjoying these, I think one a month is a great way to keep on liking Groo. Too much more and I’d probably get sick of his stupidity. Very funny in small doses, not so much in larger doses.

★★★✬☆


Thursday, February 09, 2023

The Quarry (Groo the Wanderer #14) ★★★✬☆

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot, by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission


Title: The Quarry
Series: Groo the Wanderer #14
Author: Sergio Aragones
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 23
Words: 2K



Groo gets lost in the desert, passes by an oasis of comely babes and ends up working in a quarry. Where he does everything wrong, everything. He pushes when he’s supposed to be pulling. He threatens the slaves with his sword. He gets crushed by a massive stone block. He ties up the ship wrong so it floats away and crashes and sinks. Eventually, he destroys a massive edifice to the local king and runs away. Of course, the destruction revealed a cave of jewels that was enough for the local folks to all buy their freedom.

Despite Groo’s inability to do anything correctly, Aragones has the knack of giving us that twist right at the end. It is almost always there and it is impossible to predict. I love that! It’s like a tragic comedy version of the Twilight Zone, except Groo is the butt every time, hahahahaa.

This comic is keeping me entertained, every time. Unlike certain Mutant Turtles, I haven’t had a bad experience yet. They’re not all top notch, but not a one where I question if I should continue or not. I guess Aragones and I have a shared sense of the ridiculous :-D

★★★✬☆


Thursday, January 12, 2023

Groo and the Tale of King Sage (Groo the Wanderer #13) ★★★✬☆

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot, by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Groo and the Tale of King Sage
Series: Groo the Wanderer #13
Author: Sergio Aragones
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 24
Words: 2K




The Sage, introduced in Groo #7, becomes the King of a small but prosperous country. Groo stumbles across said country and asks to be made a general of the armies. For some reason, the Sage can’t say no to Groo and thus makes him a general. To mitigate Groo’s “groo’ness”, he sends him off to guard the northernmost pass of the country. Along the way, Groo makes everyone become a farmer and thus brings discontent to the whole country. The Sage is deposed and beats Groo about the head to show his displeasure.


This was an amusing little story. AND IT ONLY COST 75¢. In comparison, Bone #16 cost $3, four times as much. And Aragones gives us not only an amusing story with a start, a middle and an end, but it is also in color. Now maybe the paper material itself was pulp and Bone was high quality paper? But let me tell you, if I had $3 in 1986, well, really, I’d probably spent it at the dollar bin at Bradley’s (a now bankrupt and defunct department store) buying star wars figurines, BUT if I were to spend it on comics, I’d choose 4 months of Groo over one month of Bone every single time. Even right now, I would choose the same exact thing, ie, star wars figures, then if you forced me, Groo comics, hahahaha :-D


I am also finding the ads just as fun as the stories. In this comic, there is an ad for Captain America: The Broadway Musical. I kid you not. And here’s the proof:

Now, that is even better than the ad for the Jetson’s I saw in the previous Groo comic! I did a google search and sure enough, Marvel did try to get Captain American onto the stage and they failed. I hope you all join me in thanks for that failure. Nobody needs to see Cap tippity tappitying around. It did make me wonder though, what kind of parent would just send in their kids info to some complete stranger they saw in a comic book? And what kind of little girl is reading Groo? Probably not one who sings and dances is my guess :-)


★★★✬☆



Thursday, December 15, 2022

Groo Meets the Thespians (Groo the Wanderer #12) ★★★✬☆

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot, by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Groo Meets the Thespians
Series: Groo the Wanderer #12
Author: Sergio Aragones
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 23
Words: 2K



Groo ends up with a group of actors without realizing they are actors and saves the evil king in the play. This sends the audiences into stitches and Groo becomes famous. After many, many, many attempts, the actors finally get across to Groo that it is all fake and he’s just supposed to stand there as a guard and not do anything.


So what happens next?


They go to a kingdom ruled by an evil king, where two of the actors have been hired to kill the king. Groo thinks it is all acting and even when the evil king says he’ll give Groo one third of his kingdom, he just stands by. So the actors kill the king, the two noblemen who hired them then turn on the actors to cover up their part in the plan and Groo turns on everybody when he realizes it was real and he could have been rich, rich, rich. I had to laugh even while wondering how someone this dumb could survive on his own :-D


There was also an ad for some cartoons. Maaaaan, that brought back some memories.


While we didn’t watch tv on Saturday (that was part of how we kept the Sabbath) and our tv during the week was strictly limited, the times I’d go over to a friends house (usually my friend Jimmy) I’d binge. Or, binge as much a kid could who had too much energy and needed to get outside and moving :-D I do remember the Jetsons though. Poor George getting yelled at all the time by his boss and I can remember even having a crush on Judy, the teenage daughter. Ahhh, those were the days. The halcyon golden age of childrens television. Then Barney and the Teletubbies came along and ruined everything.


★★★✬☆



Thursday, November 10, 2022

A Hero's Task (Groo the Wanderer #11) ★★★✬☆

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot, by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: A Hero's Task
Series: Groo the Wanderer #11
Author: Sergio Aragones
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 26
Words: 2K



This was a direct sequel to the previous issue where Groo hooks up with a handsome hero, does all the work and hero gets the credit. This is another quest where Groo does all the work and the reward is the king's daughter, a third of the kingdom and all the cheese dip you can eat. Only the kingdom is under a curse to make everyone super ugly and the cheesedip rancid. Groo runs off without realizing there is a curse and so the Hero gets the beautiful girl and all the riches.


I was wondering how Groo was going to get screwed in this issue and I laughed my head off when he seemed to get away only for us the readers to realize he'd run away from everything he'd really wanted. Aragones really knows how to set Groo up like a bowling pin only to knock him right down. It's perfect and amusing.


Now, this is a Marvel comic and man, the ads inside were not taken out. There is one for a spiderman backpack and then a 3 page spread about Spiderman trying to find the missing Captain Crunch (the breakfast cereal). It was jarring! I've gotten spoiled reading these digital scans, as whoever the scanner was took the time to remove most of that junk in the other comics I read. But it shows what age group this was aimed at, middle and highschool kids. And I don't see them being appreciative enough of Groo to keep the comic going. But what do I know?


★★★✬☆



Thursday, October 13, 2022

Groo Meets the Hero (Groo the Wanderer #10) ★★★✬☆

 This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot, by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Groo Meets the Hero
Series: Groo the Wanderer #10
Author: Sergio Aragones
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 26
Words: 2K

★★★✬☆


Thursday, September 15, 2022

Pigs and Apples (Groo the Wanderer #9) ★★★✬☆

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot, & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Pigs and Apples
Series: Groo the Wanderer #9
Author: Sergio Aragones
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 23
Words: 2K





Synopsis:


The Sage narrates an adventure he and Groo had. There were 2 villages. One held that apples were sacred and not to be eaten and the other held that pigs were sacred and not to be eaten. Groo goes hungry but the Sage tells him a way to get all the food he eats, ie, to incite war between the villages. Groo plays both sides off the other and eats all the apples and pigs he wants. Only to find out that the ban on them both was because they were all poisonous. Everyone gets really sick.


The Sage is lauhing his head off while telling the tale at an inn and has just finished an apple and pork dumpling. The mistress of the inn asks the name of the Sage's companion in the story and tells them it was “Groo”. She screams “but Groo just sold us all these pigs and apples”. Upon hearing this, everyone in the inn promptly gets sick.



My Thoughts:


Close to the best Groo story so far. I was worried when it started out with the Sage narrating as I don't like his character, but the story was all about Groo so that was ok.


Of course, I should have seen the ending coming a mile away but since I didn't it was a hilarious and yet entirely “Groo” ending.


★★★✬☆



Thursday, August 11, 2022

The Treasure of Kantor (Groo the Wanderer #8) ★★★✬☆

 


This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot, & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: The Treasure of Kantor
Series: Groo the Wanderer #8
Author: Sergio Aragones
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 24
Words: 2K





Synopsis:


Groo runs into an old “friend” at the ruins of Kantor. Said friend has betrayed Groo 20 times before but swears he won't do it again. He wants Groo to guard him and his crew as they loot the burial ground of the Kantors, who are giant ape warriors.


Groo fights the Kantors and runs a patrol off. He also finds the treasure but his “friend” tricks him and runs off with the whole treasure. They run into the rest of the Kantors who enslave them. Groo returns with the king who hired the “friend” and the issue ends with them about to run into the Kantors as well.


The moral of this issue is “When you double cross a friend, you triple-cross yourself”.



My Thoughts:


Ahhhh, good stuff! Groo beats the stuffing out of giant warrior apes and yet is fooled for the 21st time by a supposed “friend”. Groo might be mighty but by gum, is he stupid!


That brawn and simplicity is what makes this so amusing though. Also, the badguys always get what is coming to them in one way or another. I love that!


★★★✬☆