“Uh-oh.” “Uh-oh.” “Uh-oh.” “Uh-oh.” “Ah!”
Another favorite moment from comics, from Groo the Wanderer #100 (April 1993) by Sergio Aragones and Mark Evanier: Groo, having spent months learning to read from the last guardian of a hidden underground treasure, eventually makes his way to a nearby town where he spends all of his time in its library, putting aside his swords in favor of using and enjoying his newly-found skill. Eventually, Groo (to whom the guardian had passed responsibility for the treasure with his dying breath…dying of old age, not of Groo, surprisingly enough) starts bringing some of the gold to the library so they can purchase new material for their shelves.
Word gets out that this town now seemingly has some new secret source of wealth, and treasure-seekers come from far and wide to tear up the town, resulting in the following scene:
…and then Groo does what he does best, only better than usual now that he’s just slightly smarter than he was before, turning the tables on a few old enemies who used to take advantage of his dimwittedness.
It’s one of the two big changes made to Groo‘s formula over the lifetime of its multiple series, with the other being the addition of Groo’s canine pal Rufferto. It’s also one of the few times where Groo is given bit of additional emotional depth, where he finally becomes just self-aware enough to realize what he’d been before and how he’d been treated, and the importance of what was being destroyed, not by his own ignorance as per the conclusion of most Groo stories, but by the ignorance of those around him.
Also, as a former librarian, I do enjoy the occasional message to the masses that, hey, libraries are important. I certainly would have liked to have had access to swords back then to help get that point across.
Mike, the image of you sitting smugly behind a library desk, enwreathed by severed body parts is absurdly delightful.
(Off subject)Someone asked me what a good storyline from Nexus was and I had no clue. What do you think?
Re: NEXUS. I recently re-read the entire series including the DH issues so I’d say any issue/arc from the first 50 issues is solid. (And dear god, don’t let anyone know about SPACE OPERA because it’s so bad, it breaks my heart.)
One of my fav’ Groo stories.
You can feel the love for reading/knowledge coming from the creators on every page.
Sergio said he teared up a few times writing the story when we talked about it–I got it signed by Sergio Aragones a couple years ago. (And unfortunately forgot to get Mark’s autograph at PHX Comicon this past month).
Got my Groo the Adventurer signed at Phoenix Comicon last week…I got mentioned on Evanier’s blog as the guy who had a Groo book nit signed by Aragones already. I’m immortal now.
Anyway, when the hell are they going to get back on the Groo reprints???
[Now using glue stick to paste Mike’s head to Groo’s body holding many swords.]
Great stuff as usual, Mike! :)