How far will belief carry?
Creative Staff:
Story: Mark Evanier
Art: Sergio Aragones
What They Say:
It’s the last issue of a four-issue Groo miniseries, and we all know what that leads to: the first issue (coming soon) of the next four-issue Groo miniseries. In this epic conclusion (not to be confused with the next epic conclusion or others that follow), Groo finds himself in the midst of a battle twixt the awesome, all-powerful gods and maybe a few lesser ones.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The Fray of the Gods miniseries draws to a close with this installment and it’s certainly been an amusing ride. Not exactly a fun ride, but it had its share of amusing moments along the way that worked better than it should in some ways. What I’m finding with it now that it’s done is that it’s a good concept to work with but it ended up being probably two issues too long in execution, resulting in what felt like a lot of back and forth and some gags that didn’t quite work as well as they should. Which is a risk with a character like Groo because dragging some things into the ground is what’s part of the appeal because he’s so stupid.
The final act focuses on the back and forth between Cuffi and Saffi as they’re going to come to blows no matter what in an act of war, it’s just a matter of which side will Groo be on. Of course, Groo is only on Groo’s side in the end, or his stomach’s side, so after seeing him spend the first half of the book eating Cuffi’s kingdom out from under him and nearly attacking his “allies,” it’s no surprise that he’s simply going where the breeze takes him and enjoying it, especially when there is a distraction of food. The book plays this well enough and watching him fight with abandon is great as is seeing the way the armies on both sides try to play him off as well as Cuffi and Saffi.
Less interesting continues to be the piece involving the gods as the Star God is basically thrilled about his ascendence, which is made more so in this chapter as the slaves find themselves freed amid the war that’s going on and the end up destroying all the old gods temples, causing their power to fade. It’s all very fast moving to make the point about belief and malleability of worshippers, but it’s like the Groo side in that it’s drawn out while having the additional element of simply being flat out uninteresting. The gods side of this miniseries has been a slog to get through and that’s still very true here at the end of it, making me glad that it’s over and hoping for something more interesting with the next miniseries.
In Summary:
While I’ve had fun at times with this miniseries as there’s always something like when you spend time with Groo, Fray of the Gods has been more of a struggle than anything else and that’s been problematic. I’m definitely glad that the creative team took some time to stretch things a bit and do something a bit different, and good gravy does Aragones deliver some hugely detailed and energetic – and engaging – pages throughout it with everything going on. The whole slave revolt alone is worth the price of admission. But I want more out of a Groo “story” than we got here as this one was just drawn out too much.
Grade: C+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: January 11th, 2017
MSRP: $3.99
