A granny that could do less with seeing her grandson for good reason!
Creative Staff:
Story: Mark Evanier
Art: Sergio Aragones
What They Say:
The Year of Groo continues! As Groo roams from town to town, wreaking his usual havoc, he runs into his beloved Granny Groo, who raised him from an inept young toddler to an even less-ept older idiot. Can she use Groo in a profitable scheme? Well, what do you think? From Sergio Aragonés and Mark Evanier, with Stan Sakai and Tom Luth!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The yearlong event of Groo kicked off in the first issue and it was one that worked rather well for me, bringing me back to a character I hadn’t seen in years to let me know he’s still the same. And that’s a good thing for a character like Groo, because the charm is in who he is and his lack of real change combined with the humor, rhyme and creative amount of background material that goes on here. With Ahax getting the story started, we saw once again just how much of a problem Groo can be for those around, and how Rufferto often misinterprets what goes on so he can continue to view his master in the right light, which leads to some very fun commentary along the way as you get several points of view about the events as they unfold.
While Ahax is now struggling with his own issues, most of which were created himself, Groo is delighting as he moves further inland by realizing he’s someplace that he’s been before because he doesn’t remember any of it. In Groo-world, that makes perfect sense because not recognizing things a second time is familiar to him. Poor Rufferto trying to solve all of that while also listening to the same stories over and over again about Groo’s younger days. With the realization that they’re getting closer to where his Granny Groo may be, we get to see some time from when Groo was little and the trouble he caused there, which is adorable and just as dangerous as now. The real trouble starts when he gets closer to where the camp is now as one of the fortune tellers has come across him and ran back to warn them. With the lengthy history they all have with Groo, it’s a wonder the camp doesn’t just break apart and splinter to the winds the minute his presence is detected.
Similar to Ahax, the real fun comes when Granny Groo re-enters the picture and she tries to figure out how to use Groo and his problematic nature to her advantage. This is, of course, a familiar plot point in many stories with Groo and the fun is in seeing how it unfolds. With the gypsy camp being threatened by a nearby village, she manages to get Groo not to fight but rather to just stand there and scare them by his presence. Which works well, since he does listen to his Granny as best as he can. But she gets greedy with it and it turns into more problematic ways as she tries to sell him to the other village in order to get rid of him. Which works to a degree, but it causes all sorts of trouble there for people as well because Groo is Groo and Groo is trouble. There’s some fun destruction stuff going on here towards the end, which is where he gets to cut loose for a bit, but it’s really enjoyable seeing people trip over themselves not to get him involved in things and trying to play it cool only for it all to end up in a mess anyway, largely because of their own doing.
In Summary:
Though we get less rhyming this time around, we still got a lot of fun as Groo’s journey to everywhere continues with Rufferto at his side. There’s something really enjoyable about watching him working hard to do nothing, as he was told, and seeing the way everyone still reacts around him. While I do enjoy his more chaotic moments of action and what it brings to the table, everyone falling all over themselves to avoid trouble is also enjoyable. The book continues what we had in the first installment with its mostly singular focus on a character, this time with Granny Groo, and it does it with such great detail and color design that it’s an immensely rich and appealing book from that perspective alone. While it looks “simple” because of the designs, there’s such an old school richness and detail to it that it still blows me away after all these years with what Aragones can do.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: February 18tht, 2015
MSRP: $3.99
