Wherein Groo joins an army (again?).
Creative Staff:
Story: Mark Evanier
Art: Sergio Aragones
Colors: Carrie Strachan
Letterer: Stan Sakai
What They Say:
Of all the millions of things in the world that Groo cannot understand, perhaps the biggest is why humans treat animals the way they do. In this, the latest installment of his newest miniseries, he wrestles with the problem and–SPOILER ALERT!–doesn’t figure out that or practically anything.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The larger world of Groo had a pretty decent storyline over the last three miniseries that told a larger story but was one that ended up getting a little convoluted over time. It was big and silly and at times weird but there was just too much of it to keep track of. With the start of this new four-issue series, Mark Evanier gets back to the basics and the smaller side of things and that helps a lot. And they lucked into getting a great artist for it as well, according to the letters pages, with Sergio Aragones. Sometimes you can’t imagine a different artist handling a property, but man, this Aragones kid has it down pat. Carrier Strachan is back on the color design so there’s some great consistency here and Stan Sakai performs the job that he does so well in lettering this run and giving it such impact.
Groo spending his time back in familiar places is proving to be a bit interesting since it’s been a while since he’s been to some of them. We saw that in the opening issue as he visited places that have changed for the worse and he does not like change, unless it’s change orchestrated by him. And his presence is causing enough problems there that it now has the king sending in his army to deal with Groo. Of course, they don’t say it’s Groo because they’re not dumb but when the troops arrive and find Groo, it doesn’t take long for it to all go bad and for them to flee in the face of his savage eating skills. It’s fun to watch but it sets things in motion for how this issue plays out. Since Groo has realizes, oddly enough, that he’s unwelcome in this village, he ends up heading off in search of a place where he can get more delicious food and that brings back memories of other villages that he knows are nearby. It’s certainly pure Groo in a lot of ways and it makes it clear that he’s just doing his usual thing.
Groo’s journey looking for particular foods that he remembers from the past takes him to the first village where he discovers that the Ortix have been hunted to extinction for their ivory – though he does try to eat the ivory first. All of this keeps him on the path to trying to find a place to where they are but he just keeps seeing how much things have changed in this pursuit of Ortix by the king that it only infuriates him more – made worse by the King continuing to send troops after him at every place he goes. Amusingly, Groo later ends up in the newly conscripted army because they’re short of soldiers trying to take him out, but it just sets up for the perfect storm of chaos for him to be involved in since he’s not aware that they’re hunting for him – and none of them are either. It’s only when the two armies meet do the new ones learn the truth and that is either going to give Groo a lot to fight or he’s going to realize he’s temporarily got a bit of an army himself now.
In Summary:
Groo does as Groo does and that’s part of the joy in all of this. The script keeps him moving forward in his own oblivious way – with Rufferto helping out from time to time – but so much of it is just the inertia if Groo looking for food or a fight. The local king has certainly done poorly in some ways with the locals but none of them seem particularly bad off – yet, at least. The changes they’ve made are going to lead to more problems beyond Groo but I love that Groo is the one that can see it happening and doesn’t like it since he’s usually just so oblivious to things. It’s a good issue that keeps things moving right along as you once again sympathize with the army Groo faces but you also side with Groo more than you usually do.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: August 16th, 2023
MSRP: $4.99
