Scans_Daily

Dark Horse: "IT ALL COMES CRASHING DOWN!

It’s the grandest of finales as Groo: Friends and Foes wraps up with its twelfth and final issue. By now, everyone should have figured out how and where Kayli, the little girl Groo has been helping to find her father, finds her father. That is, if they’re smarter than Groo, and we hope for their sakes they are. This issue, like all of ’em, comes from the award-winning team of Sergio Aragonés and Mark Evanier."



( Tearjerker below )

Aw, I'm a sucker for happy endings.

Kayli does show up in recent stories, but more as a sidekick to the Minstrel.

Dark Horse: "As Groo wanders through twelve issues, he encounters his old friend/foe, the mercenary commander Taranto, who’s plotting to claim the vast riches that shall come to the father of the lost girl, Kayli. The intrigue unfolds in this story by the award-winning team of Sergio Aragonés and Mark Evanier, with lettering by Stan Sakai and coloring by Tom Luth!

* This time, Taranto’s intentions really ARE pure . . . or are they?

* Yes! Seriously, they are.

* (No, they aren’t.)"



( Read more... )

I actually like Taranto. I think that he's a versatile character, being a stand-in for any robber and looter, and his confusing of Groo is always fun to see.

Next issue: the Minstrel!

Dark Horse: "WHAT A SCOOP!

Let’s go to press! The most intrepid reporter in Groo’s world, Weaver, is back, accompanied as usual by his assistant, Scribe. This time, they try reporting the truth about Groo, but of course no one believes them."

The series' main arc - namely, the little girl looking for her father (or is it the little boy looking for his mother?) - is beginning to take center stage from this adventure on.



( When did the press ever report fake news? )

Weaver is an avatar of Mark Evanier, who shares writing duties in Groo with Sérgio Aragonés. Scribe is letterer Stan Sakai, also the author of my favourite comic series, Usagi Yojimbo. Ergo, he is also my favourite character in Groo's universe, if not for the sheer number of references to Usagi (he wears the bunny ronin's crest and the kimono has pretty much the same pattern).

Next: Pal 'n Drumm (say it out loud...).

Dark Horse: "You’d think the smartest man in the world would be wise enough to not have Groo as a friend! The Sage has developed another scheme to amass wealth without working hard . . . but how clever can a scheme be that relies in any way on our hero?"

The Sage was my favourite Groo character until I started reading Usagi Yojimbo, when the Scribe took his place, for obvious reasons.



( 8/24 pages below )

Next issue: Groo's love, Chakaal.

Dark Horse: "The Year of Groo marches on, as Groo marches right into Arcadio the Hero. Arcadio’s in the protection business, teaching villagers how to protect themselves from dragons . . . but he should be teaching them to protect themselves from Groo! Feather-brained barbarian thrills from the award-winning team of Sergio Aragonés and Mark Evanier, with Stan Sakai and Tom Luth."


( Do you know what happens when you take a baby dragon from his mother? )

Arcadio is my least favourite recurring character in Groo. He is a take on the legends and lore of medieval heroes, but I think that Groo makes him redundant somehow.

Next up: Groo's sister, Queen Grooella!

Dark Horse: "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!"


( 8 pages below the cut )

Next issue, Arba and Dakarba, the witches.

WHAT? No cheese-dipping wandering barbarian here?

Let's try and rectify it, shall we?



( My very first Groo issue, by the way )

There's an Usagi Yojimbo story that pays homage to Groo and ends with this last scene.