GROO GODS AGAINST GROO #4

Gods Against Groo Part 4″

Groo has decided to slay all the armies fighting. One guy gets a brilliant idea that they all should play dead. This works and Groo goes off and the armies survive. The Sage with Captain Ahax and Taranto need to keep Groo off their ship so they can load it with gold and gems. They leave the priests behind to do this. The priests tell Groo of cheese dip and he goes off in search of it. The ship then goes to the land with the gems and loads up. Groo tells some bystanders that these gems are valuable and if they were in the old world they would live like kings.

Anyway Groo comes on the ship and decides to go in and take a nap. The ship sails and there is panic when Groo is found to be aboard. The Sage comes up with a plan to trick Groo into a rowboat. It all looks like smooth sailing when they discover stowaways on board. The Stowaways plan to go and sell gems, but the ship is overloaded and sinks. Looks like Groo did it again. Anyway Groos behavior has alienated the people and they no longer worship him as a god. The Groo God disappears, and the gods are at least safe from him in heaven.

“Rufferto”

Rufferto chases a lizard only a whole bunch of lizards attack him. He runs into some other dogs and makes up a tale that he was attacked by a giant lizard.

The final issue in the saga of the Gods comes to an end. A very satisfying ending. One where the greedy guys get they just deserts. Groo is no longer a god and must content himself with wrecking the mortal plain. A side note is Kayli and the Minstrel are freed from the dungeon. The people rise up in revolt because the queen would sentence a young girl to beheading. Ends with Groo catching flying fish and going to start a fire in his rowboat. I love these stories and thankfully after forty years it still is going strong. This July the next series Groo In the Wild will come out. Can’t wait.

GROO GODS AGAINST GROO #3

“Gods Against Groo Part 3”

Writers: Sergio Aragones and Mark Evanier

Artist: Sergio Aragones

The priests of Diothos are plotting to destroy Groo’s godhood. They decide to recruit the former priests of the discredited gods of Mexahuapan. They want them to start collecting donations to build resentment. This plan is starting to work. The Sage lands with his army and the army of the rival nation. Only he finds out Groo is still alive and worshipped as a god. He runs away and his army follows him. Groo hearing of a fray jumps in. Only he starts to slay both the invading army and his own. Kayli decides to go to the queen to get her father released from the dungeon. Only this angers the queen and she arrests Kayli and tosses her in the dungeon to be executed.

“Rufferto”

The one page strip has Rufferto looking for Groo. He follows a smell from pig sties to garbage dumps until he finds his beloved Groo.

The saga of Groo and his elevation to godhood by the people of Mexahuapan continues. The priest that came to convert the natives come up with an ingenious plan. One that seems to have some potential to destroy Groo’s godhood. The Sage finds out that Groo is still alive and has to abandon his plans to conquer the land. The gods continue to debate what should be done to get rid of God Groo. Groo of course is happy and now has an epic fray. Oh, and the subplot with the Minstrel and Kayli also has an interesting development. I do love these Groo stories.

GROO GODS AGAINST GROO #2

“Gods Against Groo Part 2”

Writers: Sergio Aragones and Mark Evanier

Artist: Sergio Aragones

The gods have decided to gather themselves into an army and drive God Groo out of the heavens. Only they are no match for God Groo. After being killing and resurrected many times they decide to call it quits. Ironically the natives are terrified of the storms that resulted from the battle and call on Groo to help. Groo shows up and it stops thus increasing their belief in him. Captain Ahax and Taranto with the priests find Groo and decide to use him to get the natives gold. The Sage has arrived in the new land with an army to conquer them. Only the natives have a bigger army. They don’t have gold but plenty of gems. He hears the land on the other side of the island has all the gold. Only the army there is equal. Sage comes up with the idea of uniting his army with the natives and conquering the land of gold. Meanwhile back in the old world the queen decides to have the Minstrel beheaded for singing about Groo.

“Rufferto”

One page strip that has a boy being bullied and picking up a stick. Rufferto is behind him and shows his teeth which frightens the bullies.

Another excellent issue. The God Groo is just like mortal Groo and loves a fray. He proves too overwhelming and the gods have to give up their plan to defeat Groo and hope mortals will stop believing in him. On Earth, the various scoundrels are conspiring to use Groo to get them rich. The Sage is also conspiring without knowing the danger of Groo he faces. A real fun satire on religion and politics.

GROO GODS AGAINST GROO #1

“Gods Against Groo Part 1”

Writers: Sergio Aragones and Mark Evanier

Artist: Sergio Aragones

The Sage meets the Minstrel and his daughter Kayli. They hear that Groo has left for a land across the ocean. The Sage goes to the queen and gets hired as her advisor. He has real soldiers go to this new land to get the gold. The Minstrel decides to sing about Groo at a local tavern. This is a mistake as there is a law against saying the name Groo and he gets tossed into jail. His daughter is forced to sing for money.

Groo and Rufferto are in a rowboat after sinking Ahax’s ship. They capture some flying fish and Groo starts a fire to cook them on the rowboat. Naturally the boat sinks and the two get washed ashore. The natives start to think even more highly of Groo because his arrival stopped the storms. Storms that were caused when the gods ate cheese dip that they got for the God Groo. The God Groo and God Rufferto have caused no end of problems in heaven. They eat sacred animals and burn sacred scrolls. The gods decide to gather their armies and have a war with God Groo. Naturally God Groo loves the idea of a fray.

“Rufferto”

The one-page Rufferto strip has him think about eating a frog and jumping in the water to look for one. He finds a fish and gets chased back into the water by a bear. Then he gets chased out by a huge fish and loses his fish.

Wow it has been over forty years since Groo first came on the scene. For forty years the same artist, writer and letterer have worked on this series for five different comic companies. In all that time the quality has remained consistent. This is the final series in a trilogy about the gods of Groo’s time. Already this is a fun enjoyable issue with the lovable Groo and his dog having adventures. I never get tired of Groo and hope he lasts for another forty years.

THE ROOK DESPERATE TIMES

“Desperate Times”

Writer: Steven Grant

Artist: Paul Gulacy

Restin Dane pursues Cat McCall who stole Adam’s time machine to 1967 San Fransisco. After a brief adventure with some hippies and a man who knows him from his future, he tracks down Cat. Before he can take her back to her time, two giant robots come and take her and the time machine. Restin follows in his castle to a station orbiting the Earth.

This station is in the far future of the 434th century. He finds that this station is refuge from an ice age and he is known to the inhabitants. A Marshal Skarkov has plans to resurrect Joseph Stalin because he was the only one in the past to destroy individuality. Restin rescues Cat and destroys this kooky plan.

Then Restin finds himself back in the age of the dinosaurs. He finds that an alien race has unleashed creatures to destroy all life so they can colonize the planet. With the help of Cat he stops them and Cat ends up in 1868 where she meets his great-great-great grandfather and becomes his great-great-great grandmother.

Finally, Restin comes to his base and meets his android servant Man-Rs. It is located in 2048 after terrorists detonate a nuke in Yellowstone. The subsequent supervolcano destroys most of the continent except the southwest where his base is located. He has to fight his crazy daughter from taking over the base. Restin goes back in time to learn how to build a time machine. He comes back and lures his daughter into a machine to strand her back in the past. He also stops Quarb from detonating the nuke and saves the country.

This was the last of the Rook Dark Horse issues. It was a graphic novel and looks like they tossed four issues into one big book. I loved this take on the Rook. It was very respectful of the original Warren stories but put a new spin on it. The writer used many of the characters from the old series. This was a wild ride with him going back and forth in time. I would love to see more of this character, but I have a feeling that isn’t in the cards for the foreseeable future.

THE ROOK #4

“Untitled”

Writer: Steven Grant

Artist: Paul Gulacy

Restin Dane is still in 1890 London when one night he is confronted by the Morlock that hitched a ride on his great-great-great grandfather’s time machine. He defeats the Morlock with the intervention of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and a Great Detective. The Great Detective puts the Morlock in his own private prison. Restin then continues on and runs into a woman fleeing some men. He saves her but she was hired by Quarb to steal the time machine key to Adam’s machine. After the girls steals his key, he finds out that the Great Detective has been kidnapped by Quarb. Taken on his dirigible, The Rook jumps on and climbs aboard. There he witnesses Quarb decapitate the Great Detective. Restin manages to blow up the dirigible and jump off. At the end the mysterious woman takes Adam’s time machine and Restin follows to catch her. Quarb survived and is revealed to be masquerading as both the Great Detective and the Alexander of Crime. He faked both deaths to continue on some other project. Which right now is examining the Morlock.

This was a very fast paced story. In some ways maybe a bit too fast. It was hard to keep up with everything but to the credit of the writer I was able to. Restin now has another goal in catching this woman thief. Quarb is still around and up to something. A good story that stays faithful to the original but yet updates it for more modern times.

THE ROOK #3

“Untitled”

Writer: Steven Grant

Artist: Paul Gulacy

Restin is imprisoned in the Morlock pit with a strange guy. This guy Quarb was apparently responsible for the Morlocks and Eloi. This was some sort of experiment in evolution for him. He also knows the older version of The Rook. He shows Restin a way to get out and they do. They find the time machine of Adam’s at the entrance to the cave and Ouarb tries to take it. Only it rejects him. Then they see some Morlocks taking Adam to a pit where they try to have him mate with some female Eloi. Quarb manages to distract the Morlocks for Restin to grab a pistol and free Adam. He then calls up his castle machine to jump start Adam’s. They both meet back in Victorian times where Adam is very disillusioned with time travel. At the end it is revealed that a Morlock managed to follow them back to the Victoria era.

This was another interesting story. Quarb was an enigmatic guy. Someone that had dealings with the Rook before. A guy not quite human and very long lived. I think from the old Warren series he was an immortal. Had an interesting explanation about the origin of the Morlocks and Eloi. A story that whets my appetite to find out more.

THE ROOK #2

“Untitled”

Writer: Steven Grant

Artist: Paul Gulacy

Adam Dane has built himself a time machine with the help of his mysterious apprentice. This apprentice is his great-great-great grandson Restin Dane. Adam is friends with H.G. Wells, and he discusses his apprehension about his new apprentice. One day he leaves and Restin follows in his own time castle. He tracks Adam to the far future and is attacked by the Eloi. Morlocks come and Adam takes his pistol and saves his grandson. He tells Restin that he taught the Eloi to fight, and they now are attacking the Morlocks. Only the Morlocks are smarter and getting the upper hand. They also are now farming the Eloi. Adam feels that he owns it to save the Eloi. The two are ambushed and Adam falls into a hole that opens up. Restin is captured by the Morlocks and thrown into a hole. He meets a mysterious man in a robe and hood that knows of Restin from his older self.

This was a very interesting story. Restin meets his great-great-great grandfather in the future of Wells. Only there was some stuff that Adam left out in the telling to Wells. Like the Eloi are little more than animals themselves and he fears they could become savage predators. He is also an Englishman with the civilizing mentality of the Victorian era and feels it is his duty to civilize the Eloi. Ends with this mysterious figure that was from Restin’s future. I am looking forward to seeing where this story goes.

THE ROOK #1

“No Future Part 1 of 4: Save Yourself”

Writer: Steven Grant

Artist: Paul Gulacy

1813 Northern Spain. A man in a British officer uniform is confronted by four weird looking characters. They are time travelers like the man and need the man’s time machine. The man is reluctant to kill them for some reason but gets to his machine and escapes to 2015. The characters follow. In 2015 Restin Dane is a grad student obsessed with building a time machine. He has a great-great-great grandfather who wrote a time travel story from the Victorian era so he must have built one. Dane’s girlfriend forces him to take time off and go to a Halloween costume party. He goes as an astronaut.

The man from the beginning arrives in 2015 and looks for Restin Dane. He finds him at the costume party but the four chasing him also arrive. A fight ensues with the man cutting off the hand of the geisha woman and killing the reptilian guy. He takes Dane from the party and flees to save the others at the party from harm. The two alive catch up and the little toad guy kills his companion. Then he rips out the throat of the man. The toad guy hopes to enter the castle machine with the man’s blood. Only the man states his blood is now poison to the toad guy. Restin backs away and the door to the castle opens for him. The computer Man-Rs greets him and teleports him away to the far post apocalypse future.

Later Dane arrives back and finds his girlfriend in a coma. She was traumatized when she found out the geisha was her. Everyone thinks the fight was a prank for no bodies exist. Dane then travels back to Victorian England to meet his relative.

This was an incredible story. Starts with some guy who obviously without stating it was the future version of Restin Dane. He has these weird guys after him. Now the younger version has the time machine. I loved this so far. It keeps the iconic castle yet updates the character to 2015. No more leisure suit. Sets up a very interesting story that you want to continue reading to find out the answers.

GROO MEETS TARZAN #4

“4 of 4”

Writers: Sergio Aragones and Mark Evanier

Artists: Sergio Aragones and Thomas Yeates

Groo has returned to the village of Ungara to get an army to help Tarzan. He gets distracted by some rancid stuff to eat and Rufferto has to round up the warriors. He also has to convince Groo not to slay them but lead them to the other world. The poor village warriors have no choice but to follow Groo or he will slay them all.

Tarzan meanwhile has knocked out the slaver leader and dressed as him. He leads the slavers away from the peaceful village and hopes that the strange creature he met doesn’t come with an army. Back in our world Sergio is about to get eaten by crocodiles. Luckily the croc is an actor hired to pretend to be a croc. Seems that Chula Vista animals die off and they must hire actors to play the animals. A friendly guy Joel Kirschbaum helps Sergio by giving him the other croc costume to keep warm as they wait for the tram to pick them up.

Groo has managed to lead his army to Pal-Ul-Don and shouts for Tarzan. This alerts the slavers that Tarzan is impersonating their leader. They are about to overwhelm him and kill him when Groo and his army arrive. A big fight ensues, and the slavers are defeated. Groo leads his army back with the promise to leave their village forever. The slavers escape and follow Groo but take the wrong path. They end up in a dinosaur valley and get eaten. Tarzan destroys the passage to Groo’s world.

At Comic-Con fans hear that Sergio is lost in Chula Vista and head out to rescue him. A guy cosplaying as Skeletor’s mother scares Sergio who thinks it is death. Fortunately, he is saved, and the publicity exposes the horrid conditions at the animal park to get it shut down.

The final issue of this crossover comes to a very satisfying conclusion. I love Groo and I love Tarzan. Combining them was a stroke of brilliance. Both characters were portrayed as they were meant to be. Plus we get a side story where Sergio and Mark poke fun at themselves. Is this the end of Groo? There are no future crossovers but a new mini-series Groo: Gods against Groo is to be the next one. A more traditional story set in Groo’s world with some familiar characters. I can’t wait.