Sergio Aragones Groo: Nursery
Adult/High School-Groo's skill with his swords is so great that he never loses a battle. Unfortunately, he is also mind-bogglingly stupid and brings bad luck to everyone with whom he associates. This is a reprint, in graphic-novel format, of four stories previously published in comic-book form. In the first, the barbarian warrior manages to sink all the ships in a giant naval battle-including those on his side. In the second, he lands on a tropical island paradise and attempts to be helpful, disrupting the ecology of the area with each effort. Even singing about Groo's exploits turns out to be disastrous to a minstrel in the third story, and the subsequent attempts of villagers in the fourth to avoid him altogether are no more effective. Despite his destructiveness, Groo has a charming innocence. The art is cartoony and colorful, adding to the general silliness of the mayhem. Some clever lyric poetry leads off each story, and more is seen in Groo's minstrel song. This collection is just long enough for the jokes to play off one another without letting the humor wear thin. This parody of the sword-and-sorcery genre is not sophisticated, but it packs in a great deal of slapstick fun.Paul Brink, Fairfax County Public Library System, VACopyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.