SERGIO ARAGONES GROO 3 (OF 4) (001)

Description

Groo has been through 4 publishers in its first 15 years of existence (Pacific, Eclipse, Marvel, Image) before finally settling in with Dark Horse in 1998 where he has stayed since - making Dark Horse the longest publisher of Sergio Aragonés' most enduring and endearing creation.

This cover is from Groo's third issue with Dark Horse from 1998, which makes it an early third appearance with the publisher but also makes it hard for me to fathom that this art is already two decades old.

This cover is special for me for two reasons: (1) it features the Minstrel who is a musician and a jolly person - two traits I have, and (2) this is collected in the trade paperback Groo: The Most Intelligent Man In The World - which is the first ever Groo trade paperback I owned.

Artistically, the details are amazing. It features a paste-up stat which Segio needed because the minstrel's hat intersects the logo. The headstock of the guitar actually features three sexy female warriors. The background is Groo and Rufferto seeing some great action in a fray which is a staple and signature to every Groo story. The Minstrel is oblivious to the action happening behind him. I also like that it's a night-time image where Sergio had to paint the entire background black, because it makes the art more complete and nicer to display. In black and white, the details especially for the backgrounds pop out well because the colorer published version sort of subdues them.

I thought I will never get another piece of Groo art again because my other piece was alreadya grail - featuring so many characters in a double-page spread. But I realized a couple of things: (1) all the covers in my collection are either of trade paperbacks, recreations, or re-imaginations, so I wanted to own a real cover from an actual regular comic; and (2) the year 2018 is about to end and I have not acquired a single piece of 2018 comic art yet because I've been busy collecting other things and spending elsewhere. But I can't go an entire year without buying any comic art, can I?