Sergio Aragonés

Like all the titles in the DC horror renaissance of the late 1960s and 1970s, House of Secrets has its individuality drained out of it by the slow diminishing of its frames; what were once multi-page stories are now panels (or rarely a whole page) in an issue. It's disappointing, especially as the reason I am reading this is the presence of Abel, our stuttering, terrified host.

What are particularly charming are the recurrent "Cain & Abel" pages, single pages of three panels by Sergio show more Aragonés, each panel showing Abel and his murderous brother doing something different together. Sometimes these are simply Cain belittling or pranking Abel, but others give us something more-- Abel getting something good because he is good, Cain causing his own comeuppance, or at their best, a brief glimpse of the true affection the brothers share. In one, they stroll through a crowd of people horrified by a triple-bill of horror films they have just scene, the only ones smiling; I love the idea that they spend their time popping from the Dreaming over to Earth to see horror films. My favorite is one where they are playing what looks like "Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots," only their two boxers are hugging, embarrassing them. It's all a warped but endearing depiction of brotherly love.

Individual stories still manage to do some good work, though. There's some child creepiness at work in "Goodbye, Nancy" (written by John Albano, art by Vic Catan, Frank Redondo, and Abe Ocampo), about a kid's odd new playmate.  "Small Invasion" (written by Sheldon Mayer, art by Alex Niño), about an alien who means to conquer the Earth but ends up working in a logging camp, is oddly charming, and has some amazingly grotesque art. "A Lonely Monstrosity" (written by John Albano, art by Nestor Redondo) is a cruel tale about a couple who scheme to deprive a grotesque-looking man of his own fortune. I really liked "Skin Deep" (written by Jack Oleck, art by Alfredo Alcala), about an ugly man who commits murder and disguises himself to marry an attractive woman under false pretenses, as well as "Act III Eternity" (written by George Kashdan, art by Jess Jodloman).

There are many more-- despite its lack of the frames I enjoy so much, this is probably one of the better Showcase Presents volumes of vintage DC horror. Much of that is due to the dual artistic talents of Alex Niño and (especially) Alfredo Alcala, whose luscious, grotesque, beautiful art enlivens even the most stale of narratives. Even their lettering is a cut above the rest!

The Houses of Mystery and Secrets: « Previous in sequence | Next in sequence » show less

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot, & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: The Song of Groo
Series: Groo the Wanderer #1
Author: Sergio Aragones
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 23
Words: 2K

Synopsis:

A minstrel is singing about the (mis)adventures of Groo the show more Wanderer. First he is supposed to catch some food for the kingdom, but ends up stampeding the whole herd off the cliff, thus destroying all the livestock. Then he is supposed to guard a bridge against enemies. He guards the bridge, but lets the enemies pass and sack the city, as his duty was to guard the bridge. Finally, he is sent out as a decoy to capture one city while the king captures another. Only Groo captures the first city and when the king hears about it, he marches off to claim it for himself. One of Groo's soldiers tells him the king had sent him off as a decoy and he wasn't actually supposed to capture the city. So Groo gives the city back and the king and his army get the stuffing beaten out of them.

The book ends with Groo coming into the tavern, laughing at the stupid idiot in the song, only to realize it is himself and he starts chasing the minstrel with his swords drawn.

My Thoughts:

I had to do a bit of research before I could catalog this, as “Groo” had a tumultuous beginning. The creator, Argones, started with one independent press that went out of business, then did some standalones or small runs of Groo until Epic Comics picked him up. So technically, this series I'm reading is Groo the Wanderer Vol 2, Issue 1. Don't worry about it, there are 120 issues for this run :-D But what it does mean is that there are 12-20 comics about Groo before this that I can't get a hold of. I don't think it affects anything, but without reading them, who knows?

The first thing that struck me as I opened this issue was how busy it was. Mrs B was looking over my shoulder and commented that it reminded her of a Where's Waldo page. Here's the first page of the issue:

Clickable for a high res version

This was very light hearted and humorous and had no overarching narrative plot. To be honest, I think that is perfect for a once a month comic of only 23 pages. I hope the comic stays that way because sometimes you need a break from Big Stories. Even when you like them, Big Stories can be tiring.

On another note, the editor for this series is Archie Goodwin. I had to go look that up to see if it was a joke or what. Turns out it is his real name and as far as Wikipedia was concerned, had no relation or bearing from the Archie Goodwin in the Nero Wolfe mystery books by Rex Stout. Not a big thing, but it was another humorous aspect to this comic :-)

★★★☆☆ show less

A hilarious send-up of DC and its heroes. After DC Comics refuses to buy anything from Aragones (because he does Groo the Wanderer), Sergio storms back to his studio, coercing Mark Evanier ('You write words, or I tell everyone you wrote for Bay City Rollers.') to write for the comic book that will prove that Sergio is 'George Perez all rolled into one'. What follows is a MAD-like parody of superhero origins, leading to an epic confrontation with... Well, you'll have to buy it and find out. show more Almost a must buy for any comic book fan. show less

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot, & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: World Without Women
Series: Groo the Wanderer #4
Author: Sergio Aragones
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 26
Words: 2K

Synopsis:

Many village women are kidnapped by air pirates and Groo is show more hired to rescue them. He “trains” the villagers by eating all their food and then bashing them on the head. Groo gets tangled up in the airship, rescues the women and then finds out they never wanted to be rescued as they were being treated like princesses. That'll teach Groo to try to be nice!

My Thoughts:

When Groo first meets the men of the villages and they recite a litany of why they need their wives back, it was obvious what was going to happen at the end. It really felt like a bad joke that you tell just so you can say the horrible punchline and make everyone groan.

I have to admit, I envy those people who can read something like this and then write 1000 words about the color palette, shading and artwork and how it all affects the entire tone of the issue. They'll describe in detail some tiny part and then syllogistically tie the end page to the beginning page and seem to actually make sense. While at times envious, I am also convinced those people are full of horse pucky.

So have no fear, you need not fear deep and pretentious twaddle from me. I stick to the shallow end of the pool, just like Groo.

(This message is approved by Groo)

★★★✬☆ show less