Groo the Wanderer

Real Name: Groo

Identity/Class: Normal human

Occupation: Barbarian warrior; Mendicant (but don't let him hear you call him that)

Affiliations: Rufferto (pet dog)

Enemies: Whatever army he's supposed to be on, as well as their foes; Taranto; Pal and Drumm (con men); Arba and Dakarba (witches).

Known Relatives: Granny Groo (grandmother); Groella (sister, a powerful and ruthless queen)

Aliases: None known

First Appearance: Destroyer Duck (Eclipse Enterprises 1982)

Base of Operations: The ancient world

Other Titles: Starslayer (Pacific Comics); Groo (Pacific, then Eclipse, then Marvel Epic Comics, then Image, then Dark Horse)

Powers/Abilities: Groo is a whirling dervish of destruction, a combatant without peer. He will also, without fail, accidentally sink any ship he boards [usually in a panel or two], without exception, unless his dog Rufferto happens to be aboard.

History: Groo is a barbarian warrior. He's not the smartest person in existence... okay, he's pretty much the dimmest person. In spite of this, and the fact that he tends to bring disasterously bad luck to any place he stops for more than a few seconds (comic companies included it seems), Groo manages to survive because he is an excellent fighter, able to take on entire armies and emerge without a scratch.

Groo is generally accompanied by Rufferto, his loyal and brave dog.

Comments: Created by and copyright to Sergio Aragones. The character has retained mostly the same people working on him throughout his entire run - artist and plotter Sergio Aragones, with writer Mark Evanier and letterer Stan Sakai. The original colorist was Gordeon Kent, but for the bulk of Groo's run this job has been carried out by Tom Luth, who took over during Groo's run for Pacific. Mark Evanier delves into Groo's history here.

Other barbarian heroes include Thrud (equally dumb) and Cerebus (actually very smart - it's the rest of his world that is stupid or insane).

Thanks to Chris Haxton for informing me about Groo's family, enemies, profession as Mendicant, and ability to sink any ship he boards. Chris also mentions that Groo came close to getting married once.

CLARIFICATIONS: Not to be confused with

Any Additions/Corrections? Please let me know.

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