[Groop]Gary Weighs In (Big Deal!)

[Gary Grossmann]

Hi Folks!

Something was wrong with my server so I ended up getting everyone's messages
out of order.  Of course, being a Groo fan, it didn't make any difference
with respect to my comprehension of those messages!

The MAD Ad thing is too bad.  The first 24 issues and MAD-item related ads
notwithstanding, MAD was famous for not having ads.  I once read that MAD
and Consumer Reports were the only national magazines that did not take
advertising and I thought that was wonderfully apropos because in it's own
zany way, MAD provides at least as significant a consumer service as CR.
Many of us first learned to be skeptical of anything corporate America and
politicians say from reading MAD as adolescents.  I've often wondered how
many millions of people have NOT been duped and suckered because they read
MAD.  Plus we were seeing a wide variety of world class art by the likes of
Sergio, Jack Davis, and Mort Drucker and didn't even know it!

It's too bad sales are down 90% from it's peak and I hope the ads help
prolong it for a while longer.  But it may just be that, like so many other
things, its salad days are gone forever.  Sigh!  But what a history and what
a run!!!

I don't know as much about Internet potentials as virtually everyone else on
the list, but one thing I do know is that no matter how sophisticated things
get, I will always want to own a printed version of Groo and all things
Sergio & Mark. And printing it at home is just not the same!  Maybe I'm just
stuck in the last century!

It's interesting that coloring comics has gone digital and the head colorist
at Dark Horse told me Tom is one of the "older" colorists who didn't have
trouble with the transition.  The key factor is you still have to be a color
artist to do the job right.  I guess drawing could be done digitally
someday, but that's a whole different ballgame from coloring and I can't see
a craftsman like Sergio ever even checking it out.

Let's not talk about fruit and vegetables anymore, OK?

Take care all -Gary G.