[Groop]Groo Sightings

Gary Grossmann grossfam@olywa.net
Sun, 6 Oct 2002 01:54:31 -0700


Hi Folks!

Well, I mentioned a couple days ago the agony and the ecstacy of Groo
collecting and that I would elaborate.  It's been so slow, I thought this
would be a good time to do so.  (I've also warned those of you who could
care less, so you can read no further and delete.)

On the ecstacy side, I was able to acquire the 4 Turkish Groos (#4-#7) that
up until recently I had concluded didn't exist.  There is an outside
possibility that there was a #8, but I won't believe it until my Turkish
buddy Ertan tells me it's does.  So I think #1-#7 and the four different
reprints with the same covers are the complete collection.

On the agony side I just found out from fellow Groopie Mike Slaubaugh that
an obscure publication called "Progress Report #1" a progress report for the
San Diego ComicCon from 1985 has a small Groo in a Sergio convention scene.
Somehow it went under my ebay radar (but not Mike's!).  This could be a
tough find!!!  (It also means Mike is one of those rare folks who has more
than one Groo List item I don't have. He has a (sigh) Sketch card!)

As to other recent Groo sightings and non-sightings:

The National Cartoonists Society brochure handed out at San Diego had Sergio
art with a teeny tiny Groo, but it is from 1994 and has been used in other
NCS publications (But thanks anyway, Eric.)

The ad for Mark's book "Comic Books and Other Necessities of Life" in the
CBG # 1499 has a Groo, but it's a drawing from the book.  My rule is that
reprints and preprints in ads don't count as separate Groo Sightings.  For
this same reason, the ad Mark had posted on his web site prior to the book's
publication doesn't count either because it's the same art (with a slightly
reformatted title & cropped a little different) as the actual cover to the
book.

As previously mentioned, the Groo on www.sergioaragones.net has not been
previously published, so it makes the list.

Oh, and I've been trying to straighten out just when Buzz & Bell and Smoke
House 5 (Les Piepons) were first published so I can figure out when the Groo
appearances in them were first published.  Suffice to say it's gotten
complicated.

Finally, a Groo has appeared in the last 2 MAD magazines, and the Groo ad
for the next Groo trade paperback in last months issue of Previews may make
the list, but I gotta wait and see if it's different from the actual cover.

Take care all -Gary G.