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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><span style='mso-tab-count:1'> </span>I
have been waiting until I had a decent enough time in my schedule to write a
proper response to the question of how I learned of Groo. When I was 8-10 years
old during the summers I was sent to a day camp from 1983-1985. On the bus trip
to and from the camp every day two friends and I got into reading issues of Mad
Magazine. Luckily one of my friends had a dad, who had been collecting Mad for
years before, so we never really ran out of material to look through together.
Apparently like many people on this Groop list this is when I first became
aware of Sergio’s artwork, particularly his margin art. I loved it. As a
kid I even specifically bothered to look up the artist’s name in the
magazine’s credit. I am not trying to be offensive to Sergio. It is just
sometimes kids don’t bother with some of those types of things unless
they are really interested, and I clearly was interested.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><span style='mso-tab-count:1'> </span>That
is just the back story though because not too long afterward in about 1985-1987
my parents managed to invest in a summer/weekend house by buying one in Long
Beach, Long Island. They rented out the top two floors of the house to cover
the mortgage costs, etc., but kept the basement and garage, etc. so we could
actually use it ourselves on the weekends and parts of the summer. We lived in </span></font><st1:City><st1:place><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Manhattan</span></font></st1:place></st1:City><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'> at the
time, so it was suppose to be a get-away of sorts since it had a nice big yard
around the whole house and was three blocks or so from the beach. Unfortunately
it did not turn out that way for me and my sister. Every weekend I went, my dad
expected me to mow the lawn, which was not exactly so easy for a 10-12 year old
kid since the lawn was rather large. He did pay me $20 for the task each week,
but that just did not feel like enough. I knew he was trying to instill a good
work ethic in me, but I really started to dislike going out to </span></font><st1:City><st1:place><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Long Beach</span></font></st1:place></st1:City><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'> because of
it. He always managed to pressure me into it though.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><span style='mso-tab-count:1'> </span>My
dad had clearly noticed I was not enjoying myself much out there because there
was not much for me to do. He did try to cheer up the place by building a tree
house/platform, and even set up a zip-line from the front yard to the backyard.
Then a few times he also allowed me to invite a friend or two over the weekend.
After slaving over my weekly chore I would explore the neighborhood a bit just
to have something to do, but when I had a friend over I was braver about
wandering around further. I think it probably also helped that my parents let
me go further when I had a friend with me. On the first day my friend David was
over, we quickly found there was a comic book shop only two or three blocks
away. That was really the beginning of it all.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><span style='mso-tab-count:1'> </span>I
was not into comics at all, but David was somewhat familiar with them and it
was something relatively interesting to do to pass the time. While David was
looking for Spider Man, X-men, and G.I. Joe I decided to look through the
comedy section, which only made natural sense to me since we were in a “comic”
shop after all. I was in fact actually trying to be a bit of a smart ass since it
was mostly Dave’s idea to go in the shop anyway. Soon enough I came upon
a comic from the Spider Man spoof series called “Peter Porker” or
something like that. This urged me on in my smart ass search since Dave liked </span></font><st1:place><st1:City><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Spider</span></font></st1:City><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'> </span></font><st1:State><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Man.</span></font></st1:State></st1:place><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'> I then found
a cheesy comic about the Star Wars Ewoks. As you all know Star Wars was major
back then, so finding a crappy Ewok comic rather than the true Star Wars comic
series was just another jab at Dave’s serious comic hunting. I kept on in
my sarcastic search and soon enough I came across Groo <Hallelujah>!<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><span style='mso-tab-count:1'> </span>I
honestly can not remember what issue of Groo it was, but I automatically
recognized Sergio’s name and his artwork style. I also immediately
realized it was some sort of spoof on Conan, and loved the idea of that. My
search that day ended there, but I still bought the Groo comic and the other
two comics as a joke against Dave. After reading the Groo comic I quickly
enjoyed going to Long Beach every weekend to earn the $20 for mowing the lawn,
which I would quickly use up to buy Groo comics at that comic shop. Eventually
I got every back issue that comic shop had, and was getting a small allowance
from my mom, so I did not bother going much to </span></font><st1:City><st1:place><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Long Beach</span></font></st1:place></st1:City><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'> once I found
a few comic shops in </span></font><st1:City><st1:place><font size=2
face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Manhattan</span></font></st1:place></st1:City><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>. Did I
mention my Dad really started to hate me reading comic books? I think he was
just pissed I was no longer doing child slave labor for him anymore. I
seriously did have to collect my Groo collection in secret from him though.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><span style='mso-tab-count:1'> </span>Soon
enough I had the Destroyer Duck, the Starslayers, the Special #1, the Pacifics,
all 120 Epic/Marvel (?), The Life and Death of Groo graphic novels, the original
T-shirt and poster, the full collector’s card set (minus the insert chase
cards), the 6-7 trade paperbacks (?), bookmark, card game w/ expansion, lunch
box w/ promo car, 7 pins, PVC figures, 3 lead miniature sets, signed mini promo
playing card, and and… AND… there’s got to be something else
I can not remember. I can not be ultra sure right now because it is all pretty
much stored in a big comic box under my bed in my old room at my mom’s. I
am 31 now and living with my girlfriend… I still get a chance to visit my
Groo collection on occasion though. </span></font><font size=2 face=Wingdings><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Wingdings;mso-ascii-font-family:Arial;
mso-hansi-font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;mso-char-type:symbol;
mso-symbol-font-family:Wingdings'><span style='mso-char-type:symbol;mso-symbol-font-family:
Wingdings'>J</span></span></font><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'> I should log it all for the simple reason
of satisfying Gary in the knowledge there is someone out there who just about
has everything he has of Groo…. minus the towel of course. </span></font><font
size=2 face=Wingdings><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Wingdings;
mso-ascii-font-family:Arial;mso-hansi-font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:
Arial;mso-char-type:symbol;mso-symbol-font-family:Wingdings'><span
style='mso-char-type:symbol;mso-symbol-font-family:Wingdings'>J</span></span></font><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>‘NUFF SAID<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Bed time now,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>_<i><span style='font-style:italic'>TONE</span></i>_<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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