<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" ><tr><td valign="top" style="font: inherit;"><DIV>Hmm... I'm not sure that it's the length of the stories that are the difficulty; Wager of the Gods was a four-parter, the Wishing Gem story was a three-parter (I think...)... Groo can and has sustained longer plotlines without suffering for it.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Also, well... the absolute worst offender (in my opinion, of course) in terms of the 'moral' overtaking the story and obliterating most, if not all, of the humour, was the not-even-a-full-issue-length 25th Anniversary story. It (sorry, Mark) simply wasn't very good writing; the metaphor was heavy-handed and shoehorned improbably into Groo's world, the characters felt like bad parodies of themselves, too many issues were waved around (seriously, let's see... the usual 'the rich are evil', government failings, medical practices, AIDS, rainforest depletion... all this in a supposedly-funny 20-some-odd page comic?), and Groo barely got to do anything. I was left with a feeling of "Where's the funny?"</DIV>
<DIV><BR>In the past, Groo has brought serious topics to the fore and absolutely excelled at presenting them... by keeping the tone light, impartial, and letting the story and humour dictate the pacing, rather than the need to ram the metaphor home, especially when the situation doesn't quite fit Groo's carefully-crafted world.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I've genuinely enjoyed Groo for many years now, but the relatively recent decline in quality and parallel upward swing of blatant soapboxing tromping all over the story leaves me feeling more than a little disappointed.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Well, we'll see.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Cheers,</DIV>
<DIV>David</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>P.S.- Eli, I didn't call my girlfriend an 'it', I called her answer an 'it'. I think you're being a bit slow of mind =P</DIV>
<DIV><BR>--- On <B>Mon, 12/15/08, azamin zainol abidin <I><azamin7@streamyx.com></I></B> wrote:<BR></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: rgb(16,16,255) 2px solid">From: azamin zainol abidin <azamin7@streamyx.com><BR>Subject: Re: [Groop] Combined Post<BR>To: "groop mailing list" <groop@groo.com><BR>Date: Monday, December 15, 2008, 6:54 PM<BR><BR>
<DIV id=yiv153304243>What i think is that... in the one shot or 2 issues shot stories, the story is more on the surface and makes the silliness to be more visible than the moral/political side... but with the 4 issues story, .. it has to be more deeper or more detail so that it fits the 4 issues... thus, making silliness and politically motives to be balance or seems to be more politically inclined... well .. my guess is.. to produce a more longer story for 4 issue is more stressing than the 1 story per issue... maybe a middle road can be a solution.. 2 issue story and comes out with the 4 issue format... (2 stories of 2 issues each)<BR><BR>Mo orst wrote:
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Thank-you all for your responses thus far. I think it's an important discussion, and all the posts have been thoughtful.<BR><BR>Gary's point about the recent series being more topical is a point that interests me. I don't feel that any of the old general moral issues are any less heavy or pertinent than what we've been offered in recent years. Especially when you consider them tackling religious dogma with Wager of the Gods, or literacy in #100. The difference is in the execution. Is the silliness compromised by heavy-handed storytelling? Undeniably, imo. <BR><BR>I don't think it's really a question of merely the silliness being compromised. It's the character and his story and his relationships that are at stake here, not just the gags we love. When Mark used to quip that Groo always uses the same jokes, it was still funny because the storytelling served the continuance of the character. But what we find in the recent stuff is Groo relegated to a plot
device instead of a character... so the continuing gags end up falling flat. He's like a force of nature that, for the sake of the political agenda, is losing portions of his personality and (consequently) his humanity.<BR><BR>Also at stake, as indicated by No Way's post, is a portion of the loyal readership. So it's not as if this turn in the story telling isn't going to have a negative impact overall. Not all Groo fans are the die-hard collectors who will keep buying no matter where the comic goes. Not everyone loves miniature Groo appearances in other comics and publications as much as Groo the character. Don't get me wrong, that stuff is fun and enjoyable. But it was Groo emerging from the sea (despite himself) to a surprised and distraught Rufferto and going silently into a burning library for his swords that kept me onboard all these years. It wasn't Wonder Woman #50.<BR><BR>-Al<BR><BR><PRE><HR width="90%" SIZE=4>
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