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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:blue'>Hey Tone! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:blue'>You have been a bad influence on these guys! <img width=19
height=19 id="Picture_x0020_8" src="cid:image001.gif@01CA7665.3EC3BC30"
alt="http://gfx2.hotmail.com/mail/w4/pr01/ltr/emoticons/smile_teeth.gif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:blue'>Gary G. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>
groop-bounces@groo.com [mailto:groop-bounces@groo.com] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Mo
orst<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Saturday, December 05, 2009 3:36 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> groop@groo.com<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [Groop] The Hogs of Horder #1<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Well said, Porter. But I think you're
soft-pedaling on the actual socio-political relevance of DH Groo. The reason
all the old critiques in Groo were both more relevant and more memorable is
because the main character... in all his satirical glory... was a human
character. He fell in love, he learned to read, he became an actor, a cook, a
painter, a curator of manuscripts, an observer of cult ritual, Etc. He has been
relegated to a caricature plot device in the last five series, and it has NOT
been edifying or enriching to watch. Nor has it been funny. <br>
<br>
There is little concern over the subject matter. Sword & sorcery/medieval
tropes are, as the Epic run clearly displayed, interchangeable with practically
any current event. Groo of the '80s and '90s can easily be read as a political
critique of those decades. The real question is whether these characters,
especially Groo, are still worth caring about.<br>
<br>
I appreciate that people grow and change, and that it is reflected in their
art. But I also believe that characters can be forgotten and compromised by
their creators if they are played like a card instead of explored like a human.
Mark used to talk about Groo that way in the blurbs he would write. He used to
say that Groo was "getting dumber" as the comic matured, almost as if
Groo were this friend of theirs that they interacted with and they had little
actual control over the progression of the character because what was really
happening was that they were releasing him into his world and observing what he
would do. He even said of Rufferto that he "showed up one day and never
left" like a real dog. The Groo Crew seemed more like mothers than owners
back then.<br>
<br>
Now the whole thing seems very owned and manufactured. Awkward. Forced. Not for
corporate interests, but for personal ones. There has always been a big to do
in all their press about how Sergio owns Groo, and how Groo proved this or that
about creator-owned comics. But if they protected him and kept him just so they
could dehumanize him, then I'm not interested. Why? Because that's not a loving
relationship between creator and character. That's Ahab and the Pequod. <br>
<br>
Here's hoping that Sergio and Mark may one day revisit their character Groo.
Not for what he can say for them as some sort of muppet. But for what he still
has to say and do as a classic fool.<br>
<br>
-Al<br>
<br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center id=stopSpelling>
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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>From:
publicporter@gmail.com<br>
To: Groop@groo.com<br>
Date: Fri, 4 Dec 2009 15:30:17 -0800<br>
Subject: Re: [Groop] The Hogs of Horder #1<br>
<br>
I have been thinking about this subject for awhile now.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Were
one to pick up a copy of Epic #5 ('Slavers') and, well, Hogs of Horder #1, it
is no great difficulty to see differences in the approach to writing and
storytelling and to some degree the art as well (never mind the printing,
layout and general physical qualities). With that said, Groo The Wanderer
has ever been a social and political critique set amidst the antics of a fool
with swords. This is one of the primary qualities The Fool has evinced
historically: both veiled and overt criticism by absurd means, subversion
through an innocuous and seemingly simpleminded medium (this exact same
argument, both pro and con, has been made in regards to comic books in general
for decades).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>The
difference between Groo and traditional fools, of course, is that Groo is a
genuine fool, not a scholar in a buffoon's uniform. He, along with Minstrel and
Sage on occasion, exists at various times (and frequently all at once) as the
voice, subject and cause of criticism. But Groo and the stories themselves
<span class=ecxapple-style-span><u>are</u></span> different because the
storytellers are different. After 25 years or so, I would hope their
evolution as writers and artists would not have ended at the age of 30 or 40.
One's craft, expertise, ideals, interests and motivations shift - and for me it
is equally interesting watching the creators themselves go through a
metamorphosis as it is to see the changes their characters go through.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>But
I don't think it so much an issue of moralizing or politicizing the stories -
they were always that (end-of-story moral, anyone?) - but that they have become
directly allegorical, overt and more current-events based than in previous
adventures. In that way I do think they have become much more relevant, more
immediate, and shed light in new ways upon issues that are affecting us now.
In the same breath though, I think what has been missing as a result is
its universalism and timelessness, its intricacy in simplistic form.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>My
general preference too is with the older, less allegorical approach - it is by
reading Groo that I discovered the very notion of "relevance and
applicability" in literature - but I do enjoy these current stories
greatly nevertheless. I love them all and like the change of pace but hope
for a return sometime soon. And so continues the great debate
between applicability and allegory, Middle Earth and Narnia, crackers and
chips, salsa and hummus, pad thai and chow mein, ale and lager, black forrest
and red velvet cake... cheese dip and spit-roasted lizard.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</div>
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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Time
to eat.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'> ~
Porter.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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