Groo The Wanderer

“About 2 years ago, I got a line about getting a commission done by Sergio Aragones, the illustrator of the comic book Groo The Wanderer. It was a really long process but the artwork finally came in right before the Calgary convention. Through this I got to become pretty good email pen pals with his daughter, she even sent me a video of him during the process.”

Chris

One of the commissions was a belated Christmas gift for Bryan who is also a Groo fanatic. One of Bryan’s first Groo memories is about his friend trying to scoop up an issue that Bryan ordered in. He told me,

“ I remember I was in 8th or 9th grade and ordering Groo #2 cause I was missing it, it was a hole in my collection. I was so excited about going to the store that I told my best friend’s brother who was also a comic book fan. I had just gotten to the store to pick up my Groo and was just looking at other comics after buying it when my friend’s mom came in. She asked the clerk for Groo #2, my friend’s brother tried to snake it out from under me but I got there first.”

Bryan

Chris was extremely excited about these commissions because of his own love of Groo. He recalled to me,

“Groo was the first comic I bought with my own money. I was in the 4th grade, just before the end of the school year. I had a friend who had an extensive comic book collection and Groo was one I couldn’t get enough of. I saw Sergio Aragones drawing on a tv show. They had a kid drawing Groo on a blackboard, then Sergio came into the classroom and stood next to him while he was drawing. Sergio finished the drawing in 2 seconds. He’s the fastest cartoonist. I don’t know if he’s ever been beat but it is one of his claims to fame. Watching him on that show drew me in. I was always looking for more efficient ways to draw because my teacher didn’t tolerate that sort of thing so I had to draw fast to get away with it. I had to draw Garfield in 2 minutes or less. So Sergio was like a king to me. 

For my 10th birthday that year the same friend’s mom gave me $10 in my birthday card. I can still remember the inscription, that’s how important it was to me. She wrote a little joke and said, “this is to start your comic book collection.” I went to the minimart in Fairview. There were 2 Groo comics, one that had been sitting on the shelf for a while and a new one. I had them both behind a Good Housekeeping magazine and came back with my money to buy both, they were only a dollar. I also bought a Conen and used the rest of the money to go to the movies… Also on that birthday my dad bought my gift from a gas station. He got me a bunch of junk food and a M.A.D magazine, he had no idea what he was starting. I noticed that Sergio Aragones had done the margin cartoons and that really cemented him in my mind as a hero. Unless he was involved in some sort of scandal he was pretty much going to be my idol. To this day he is still one of my top 3 most influential people.” 

Chris

Clearly the Groo comics and their artist, Sergio are very important to Chris. You may have seen recently he got Bryan to do a Groo tattoo on his foot. Bryan has a Groo tattoo of his own, done by Chris a few years ago. As comic book fanatics many stories have been read between them but something about the character and artwork of Groo has stuck out the most. For Bryan Groo has been his longest standing comic book collection, he lost most of his comics in a fire at one point but since Groo was so special it was not with the rest and survived. Sergio influenced them in their artwork, story telling, and just as a general lifelong hero. 

These tattoos and especially the commissioned artwork hand drawn by Sergio have been a highlight of our year. Loren and I love to watch the guys geek out and share their love of Groo. They both loved getting and giving each other these shared meaningful tattoos. They aren’t about matching each other but immortalizing Groo and sharing the experience with a fellow fanatic and artist that understands the importance that Groo the wanderer has played in their lives. 

Gatekeeper

Hi there! I'm Taylor, you may know me as Sterling Skull reception, or gatekeeper, or most recently Tater (thanks Chris). I love writing, creating and I love tattoos; so what better way to use my passions than to bring you a personal experience of our studio via a blog! Welcome, please stay a while!