Groo Meets Tarzan

The last time we had a “Groo” crossover – which was also his first crossover ever – it didn’t go so well.  “Groo vs. Conan” was a deeply mixed bag that featured good art from Sergio Aragones and Thomas Yeates, and also a choppy, confused story from Mark Evanier that didn’t deliver on the comic potential the event promised.  Evanier also seemed to think that we’d also be interested in a parallel story featuring his and Sergio’s comic avatars as they tried to save a comic shop from a greedy developer.  We might’ve been, if it had been funny.  What I’m trying to say with all this is that the previous “Groo” crossover left a low bar to clear.  Does the Cheese Dip Wanderer’s new adventure with the King of the Apes manage to clear even that?

By the strictest standards, it does.  Both characters actually have a proper story to engage with before they meet up.  Tarzan is tracking a group of slavers to the land of Pal-u-Don while Groo is merely eating his way across the countryside before he’s distracted with tales of the best cheese dip ever.  As it turns out, the walls between realities are soft in these parts and Groo finds himself fighting alongside Tarzan in due course.  It’s not great storytelling, but basic competency beats out what we got last time.  Aragones and Yeates are also again on good form here, both individually and in meshing their contrasting styles for this crossover.

That said, Evanier is still of the opinion that we, the audience, are still interested in seeing the comic antics of his and Aragones’ avatars.  This time they’re attending the San Diego Comic-Con, only to take an unexpected detour to the tourist deathtrap that is the Chula Vista Jungle Safari.  Aragones’ struggles to survive the experience are good for a chuckle, but not much more than that.  It leaves me feeling that this crossover was just “fine” overall and one for “Groo” completists only.