Archie Meets The Punisher was always my pick for the strangest comic book crossover of all time. But Dark Horse Comics may be able to top that with Groo vs. Conan.
Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Barbarian is one of the iconic heroes of fantasy literature and comics. Mark Evanier and Sergio Aragones’ Groo the Wanderer is a creator owned parody of Conan that first made his comic book debut in 1982.
Unlike Conan, Groo is extremely stupid and he’s likely to forget which side he’s fighting on in the course of a battle. Groo is actually very skilled with a sword, but that just means that he unintentionally brings destruction to his allies and his enemies. It’s not like Conan has never caused collateral damage, but Groo is on another level when it comes to that.
Both Groo and Conan are currently published by Dark Horse Comics, which has allowed the bizarre Groo vs. Conan crossover to become a reality. Evanier and Aragones are both on this project, with Aragones providing the artwork for all of the Groo characters and Thomas Yeates doing the artwork for Conan and the characters from his world.
Dark Horse has released the first few pages of Groo vs. Conan # 1 and they’re suitably insane. Evanier and Aragones even guest star as themselves while debating the merits of the crossover!
Groo vs. Conan # 1 will be released on Wednesday, July 23, just in time for Comic-Con International!
