After years without fresh exploits, Groo, Sergio Aragonés’s popular dimwitted barbarian, is back. For the celebrated character's 25th anniversary, Dark Horse Comics is publishing a special oversized 56-page issue, The Groo 25th Anniversary Special; a new four-issue miniseries, Groo: Hell on Earth and plans to expand the trade paperback collections of earlier Groo publications. With an animated movie as well as a few decades-in-the making comics crossover projects in development, Aragonés is enjoying a revival of one of the American comics industry’s first creator-owned characters.

Like so many comic book successes, Groo almost didn't happen. "I came from Mexico," remarked Aragonés, noting the working conditions for comics artists there, "where it’s a racket and creators don't own anything." After a visit to Europe, where he found that many creators retained copyright ownership of their own properties, he decided that he wasn't going to give away Groo, which is a parody of Conan the Barbarian.

The American comics industry at the time, dominated by Marvel and DC, was also a completely work-for-hire industry and had no interest in creator-owned properties. "Everywhere I went, they told me, no, they had to own the rights," explained Aragonés, now a legendary figure in the comics industry. For years, no one wanted to publish the creator-owned series. Finally in the early 1980s, Pacific Comics took a chance and was the first of many companies to publish Groo.

Unconventional since its conception, Groo is the story of a talented but dumbto avoid repetit. sjr barbarian swordsman traveling around the world. Despite his best intentions, Groo wreaks havoc on absolutely everything in his path.

"The humor that we do is the humor that Laurel and Hardy did. It's the humor you know is coming and makes you very comfortable. It's not a surprise, but a more subtle type of thing," Aragonés explains.

While Groo has moved from publisher to publisher over the years, the creative team has stayed the same. Writer Mark Evanier, letterer Stan Sakai (also the creator of Dark Horse's long-running Usagi Yojimbo series) and Mad magazine colorist Tom Luth have all worked alongside Aragonés since the very beginning.

Evanier in particular is surprised that the series has lasted as long as it has. "I never expect anything to last long except boring speeches and U.S. military occupations," quipped Evanier. "I'm delighted, in my perverse way, to have Groo back at all."

While the creative team is celebrating the milestone, they are hard at work on a number of upcoming book projects. Two intriguing crossovers have been approved: a Tarzan and Groo teamup and, most interestingly, a Conan and Groo battle. "Groo is a champion and Conan is a champion. So who's going to win?" Aragonés asks with a laugh.

While not finalized, the buzz surrounding an animated Groo film is also building. "We sold an option to a producer who commissioned the script from us. Several studios want it, but we haven't quite got all the pieces in place," Evanier said.

Looking back over a prodigious career that includes virtually every major cartoon award—he’s received a National Cartoonist Society Reuben Award, multiple Eisner Awards and is a member of the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame—Aragonés remains the indefatigable optimist. "I love what I do. It's like doing it for the first time every time I do it."