Sergio Aragones is an amazing cartoonist and this is an other book that show his great humor talent. The book is very funny and have something more... is in 3D. If you like cartoons you should buy it.

Like a lot of guys who came of age in the 1960's, comic books were the defining literature of my childhood. (And I use the term "literature" loosely, since the titles I followed most enthusiastically as a kid were the Superman family comics edited by Mort Weisinger, the legendarily gimmick-obsessed editor who never met a color of kryptonite he didn't like.) Printed cheaply and sold for almost nothing--12¢ apiece was the going rate when I started buying them, up from a dime a few years earlier--newsstand comic books of that era were the very definition of disposable pop culture. So why is it that, forty years later, I still can't shake those damned funny books out of my consciousness?

At least part of the answer may be found in Mark Evanier's __Comic Books and Other Necessities of Life__, a collection of funny, informative and opinionated essays on the world of comics and the people who read, collect, write and/or draw them. Since Evanier is that rare person who has, at one time or another, done all of those things, the book also serves as a de facto memoir of the author's storied life as a collector, creator and curator of inexpensive four color fantasies.

But, while the details of the author's own surprisingly swift ascent in the comics profession--he parlayed his chairmanship of a Los Angeles comic book fan club into a youthful career as a comic book writer quicker than you can say "Shazam!"--provide a breezy narrative flow to this series of loosely connected essays, Evanier makes it clear that his love of comics and respect for the people who make them are the book's real subjects. In a string of affectionate and knowing profiles of comic art luminaries like Jack Kirby, William M. Gaines and Carl Barks, Evanier makes a pretty convincing argument that these flesh and blood artists, and others like them, are the real comic book heroes, not the four color figments these guys brought to life.

And Evanier, in turn, brings these comics creators to life in prose that's greatly enlivened by the author's seemingly endless inventory of firsthand anecdotes. Indeed, the author seems to have known, interviewed or otherwise collaborated with practically every single person who ever set foot in a comics or animation studio over the past three or four decades. Perhaps for that reason, Evanier does not feel compelled to limit his personal pantheon to a few name brand geniuses like Kirby and Barks; the author's spotlight casts a wide enough beam to illuminate such equally solid, if less celebrated, masters of the comic book form as __Creepy__ magazine mainstay Archie Goodwin, Chase Craig, the longtime editor of the Dell comics line, as well as a bullpen full of unsung artists like __Supergirl__ artist and the late Owen Fitzgerald, an obscure cartoonist and animator who, Evanier insists, was the hands down fastest artist ever to work in comics.

Evanier rounds out his volume of essays--many, if not most, of which first appeared in slightly different form in The Comics Buyers Guide--with well-researched explorations of such little-understood pockets of comic book subculture as the history and creation of the Comics Code Authority; the true impact of the internet and computers on the creation and distribution of comics; the difficulty of arriving at a consensus on exactly what time period defines the golden age of comics; and a number of other topics you'd probably never guess you were interested in until you came across them while browsing this endlessly engaging little volume. __Comic Books and Other Necessities of Life__ may not entirely explain my continuing fascination with funny books twenty-five years after I stopped buying them, but discovering that a guy as intelligent, articulate and funny as Mark Evanier shares my obsession sure helps.

This is a great metal lunchbox for the Groo collector. It's just the right size to hold Groo things, or your lunch, if you want. It's the standard lunchbox size, and doesn't come with a Thermos (the only fault), but does have a unique Groo postcard inside. The postcard has a glossy print of the main Groo characters one one side, and postcard-stuff on the other (what else would you call it?)

The handle is black, with Dark Horse Comics engraved on it, and the latch is made of sturdy metal. The front has the Groo logo, with Groo eating a cooked boar while an army watches, scared. The back is the same Groo characters round-up as the postcard. The sides are a long Sergio-style cartoon with Groo chasing off a whole bunch of people.

Since they don't make Groo stuff in mass numbers like they do for other comic books (which is both a good thing and a bad thing), collectables like this lunchbox should be savored. They are getting harder and harder to find, so getting one soon might be a good idea.

Groo the wanderer is a world of mindless barbarians and wizards. Yet for a humor book there always is a moral at the end of every story. Some more thoughtfull that others and some morals dealing with problems in our own socioity today.

Aragones has long been my favourite comic writer. He bringswit to all of those buttock clenching moments we've all experienced -from the classic gag of the kid seeing a preganant woman and imagining one baby inside her, to the fat woman and the kid imagining twenty babies.

Having collected all Aragones work, from his days at MAD magazine to Groo and Bogey Man, this is arguably his finest so far. Louder Than Words is the perfect way to pass a sunny afternoon outside with a beer, and gauranteed good laughs.

How many silent one-page gags can Sergio Aragones do before he runs out of funny ideas? Lucky for us, there appears to be no end in sight! Sergio is truly a master of his craft, and he's on top of his game with Actions Speak. I laughed a LOT, and spent an equal amount of time appreciating his deceptively simple-looking artwork. I can't recommend Actions Speak highly enough!

This is a funny little book. In it, Ben Burtt has compiled a lexicon of several languages from the Star Wars movies. Among the languages that you can learn are Jawa, Ewok, Tusken Raider, Hutt, Neimodian, Bocce, Wookie, Droid and Gungan. This is a pretty impressive list. Each species has their own spotlight, and a list of phrases that are in their own language and in Basic (English). These include for example: Smeekeeya whao toupee upee. (Huttese: Smile when you say that.) and Mesa greeting, In peace mesa comen. (Gungan: I come in peace.)
For die-hard Star Wars fans, this is a must to have. Try memorizing it. ;) Burtt writes this with a funny and upbeat tone to it.
In addition, there is a section on how Ben Burtt (The author and sound technition for all the movies.) came up with the various noises that we hear in the films. This is interesting to read.
Lastly, there is a section with the movie script in it, for A New Hope and Return of the Jedi, so you can impersonate Greedo or the Ewoks.
However, I did find some problems with this book. One is the price. It is about $[money], which is a lot for a small book. The novels are less than that.
Secondly, the words are hard to pronounce, and there is no pronounceation guide included. It would make saying the things so much easier.
Third, I would have liked to have seen more languages, so hopefully they will update this with some dilects from Attack of the Clones.
This is a cool little book to have. If you like Star Wars, check it out!

I bought this book chiefly because I am a fan of Sergio Aragonés' artwork; I am only a mild fan of Star Wars stuff.

I was not blown away by the quality or humor of the Aragonés illustrations herein; there are not a lot of them, and none of them are really very funny. Plus, Aragonés did not do the cover art. But if you're one of those people who collect everything Aragonés this is a must-have. If you're just looking for some Sergio stuff on Star Wars, I'd recommend a comic that came out a couple of years ago called 'Sergio Stomps Star Wars.' That should be enough for you; this book doesn't really add anything to that.

As for the section on the translations of various alien phrases to be found in the Star Wars universe, it's strictly for pre-teens. Doubtful you'd spend more than a few minutes with it.

What makes this book a winner, though, is the 43-page gem of an essay by Ben Burtt, the sound whiz on the Star Wars movies, on the creation, inspiration, and various techniques for his award-winning effects. I wasn't expecting much from this piece, but it turned out to be well-written and completely engrossing. This essay alone ' and I'm not aware of being available from any other source ' justifies the price of admission.

Here is a typical exerpt:

'Anyway, the sounds for the Tusken Raiders were inspired by the odd and often chilling donkey braying the crew heard in Tunisia during the location shooting. Donkeys were used to pack the tons of film equipment into the remote locations. Occasionally they would burst into barks and screeches during the shooting and be audible in the background of a take, thus ruining it. But their vocals echoing off the canyon walls proved weird and scary, so they were recorded and sent back to me. I added more to this collection back in the United States and incorporated some other elements of animal breathing and wheezing. Cut and blended together, the result was the speech of the Tusken Raiders.' [p.139]

If you find this kind of stuff interesting, you're unlikely to rue purchasing this book.

Regrettably, Burtt's essay was written before the latest movie, The Attack of the Clones, so that episode is not discussed.

Also note that this is one of those smallish, subsized paperbacks. Handsomely printed, though.

An amazingly funny and informative little book. It is really a textbook on several different languages from the Star Wars universe, but with all the comedic phrases and cute comics, you will soon forget that.

This book is truly very informative when it comes to alien languages, from huttese to bocce, and even droid-speak! this book will have you saying such phrases as; "Da beesga coo palyeeya pityee bo tenya go kaka juju hoopa!" or "Wua ga ma uma ahuma ooma!" or perhaps if you are like me, "Kavaa kyotopa bu whirlee backa?"

Overall, this is a fantastic book, and if you don't buy it to learn another language, buy it for the supercute family of Aleenas on the front and back! Mee jewz ku, coo ya maya stupas!

Groo Kingdom

Here we meet sister Grooella and Granny Groo, the proof that Groo's nature is inherited and that the thing worse than a bone-head barbarian warrior whom any intelligent creature flees from is an fat, old gypsy lady who uses him in various scams. Groo falls into her schemes, and after several tart little bilking jobs, he get's married and botches another marriage scam. Fed up, Granny sells him to a slave trader - who would never have bought him if he'd known who he was buying. Which becomes apparent eventually. Groo then decides to get some new clothes and as everyone knows calamity results. Groo get's his bare pink bottom spanked which caused some censors fits! (Oh, the horror of Groo's pink bottom on display!) Note: the printing quality is generally okay to very good for the series, but this is generally a collection for Groo fans and comic book fans. The binding on some of my copies is broken (these are soft backs) and the print is now and then not the greatest. As a fan, I bought every collection I could, and enjoy them despite this! Not though for long-term pristine collectors though.

This collection has Groo with his GrannyGroo. Old Granny is a scam artist and is way smarter than Groo. She has him involved with many of her plans and they all go bad (was anything else expected?). Still, the Groo crew makes it all funny with the same jokes they been using for years. Groo gets in a fray and people run away.

Groo the Most Intelligent Man on Earth

The wandering Minstrel encounters one of the most bizarre things in the world: a region of people who hail Groo as the most intelligent person they've ever met. Knowing they've never met Groo if they believe that, he get's himself thrown into jail for hearsay. Arba and Dakarba the sorceresses get involved to find the miracle of Groo's intelligence and the sage is enlisted and here comes the scheming duo Pal and Drumm. In the end Groo saves the day, or did he? Was he or was he not the most intelligent man ever? Included are a few short takes featuring Ruferto.

Note: the printing quality is generally okay to very good for the series, but this is generally a collection for Groo fans and comic book fans. The binding on some of my copies is broken (these are soft backs) and the print is now and then not the greatest. As a fan, I bought every collection I could, and enjoy them despite this! Not though for long-term pristine collectors though.

When Sergio took Groo from Marvel Comics. He went to Image Comics and now He is tring to destroy Dark Horse Comics by having them print Groo. In this re-print of 4 issues of Groo, we find are brainless barbarian friend smart and full of intelligence? Can it be Groo is now up to par with the rest of humanity? But as with Groo, things change and then go back to the way they were. To read Groo is to love Groo.