I said here the other day that I would, like Charles Schulz, feel genuinely flattered if I ever created something that people wanted to wear. This brought way more e-mails than the comment deserved, including one from Brian Olson who wrote, "I'd gladly wear your Kirby bio around my neck on a chain ala Flavor Flav." Well, that's nice of you, Brian, but I have a new, longer Jack Kirby bio in the works which I expect will be out for Christmas of 2019. It's so big that if you wear it on a chain, you'll be walking like Groucho within a day and Quasimodo for the rest of your life.
Ed Waters and Jo Bristow were the first of several others who wrote to ask (basically), "Haven't there been t-shirts of Groo or The DNAgents?" Well, first off: I did not create Groo. I have worked on the feature since the second story but any time you see me credited as the creator of Groo the Wanderer, politely inform the appropriate person that Groo the Wanderer was created by Sergio Aragonés.
I think writers and artists look absolutely terrible when they are credited with someone else's work and they do nothing about it. I do not buy the excuse — and yes, I have heard this from folks who have been wrongly credited with something they wish they could claim as their invention — that if you yourself didn't make the claim, you have no responsibility to correct it. To me, that's like if someone found Sergio's wallet, returned it to me and I said, "Well, since I didn't steal this, I can keep it!" And really, you have to nip misassignments of credit in their proverbial buds because everyone gets their info from what's posted online so faulty "facts" keep getting repeated.
But yes, there have been Groo t-shirts and we'll probably do more one of these days. Here's a quick story which for some odd reason amuses the heck outta me…
I was in Vegas one day and I ducked into a little convenience market to get a beverage. I took my selection up to the counter and the clerk there was wearing a Groo t-shirt. I said, "Oh! A Groo fan!"
He said, "Yes, I think it's the greatest comic book ever…and get this! I actually met the man who does the comic! I met Sergio Aragonés! He was so nice and he's so wonderful that it was one of the greatest moments of my life…to meet the man who does my favorite comic book!"
I said, "Have you ever met Mark Evanier, the fellow who works with Sergio on Groo?"
He said, "No, I haven't."
I extended my hand and said, "Well, here's your chance. I'm Mark Evanier!"
And he said, "Nice. That'll be $1.75 for the water!"
Back in the eighties, I did co-create (note the "co-" there) the comic book The DNAgents with the talented artist Will Meugniot. We thought what the industry needed was a super-hero team done by two guys whose surnames no one could pronounce. The book was successful enough for a time and I loved doing it and somewhere on my unofficial "to do someday" list is to find the right time and place to bring it back. I also need to make a real "to do someday" list.
There were, it's true, DNAgents t-shirts. I was going to go photograph one but I have no idea where I stored mine, none of which ever fit me. Fortunately, I have this photo which I took in 1985. I would love to pretend I just happened to spot the lady somewhere proudly wearing the shirt to celebrate her favorite comic book…but the truth is that she was a friend named Angela Aames who put it on because I asked her to, just for this shot which we never got around to using in an ad. This is just about the kinkiest thing I have ever asked a woman to do which did not involve a hockey mask and a mango.
Anyway, Will did the drawing and I did the logo, just in case you were wondering why the drawing is better than the logo. This may be the high point of my career in terms of creating (co-creating, in this case) something that someone wears. If so, well, it's better than nothing.