His stories are written and drawn by Aragonés, dialogued and edited by Mark Evanier, lettered by Stan Sakai and colored by Tom Luth.

Groo (the epithet "the Wanderer" is informal and rarely mentioned within the stories) first appeared as a parody of the brutal sword and sorcery heroes that were popular at the time of his creation in the 1970s, especially Conan the Barbarian as presented in Marvel Comics.

Possessed of superlative skills in swordsmanship (the only task at which he is remotely competent, apart from his knack for creating musical instruments), he delights in combat but otherwise is a peaceable and honest fellow who tries to make his way through life as a mercenary or by working odd jobs.

He is indiscriminate in the use of his battle skills, usually leaping into the bloodshed before attempting to ascertain the reasons for the fight, or even who is on what side.

His actual function, as revealed at the end of issue #6 of volume 2, was to interpret Aragones's broken English storytelling to write the dialog.

Caricatures of Aragonés, Evanier, Sakai, and Luth often appear as background characters within the stories, sometimes with family members.

A few months later, Groo appeared in a two-page preview ad and the back cover art in Starslayer #4, published by Pacific Comics.

When Image in turn faced legal problems after publishing twelve issues, the title switched to Dark Horse Comics in 1998.

Dark Horse did not publish the title as a regular series, but periodically released new material and reprints as miniseries and collections.

The project encountered a number of postponements; although two issues had been completed by the spring of 2011,[7][8] the series was further delayed because of a backache suffered by Aragonés.

In Norway, the magazine Pyton once parodied the comic by placing the Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland in the role of Groo, as a pun on her name.

Sergio Aragonés received the National Cartoonist Society Reuben Award for 1996 for his work on Groo and Mad magazine.

Wizard ranked him as the 135th-greatest comic book character of all time,[18] while IGN ranked Groo as the 100th-greatest comic book hero of all time stating that "while he may not be the brightest bulb on the battlefield, Groo is an earnest and kind-hearted adventurer whose travels are never short on laughs and adventure".