Just in time for his big-screen debut, Rocket Raccoon, the Guardians of the Galaxy’s furriest member, will have his own comic series launching in July.
The project will be spearheaded by Skottie Young, who will be writing, and illustrating the series. It will be really interesting to see Rocket reentering the Marvel comic book scene full time, after his short stint in his own four-issue limited series in 1985, which included a bizarre story involving other sentient animals, carelessly written humanoid characters with mental illnesses, and toy-makers who created playthings for the mentally ill. Um, yeah.
This however, shouldn’t deter people from the up-coming Rocket series. In interview with MTV, Young outlined his plan for the title’s overall tone, which will thankfully take into consideration the fact that Rocket is a raccoon with huge guns, and therefore provide us with some hilarity.
“I think it’s going to have a connection to that nostalgic feeling for ‘Looney Tunes,’ that old animated flavor where everything wasn’t squeaky clean, you know? Daffy Duck would get his bill blasted off with double barrel shotguns,” he said. “If you have a character that carries a big gun, a ridiculously, cartoonishly big gun, you’ve got to be willing to shoot it.”
This is certainly good news, however Rocket’s character does extend beyond the trigger-happy personality trait many Marvel heroes and villains already have. He’s a brilliant tactician, even rivaling the leadership skills found in Iron Man and other members of the Avengers. He’s also not afraid to sit down and trudge through seemingly mundane pieces of text to solve a mystery either, as Rocket Raccoon #1 showcased when a so-called “Halfworld Bible,” appeared to hold the answers needed to save the day.
If the series can incorporate these subtle character elements, alongside a wild intergalactic adventure, Rocket Raccoon won’t be running out of steam anytime soon, and his popularity will undoubtedly soar even higher by the time Guardians of the Galaxy hits theatres in August.
