"Guardians of the Galaxy" doesn't hit theaters until August 1, but Marvel is already banking on at least one of the movie's stars. Starting in July, Marvel Comics will spin off their lovable talking raccoon with a gun, Rocket, into his own solo series. And to sweeten the pot even more it'll be written and drawn by fan-favorite writer/artist Skottie Young.
For the past five years, Young has been working on Marvel's "Oz" adaptations, providing art while doing double duty on multiple covers for Marvel's superhero line, and even finding time to write a few series and one-shots. But "Rocket Raccoon" is the first time Young will serve both as writer and artist on an ongoing series. Luckily, the job was exactly the one he wanted.
"I like any of the humorous characters, any of the ones I can have fun with," Young told MTV News when we spoke on the phone earlier this week. "And around this time 'Guardians of the Galaxy' was getting restarted, so I said if there was any of way of doing some sort of Rocket Raccoon story that would be fun too!"
Editor Sana Amanat agreed, and Young was signed up to take on Rocket as his post-"Oz" gig. Though there was no specific mandate to follow the path of the movie — and in fact, Young had no idea what the character will be like on screen — once he saw the trailer, he got a sense that things were right in line between the comic and movie versions of the character.
"Even though it was just a sliver of Rocket [in the trailer], I couldn't wait to work on this guy even more," Young said. "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... That's what I grew up watching, and being able to play around with that in this hyper-superhero intergalactic universe will be a lot of fun."
I'm definitely all for a Rocket Raccoon comic, but I'm not sure I want it going in the direction he's talking about. I'm more interested in the kind of talking animal fantasy that Bill Mantlo and Mike Mignola did years ago. Still, I'll give it a try.
it'll probably be great i just wish characters already on team books would not have solo titles too, or at the very least make it a in the past setting
it'll probably be great i just wish characters already on team books would not have solo titles too, or at the very least make it a in the past setting
You mean, like Iron Man and Captain America who are Avengers and have their own solo titles?
And remember: Rocket was not always part of a team. Not even an original member of the Guardians. So his departure wouldn't be any more earthshaking than, say, Quicksilver leaving the Avengers for a spell.
it'll probably be great i just wish characters already on team books would not have solo titles too, or at the very least make it a in the past setting
You mean, like Iron Man and Captain America who are Avengers and have their own solo titles?
And remember: Rocket was not always part of a team. Not even an original member of the Guardians. So his departure wouldn't be any more earthshaking than, say, Quicksilver leaving the Avengers for a spell.
yes exactly that, and thor and daredevil and spider-man and anybody else, Iron Man was one of the worst this past year, he was in a giant robot spaceship in his own title, trying to figure out what to do about Thanos in avengers and on the guardians spaceship all at the same time
and as far as marvel is concerned rocket will be a member for a while to come i would imagine, they're not going to take him out of guardians when they can cash in on him on two titles
But the point of some of those team books, Avengers in particular, is that they are composed of heroes who have solo careers and ocassionally work together as a team. (Although, today's storylines are pretty confusing as to matters of continuity and the like; they weren't always like that.) Iron Man had a career before founding the Avengers; he was never going to give it up to work exclusively as part of a team. And that's true of most of the Marvel Universe teams.
I do agree with you in part, though -- there are some teams that are more family units or some equivalent thereof that should never be broken up or allow members to have solo titles, such as the FF or the X-Men. But that ship has long since sailed in regards to the X-Men, and I can certainly look back to the Human Torch solo series or the Thing team-ups with fondness, so I guess my agreement there isn't all that firm either...
I'm with ya. I pity poor Cap, who must not *ever* sleep the way they've got him rushing from this title, to that title, back to his own title, over to Avengers this, then to Avengers that, save the world here, get stuck in an alternate dimension there, yada, yada, yada.
I'm with ya. I pity poor Cap, who must not *ever* sleep the way they've got him rushing from this title, to that title, back to his own title, over to Avengers this, then to Avengers that, save the world here, get stuck in an alternate dimension there, yada, yada, yada.
I thought they’d announced that (in a very quiet way, granted) months ago. I knew they were ending last October. Yeah, I'm sad to see them go as well, but I never expected them to get as far into the series as they did. And Emerald City of Oz was originally intended to be the last book in the series, so it’s not a bad place to end.
As for Rocket Raccoon, with Skottie doing it, I’m definitely picking it up!
I wasn't a big fan of the original Rocket Raccoon mini series back in the 80's (don't think I even read the last issue when I bought it off the rack), and the recent Rocket and Groot back-ups were also pretty lacklustre. So I'm not in a hurry to jump into another Rocket attempt.
However, I luvs me some Scottie Young, so it will be hard to say NO to at least the first issue (or three) to see how it is.
Comments
And remember: Rocket was not always part of a team. Not even an original member of the Guardians. So his departure wouldn't be any more earthshaking than, say, Quicksilver leaving the Avengers for a spell.
and as far as marvel is concerned rocket will be a member for a while to come i would imagine, they're not going to take him out of guardians when they can cash in on him on two titles
I do agree with you in part, though -- there are some teams that are more family units or some equivalent thereof that should never be broken up or allow members to have solo titles, such as the FF or the X-Men. But that ship has long since sailed in regards to the X-Men, and I can certainly look back to the Human Torch solo series or the Thing team-ups with fondness, so I guess my agreement there isn't all that firm either...
I hope he's well compensated.
As for Rocket Raccoon, with Skottie doing it, I’m definitely picking it up!
I CAN'T BUY THIS ENOUGH!!!
However, I luvs me some Scottie Young, so it will be hard to say NO to at least the first issue (or three) to see how it is.
Yeah, I'm in. I like Rocket, but that 80s mini-series was too fanciful for my liking. I like this take much better.
I'd really like to see a new Dr Strange book too. Surely that's coming sooner or later...