
Raccoon? What's a raccoon?
Rocket Raccoon is a fictional
superhero appearing in
American comic books published by
Marvel Comics. Created by writer
Bill Mantlo and artist
Keith Giffen, the character first appeared in
Marvel Preview #7 (Summer 1976). He is an intelligent,
anthropomorphic raccoon, who is an expert
marksman and master
tactician. His name and aspects of his character are a nod to the
Beatles' 1968 song "
Rocky Raccoon".
Rocket Raccoon appeared as a prominent member in the 2008 relaunch of the superhero team
Guardians of the Galaxy. The character has appeared in several media adaptations as a member of that team, including
animatedtelevision series,
toys, and
video games. He appears in the 2014 live-action film
Guardians of the Galaxy, albeit only as "Rocket", with his voice provided by
Bradley Cooper and motion capture provided by
Sean Gunn.
The character was created by
Bill Mantlo and
Keith Giffen,
[1] and inspired by
the Beatles song "
Rocky Raccoon".
[2] Other references to the song were featured in Rocket's appearance in
The Incredible Hulk #271 (May 1982), which was titled "Now Somewhere In the Black Holes of Sirius Major There Lived a Young Boy Named Rocket Raccoon" and saw the Hulk help Rocket stop a villain trying to steal "Gideon's Bible", which in the
Marvel Universe was a book that contained the sum of all knowledge on the Loonies colony.
[3]
Rocket Raccoon first appeared in
Marvel Preview #7 (Summer 1976), in the back-up feature "The Sword in the Star", under the name "Rocky". He would next appear in
The Incredible Hulk #271 (May 1982), where it is learned that "Rocky" is short for "Rocket". In 1985, he received his own four-issue
limited series and in an afterword to the first issue, Mantlo himself asserted that this was the same character seen in
Preview,
penciled by
Mike Mignola and
inked by
Al Gordon with
Al Milgrom. Rocket appeared in
Quasar #15 in 1990 and later appeared in three issues of
Sensational She-Hulk in 1992 (#44-46). The character only appeared in a total of ten comic books in his first thirty years of existence.
Besides a brief appearance in a 2006 issue of
Exiles,
Rocket Raccoon was next seen in 2007's
Annihilation: Conquest and
Annihilation: Conquest - Star-Lord limited series, and their spin-off series, a new volume of
Guardians of the Galaxy.
He remained a regular member of the series cast until it was canceled with issue #25 in 2010, also appearing in the follow-up limited series
The Thanos Imperative.
Along with fellow Guardian
Groot, Rocket starred in backup features in
Annihilators#1-4 (Mar-Jun 2011) and
Annihilators: Earthfall #1-4 (Sept-Dec 2011).
Rocket Raccoon, along with the other members of the Guardians, appeared in issues #4-8 of
Avengers Assemble, a series intended as a jumping-on point for fans of the film
The Avengers. He appears prominently in
Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3, a part of the 2012
Marvel NOW! relaunch.
In February 2014, it was announced that
Skottie Young will be the writer and artist for a
Rocket Raccoon ongoing series.
The series began in July 2014, with the first issue selling over 300,000 copies.
Jake Parker replaced Young as the artist beginning with issue #5. The series ended in May 2015 as one of many titles to be cancelled for Marvel's
Secret Warsevent. A new volume, titled
Rocket Raccoon and Groot, began in January 2016 as part of the
All-New, All-Different Marvel relaunch.