Before Guardians of the Galaxy, before Hellboy, before the MCU… Bill Mantlo, Mike Mignola and a talkin’ raccoon wanted to tell you a story. Your Major Spoilers Retro Review of Rocket Raccoon #1 awaits!
ROCKET RACCOON #1
Writer: Bill Mantlo
Penciler: Mike Mignola
Inker: Al Gordon
Colorist: Christie Scheele
Letterer: Ken Bruzenak
Editor: Carl Potts
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: 75 Cents
Current Near-Mint Pricing: $30.00
Release Date: January 22, 1985
Previously in Rocket Raccoon: Though not the only character in comic book history to be inspired by a Beatles song, Rocket Raccoon was first seen as Rocky in the pages of Marvel Preview. (Interestingly for GotG fans, that’s the same magazine where Star-Lord first appeared just a few issues earlier.) It was several years before he was folded into the Marvel Universe proper in an issue of The Incredible Hulk in 1982, making for a grand total of two appearances before he was given his own limited series. This issue’s story begins with a murderous clown, then cuts to Halfworld, where Rocket tries to decode a tome of knowledge known as Gideon’s Bible, that he stole with the help of The Hulk.
While enjoying a day out with his otter lady love and his first mate Wal Russ, Rocket’s research is interrupted by the Keystone Kops, named for the sector in which they– Y’know what? You guys get it. It’s an old movie reference. Returning home, Rocket is tasked by toymaker Lord Dyvyne to get revenge on his main competitor, Judson Jakes for the issue’s opening clown murder. Dyvyne threatens to use his sway over Rocket’s lady Lylla (but everyone knew her as Nancy) to pull the procyon pirate to his side, leaving Rocket with a difficult decision.
This issue’s art is by a young Mike Mignola, providing some of his earliest published work, and it’s a doozy. The visual inventiveness that we’d come to know from his later work on Phantom Strange, Batman, and Baltimore is in full display as the starship Rakk N’ Ruin makes its way through the galaxy to the robot zones where Judson Jakes builds his mechanical monstrosities. Case in point?
While Rocket attacks a ship with only his blaster and his smarts, Lylla sneaks off to figure out who has been reading Gideon’s Bible, leading to her kidnapping by someone in the shadows. Battling his way through Jakes’ Psycho Circus of robot clowns, Rocket is nearly overwhelmed, until Wal Russ proves that he’s more than just a mean hand with a space spanner.
That’s when Uncle Pyko, a terrapin of ill-repute, reveals what he has learned from the sacred scriptures: Only the one who marries Lylla can take full control of the toy factories of something something, man this art is pretty. Then, BOTH Jakes and Dyvyne double-cross our furry hero!
As someone who loves the stories of Bill Mantlo, this issue’s whimsical madness (including a homage to Bucky O’Hare, an appearance by a Charlie Chaplin lookalike, and a planet of madmen run by a mystic order called The Shrinks) is almost too much to bear, but Rocket Raccoon #1 still pulls of a win thanks to Mignola’s nuanced art and Mantlo’s refusal to believe that a dead horse can be beaten too hard, earning 4.5 out of 5 stars overall. If you’ve never read the original stories, you might barely recognize our man Rocket from his movie incarnation, but it will be worth the journey anyway for those who appreciate unfettered comic book creativity in action.
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ROCKET RACCOON #1
In-jokes in the dialogue, the background and nearly every place name combine with Mignola's stylized art to make this one like no other comic book you've ever read. I recommend getting the whole series.
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Writing8
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Art10
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Coloring10
Once upon a time, there was a young nerd from the Midwest, who loved Matter-Eater Lad and the McKenzie Brothers... If pop culture were a maze, Matthew would be the Minotaur at its center. Were it a mall, he'd be the Food Court. Were it a parking lot, he’d be the distant Cart Corral where the weird kids gather to smoke, but that’s not important right now... Matthew enjoys body surfing (so long as the bodies are fresh), writing in the third person, and dark-eyed women. Amongst his weaponry are such diverse elements as: Fear! Surprise! Ruthless efficiency! An almost fanatical devotion to pop culture! And a nice red uniform.