Rocket Raccoon #1 is what happens when you take a can of pure fun, shake it up nice and good, and pop that top. It’s an explosion of epic proportions, one probably filled with rainbows and unicorns and other neat s#%&.
Rocket Raccoon has always been a favorite of mine ,even is he has flown under the radar of the casual comic book fan for years now. Heck, I have the Rocket Raccoon four issue limited series from 1985 hanging on my wall at home, so it is safe to save I love the little rapscallion.
Skottie Young crafts a fantastic out of this world tale of adventure that is full of gratuitous vulgarity and humor. Young is handling both the script and art duties which makes Rocket Raccoon #1 all the more impressive. When you have talented enough to handle both tasks you tend to get something special, as the vision and look of how the story progress, with regards to style and action set pieces, doesn’t have to go through the mind and pen of someone else.
Jean-Francois Beaulieu has coloring duties and is once again fantastic. He has a special touch and I am glad to see him being used a great deal by Marvel, even as recently as this month over on Figment #2 (Read our review here). For being an anthropomorphic talking Raccoon it’s nice to see Rocket fit so well among his fellow cast of characters and not look strangely out-of-place.
The bulk of the story revolves around Rocket being chased for suspicion of murder. Well, we know he has killed a lot of people indiscriminately over the years as he doesn’t deny that fact, but as he puts it “I’m pretty sure all mine accounted for and justified.” It’s a really simple premise, but one that has a thoroughly rewarding underpinning when we find out just who wants him dead and the person they send to do the job.
Take away the raccoon, the space setting, the witty dialogue, and you have a story that many of us have seen on television or read about in real life. The fact that it’s happening to a fictitious talking raccoon though, just makes it a laugh riot.
Even better I really appreciate that the book focuses solely on Rocket Raccoon and doesn’t really go faffing about with any secondary or tertiary sub-plots keeping the focus on our foul-mouth friend. The only real problem I have, and it’s a minor one, is that this book so far just feels like a Guardians of The Galaxy book and not a singular Rocket Raccoon series. Yes, he is clearly the star of the show, but Rocket calling in the entire team to help him out just sort of feels like they are trying to remind you that a film is coming out really soon.
Other than that little quip, Rocket Raccoon #1 is a blast. If you are looking to have a good time and a few laughs along the way then I suggest you head to your local comic shop and buy a copy. Heck, do yourself a favor and support great talents and buy a couple of copies to share with friends.
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