Marvel have announced Rocket Raccoon will be getting his own series this July to be written and drawn by Skottie Young,
MTV.com have revealed. The series will follow Rocket as he goes from intergalactic hero to wanted fugitive by more than just the authorities. Rocket is a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy who looks like a raccoon but is actually an alien who happens to look raccoon-like and he can talk. A gun-toting master strategist, Rocket is usually accompanied by his tree-like pal, Groot, who is also part of the Guardians. Young is best known for his Marvel Baby variant covers and his illustration work on Marvel's Oz series. He's written and drawn the occasional one-shot issue, most notably the Avengers Vs X-Men spoof, A-Babies Vs X-Babies, but this is the first ongoing series he'll be writing and drawing. Young hasn't revealed much about the first issue besides that it will open with Rocket attending an intergalactic MMA-style wrestling match where Groot is fighting a tentacled alien, on a kind of date. When Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning were doing their Guardians of the Galaxy run back in 2008, they also did a short Rocket and Groot series which featured bizarre stories about psycho clowns and Rocket's homeworld in the Keystone Quadrant, Halfworld. The series along with some Silver Age Rocket/Groot comics - was collected last year in a trade paperback. Though the new series is timed well to coincide with the Guardians of the Galaxy movie out in August, Young has said that it won't be a part of the movie Marvel Universe continuity nor does it mean either Rocket or Groot are leaving Brian Bendis' Guardians of the Galaxy series. Young said:
"So far it's just been Brian saying, 'Hey, what's your Rocket story?' I ran it by him, and he said, 'Ah, cool, great stuff, just wanted to make sure I wasn't stepping on your toes.' I'm sure as we get closer to the movie, or if there are some bigger events going down Brian will give me a buzz, and we'll figure some stuff out there."
Discussing his approach to the series, 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."
But if you think a series featuring a talking raccoon and tree creature will be a little too kid-friendly, Young is quick to assure readers differently:
"I'm not going to go crazy where we're going to go extremely vulgar or anything, but I did want to play with a bit of that edge... If you have a character that carries a big gun, a ridiculously, cartoonishly big gun you've got to be willing to shoot it."
Rocket has had a number of crazy adventures since he first appeared in 1976 but Young isn't too worried about tying in all the continuity and history of the character into his series. He's aiming to do a fun comic with a cool character and "run him around a bit". Rocket can be seen in Bendis' ongoing Guardians of the Galaxy series and will also star in his own issue from Marvel on Free Comic Book Day in May. Published by Marvel, Rocket Raccoon by Skottie Young is out on July 2.