Rocket Raccoon #2 wonderfully odd and has us eating crow

A month ago I said that I was going to get only one of the new Guardians of the Galaxy spin off titles.  Star Lord was a good start and I them made some comments about Rocket Raccoon looking too weird and not really our style.  Hello crow, I’ll have a second helping, thank you very much.  Later that same week we bought Rocket Raccoon #1 and immediately couldn’t wait for #2 to come out.  It’s very fun series that captures the humor of the characters while being OK for relatively young readers.

Young readers is relative, but in this case I mean comic book fans 10 and up.  The book is officially rated “T”, for a couple bad words, mild comic violence and one person getting shot in the stomach.  Having said that, the artwork and overall tone of the book is gleeful, manic and happy.

Just look at the art.

That style of art, if it were done with traditional comic book heroes wouldn’t work for me.  However, in this case, a young title, set in space and entirely removed from reality it works like a charm.  It’s a mix of Garbage Pail Kids meets Mad Magazine in a comic book format.  Skottie Young does the words and art for the book and I’m a new fan.

Rocket Raccoon has been captured by the police for a murder that he didn’t commit.  He willingly goes to prison where he already has a plan to escape.  Once he does, with the help of Groot, he’s immediately under attack by a squadron of angry women.

This book is fun and has replaced Star Lord, sorry Peter.  As a whole it’s much more entertaining and enjoyable to look at.  It’s different and that, in addition to the relative newness of space as a Marvel platform makes Rocket Raccoon a refreshing treat.