Rocket Raccoon is the best.

I read some article over the summer when the Guardians of the Galaxy movie came out that listed this as one of the books I should check out if I wanted to beef up on Marvel shnizz before seeing it. I never got around to it, and I’m kinda glad. I would have expected a much different movie afterwards if I had.

This is actually the book where the current incarnation of the GOTG were created. Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning pulled together the new team from previously existing characters in the Marvel universe. The previous Guardians of the Galaxy were made up of entirely different members (some of whom confusingly show up here from different universes, and one of which shows up in the movie playing a different role).

The origin of the Guardians here is very different. Here, the characters are still very connected to their previous stories (mostly Abnett’s Annihilation: Conquest, and Star-Lord wanting to form the Guardians is a direct response to his own actions in that run, which I have to read now . . . sigh). The series can be read on its own, which is obvious since that’s what I did, but I definitely felt like I was missing things.

I liked this book a lot. The art wasn’t to my taste, but the writing was great. I loved Rocket the most, of course, but the rest of it was very amusing as well. It also managed not to be confusing despite some super weird cosmic shit going down, and despite so many of the stories and character actions relying on previous comics. Will definitely be continuing and reading the rest of the series.