Rocket is a Guardians of the Galaxy spin-off, published by Marvel Comics. It is written by Al Ewing and drawn by Adam Gorhan.
Rocket Raccoon is a racoon with a problem. An old friend has come to him to with a job. She needs someone to break into a high-tech vault and recover some land deeds from her homeworld, to protect them from the evil Beavertron corporation, and Rocket's the best man... er, racoon for the job. Of course, a job like this would require more than just a devastatingly cunning and fuzzy racoon, it'll need a crew. But in such a crazy cosmos of oddball bounty hunters, space otters and raccoons, nothing can be trusted for long.
Rocket contains examples of:
- Aerith and Bob: The narration of Issue #4 notes how Cordyceps Jones has an unusual name for an alien. Not many aliens called "Jones", after all.
- Affectionate Parody: The courtroom scene in Issue #2 is a knock on the Silver Age antics of Daredevil.
- Exact Words: The Securimax vaults are proofed against all known explosives. Solution? Unknown explosives.
- Fantastic Racism: As much as Rocket likes humans, he sure as hell doesn't want to be one. He still impersonates Max Sekuri to get to a meeting with Gnawbarque.
- "Freaky Friday" Flip: Joyboy manages to exchange Rocket and Max Sekuri's bodies. Which also indirectly kills Sekuri, as the switch reverses after Rocket's shot - Sekuri gets his own body back, plus three bullet wounds.
- I Just Want to Have Friends: Deadpool's problem, thanks to Secret Empire.
- Jackass Genie: Joyboy of Technet's powers. He'll give someone what they wished for, but not how they want it.
- Lampshade Hanging: The narration points out how Technet's powers, even by Cosmic Marvel standards, are utterly bizarre.
- Meaningful Name: Cordyceps Jones, so called because he's like Cordyceps the fungus - he takes over anyone who breaths him in.
- Mister Big: Cordyceps Jones is introduced as a Little Green Man, with his heavies towering over him. It turns out the real Cordyceps Jones is even smaller.
- Pardon My Klingon: Explored in Issue #2, which notes humans are an oddity for swearing on things people like, rather than horrible things. The situation gets bad enough that Rocket actually borrows human swears.
- Punny Name: An otter named Otta. A prison boss named Max Sekuri. A beaver named Castor Gnawbarque.
- The Reveal: Otta wasn't trying to steal the deeds to protect her people, she was trying to steal them for Beavertron.
- Rewrite: Rocket's first meeting with Peter Quill, back from Annihilation: Conquest, had him apparently arrested by the Kree for parking tickets. Here, the first issue reveals that was what Otta set Rocket up for.
- Shout-Out:
- Rocket's drink order is a gargleblaster. Max Sekuri, on the other hand, drinks Tharg's Original.
- The guards at Rocket's trial dress like Judges.
- There's a Lawyer-Friendly Cameo of the Doctor having tea with Gatecrasher (the Technet ultimately having their origin in Alan Moore's run on the kind-of-in-Marvel-continuity Doctor Who Magazine comic strip). Later, Rocket quotes Stien from "Resurrection of the Daleks": "I CAN'T STAND THE CONFUSION IN MY MIIIIND!"
- Tall Poppy Syndrome: According to Otta, the simple people of Tarka's World considered her too clever for her own good, and stifled her ambitions for a better life. This is what motivates her to betray them to Beavertron.
- Technical Pacifist: Rocket's trying to make a point of not murdering folk. Having Joyboy turn them into a dead ringer for him, and have them dragged into their own prison, on the other hand, is alright.
- Tempting Fate: Rocket's lawyer assures him his defense, Murd Bludrock, is the best lawyer around... unless he randomly runs out of the courtroom for no readily apparent reason. Then a lizard-woman in red appears in the back holding a sign saying "come fight ninjas"...
- Wardens Are Evil: The Warden of the Colon, who tortures inmates for talking, then throws them into a sensory deprivation tank, to film and make more money. Rocket notes he was deliberately hired to invoke the trope.
