Reading Room MARVEL PREVIEW "Sword in the Star: Stave Two: WitchWorld"

He, along with Groot, is the breakout star of the new Guardians of the Galaxy movie...

...but Rocket Raccoon had a far more inauspicous debut than most of his co-stars.

It began in Marvel Preview #7 (1976), in the second part of a space opera about a somewhat thick-headed space prince called Sword in the Star, as the lead character looked around on a new world for something to eat...

That's not Rocket in Panel 3...

And, that's not Groot in Panel 3 of this page...

It was, in fact, the final installment of Sword in the Star.

The "sticky wicket" created by writer Bill Mantlo and artist Keith Giffen was never resolved.

Mantlo explained the problem in a text feature at the end of the issue (which you can click on to enlarge and read)...

When next we saw Rocket Raccoon, it was several years later in the pages of Incredible Hulk (also written by Mantlo)...minus his British accent and without an explanation as to how he survived.

(BTW, Wayfinder also returned...in the pages of the Mantlo-scripted Micronauts, where he travelled into the distant past to become the founder of the Microverse!

Meet Rocket Raccoon...

Unlike Guardians of the Galaxy team-mates Groot and Star-Lord, he didn't get a solor story or cover pic...

...in fact, he didn't even show up until mid-way through the story...which was cancelled on a cliffhanger (which was never resolved) a few pages later!

Be here on Monday (after you've seen Guardians of the Galaxy) to read his first appearance.

Reading Room MARVEL PREVIEW "The Star-Lord: Who He Is and How He Came to Be"

The lead character of the new Guardians of the Galaxy movie (opening tomorrow) was quite different...

...when he debuted in the b/w magazine Marvel Preview #4 (1976)

How different?

Let co-creator Steve Englehart tell you...

You can read a follow-up article by Englehart explaining how things might have proceeded if he had stayed on the strip HERE.

Reading Room INCREDIBLE HULK ANNUAL "It is GROOT, the Monster from Planet X!!"

In 1976, an evil alien scientist recreated a number of long-forgotten monsters...

...to battle his old foe, the Incredible Hulk...

...including...awww, you guessed...

The never-reprinted story from Incredible Hulk Annual #5 (1976), written by Len Wein and illustrated by Sal Buscema and Jack Abel was a tribute to the 1950s pre-superhero monster stories Stan Lee and Jack Kirby produced in astounding amounts for Marvel's predecessor Atlas Comics.

Besides Groot, five other classic monsters with silly names appeared...

...including the alien scientist (and monster), Xemnu, who re-created the other aliens!

BTW, Xemnu was originally-known as "the Living Hulk", so when his pre-Marvel stories (he appeared twice!) were reprinted in the late 1960s (after the introduction of the green-skinned Hulk), he was re-named "the Living Titan".

Technically, this was not the "real" Groot, but, it's still considered the character's first appearance in the Marvel Universe...as well as confirmation that some (if not all) of the pre-superhero stories are part of the history of the fictional universe.

Catch Groot in the new movie, Guardians of the Galaxy, this weekend...

GROOT is Coming!

He's one of the breakout characters in the new Guardians of the Galaxy movie, opening this week...

...but Groot didn't always look like that!

He was much taller...and far more hostile towards humanity!

Art by Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko

Be here tomorrow when we present his first (and almost last) appearance!