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!

Reading Room: PLANET COMICS "Fero: Interplanetary Detective and the Kidnapped Councilman's Daughter"

When we first met him, Fero battled scientific menaces on present-day (1940s) Earth.

As of his next appearance, without explanation, he's set in the far future!

This never-reprinted tale from Fiction House's Planet Comics #6 (1940) was written and illustrated by Al Bryant under the pen-name "Allison Brant".

The change in venue from present to future without any in-story explanation (not even a caption like "returing from the past to the 21st Century..." or some-such) seems odd considering the same writer/artist is doing this follow-up tale.

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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.