ROCKET (2017) review

(Review by Melody Werner)
Rocket is a 6-issue miniseries from last year (2017 for all those time-travellers reading) starring, you guessed it, Rocket Raccoon from Guardians of the Galaxy. Published by Marvel, of course. Written by the exalted Al Ewing and illustrated by Adam Gorham (with covers by Mike Mayhew), it follows the titular not-raccoon-but-totally-is-one in a hard-boiled sci-fi heist comedy. I read this a few days ago and was blown away by its goodness. This is the kind of thing I always want from the Big Two--a hilarious, savvy, professional, and sometimes touching comic with great character moments.

Gorham isn't someone I'd necessarily call an industry star, at least not right now, and I think that's sensible. His work here is solid and clean, with some great facial expressions, but it's not the kinda wowing thing that blows your mind. Strong, but not special. What one might call "workman-like"; it gets the job done well. The color-work by Michael Garland is great, really lends the series lots of pop in terms of visuals. Very lush and dynamic. Has a kinda classy look to it. Obviously since this is from Marvel, it's got immense polish when it comes to things like lettering and panels. Panel-to-panel reading flow is smooth. Mayhew's covers are rock solid and charismatic. The lettering is on point.

Al Ewing is fast becoming one of my favorite writers at Marvel--it's no surprise they snagged him for an exclusive contract. The guy's lightning--every series I've read from him has been great, and Rocket is probably the best yet. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I would not mind it if Marvel cancelled every series Ewing isn't writing/can't write and just stuck with the guy. There's a lot to love here when it comes to writing: it doesn't take itself too seriously, but takes itself seriously enough when necessary to really make some of the more emotional moments work. The theme is fantastic, it invokes hard-boiled crime in the best ways, with witty usage of prose gutters. The plot is great too, but the story-telling is where it truly shines as it cleverly begins at the end of the issue's story, but doesn't give you every piece of info so that by the end of the issue, it completely subverts your expectations and throws you for a loop. I love that kind of storytelling and Ewing absolutely nails it here. I try not to use "sublime", as I believe the Daniel has dirtied that word near beyond reproach in his overuse of it, but the final issue of this series cannot be described more aptly with another word--it's sublime.

However, Rocket may very well have an even greater strength in its humor--this is a rollicking good time from start to finish, with excellent dialogue (though limited since this series stands more on its prose gutters), parodies (e.g. an excellent Daredevil goof), and slyly working Ewing's career into the background for goodies if you know where he came from (ex. there are Judge Dredd lookalikes in one issue, a thickly British AI). It's self-aware, but never to the point of being obnoxious and not in the "lol, look at me being so self-aware". Speaking of which, Deadpool has a major role in an issue of this and his characterization is spot-on (coming from someone who considers Deadpool's MNow run by Duggan and Posehn a masterpiece). Rocket's characterization is also some pretty seminal stuff which doesn't lean too much on the films and does its own great thing. The heists are pretty great, on the level of another heist comedy series by a Marvel exclusive writer I read after this and am going to review, 4 Kids Walk Into a Bank.

There are a couple of minor gripes to be had. The overuse of fake cuss words is one of them. Sometimes euphemisms and made-up words can be great for building a world and series identity (a good example would be Batman Beyond and its use of words like "schway"). Plus, it's a clever way to sneak in some adult language without defanging oneself. However, they can be a bit grating when there are entire lines where these are just strung together and you're expected to know what the fuck it all means. And that's a problem here, though not a super big one since it only happens maybe 3-4 times, and you might not have a problem with it. Characters wise I think that the antagonists don't have incredible motivations. They're serviceable, they make sense, and on paper some of them sound pretty interesting. It's just that they don't get much time to be developed--then again, that's kinda expected with a miniseries such as this. There's not much time to fully develop characters so building characters up has to be pretty light, otherwise it drags down the actual meat of the story. And as I said before, there's some pretty character-defining work here, especially with a side character by the name of Gatecrasher who's a surprising emotional core of the series that I'd like to see more of in future, because she's a really great character who could be something really special with some more time to shine. Sure as hell fucking better than most of Marvel's other female characters, that's for sure. There are some especially minor niggles I have in that nothing really feels "alien" to me. It's the same problem I have with Star Wars where the aliens are all too humanoid, not otherworldly enough. But that's not really the point, this isn't Oblivion Song or something. Still, could've had that zest there.

Overall, Rocket is shocking in that it's not just a throwaway tie-in for all of the Guardians stuff that came out in 2017 (the film's sequel and Telltale's video game (oh, the irony now)). It's a genuinely excellent title and well worth the hour or so read. As pulpy fun, it steamrolls a lot of its competition and stacks some gravy on that by having some suckerpunches here and there which actually work extremely well. As a small story in the Marvel cosmic universe, this is a real treat and I would recommend it to virtually everyone. Clever, subversive, endlessly amusing, and a heart you wouldn't have expected earn this a 9.5/10 from me.

Must-read

Summary:
Rocket is masterful, due to its humorous, savvy, thoroughly entertaining, and overall top-notch writing and solid art. Unless you hate the creative team, Marvel, heist stories, comedies, and/or things that are good, I heartily recommend it.

(originally posted: 5/6/2018)