In another vein entirely, check out the Little Ty Cooney series of illustrated books from writer and artist Steven Riley. He took his love of the great outdoors, art, and children’s books and mashed them all together into three hardcover adventures, Little Ty Cooney and the Big Yosemite Race, Little Ty Cooney and the Big Yellowstone Mystery, and Little Ty Cooney and the Grand Canyon Tour Company — so far. In each, a young raccoon and his friends explore these famous National Parks to learn and, of course, to find danger and escape it. Each of the books can be purchased at the official Ty Cooney web site, which also features art how-to videos and other projects that Mr. Riley is currently working on.
Raccoon
The Raccoon on TV!
Rather quickly after the release of the Guardians of the Galaxy feature film this summer, Marvel put out word that an animated TV series was in the works — but that was about all we heard for a while. Now, Marvel has gone so far as to release a “splash page” image and even a short animated “teaser” for the new show, which is slated to premier in 2015. The characters (including fan-favorite Rocket Raccoon) all have the appearance they did in the movie, but there’s no word yet if any of the film’s actors will be voicing their characters for the show. Nor do we know if what we see in the teaser reflects the look and animation style of the actual show. But, it’s more than we had even a month ago! Read all about it over at Slash Film.
Cool and Wet with Bird and Coon
Boom! Studios’ Kaboom! imprint have previously presented several graphic novels for Adventure Time with Finn and Jake, but now they present the very first full-length original graphic novel (OGN) from the popular TV series The Regular Show with everyone’s favorite dopey coon and bluejay, Rigby and Mordecai. And the timing is perfect: “The summer is turning into a roast-fest and Mordecai and Rigby are desperate to find a way to cool down. But when a mystery pool suddenly appears and offers a chance to beat the heat, it’s only a matter of time before these two best bros find themselves in totally water-logged trouble.” Written by Rachel Connor (Ed, Edd N Eddy) and illustrated in full color by Tessa Stone (Bravest Warriors), Regular Show Volume 1: Hydration is available now. Find out more at Boom’s web site.
What a Cute Little Raccoon… NOT!
With the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy movie looming closer, some folks might want to get a little background on the group. Heck, even young kids might want to! And so to that end Marvel Press brings us Guardians of the Galaxy: Beginnings, written by Tomas Palacios and illustrated by a variety of artists. “How did a raccoon with a rocket launcher, a talking tree, a bald green destroyer, the most dangerous woman in the universe, and an interplanetary policeman form the heroic space squad, The Guardians of the Galaxy? Join Rocket Raccoon, Groot, Drax the Destroyer, Gamora, and their fierce leader Star-Lord as they band together in this origin storybook to fight through the cosmos and bring peace to a universe filled with threats and danger. This illustrated 48-page storybook introduces the fun ragtag band of Super Heroes in space!” Check out this new full-cover hardcover at Barnes & Noble.
Raccoon Steals the Galaxy! News at Eleven.
As we get closer to the summertime release of Marvel Comics’ Guardians of the Galaxy movie, we’re likely to see more and more of Rocket Raccoon — and his buddy Groot, the anthropomorphic tree. Next up: Marvel’s “first in-house original prose novel”, Rocket Raccoon and Groot Steal the Galaxy by Dan Abnett — one of the original creators of Guardians of the Galaxy in 2008. “Rocket Raccoon and the faithful Groot are the baddest heroes in the cosmos, and they’re on the run across the Marvel Universe! During a spaceport brawl, the infamous pair rescues an android Recorder from a pack of alien Badoons, Everyone in the galaxy, however, including the ruthless Kree Empire and the stalwart Nova Corps, seems to want that Recorder, who’s about as sane as a sandwich with no mustard.” Check out the interview with Mr. Abnett at Comic Book Resources, and check out Steal the Galaxy when it arrives in hardcover this July.
Help for the Creator of Rocket Raccoon
With all of the attention that Rocket Raccoon and his fellow Guardians of the Galaxy have been getting, some attention has also begun to shine on a nearly forgotten name: Bill Mantlo. Back in 1976, Bill teamed up with Keith Giffen to introduce the original Rocket Raccoon in the pages of Marvel Preview #7. Not long after Rocket would team up with the Incredible Hulk, of all things, before moving on to his own comic book miniseries. In 1992, Bill Mantlo was struck by a car while he was out roller-blading, and he remained in a coma for many years after the accident. He has since regained consciousness, but he suffered brain damage from the accident and now requires full-time medical attention. Many Marvel fans and comic book professionals are urging Marvel (and Disney, Marvel’s parent company now) to contribute part of the likely sky-high profits from the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy movie towards Bill’s medical needs. Comic book writer Greg Pak has a web-site devoted to the cause of raising money for Bill’s care. Meanwhile, if you haven’t seen it: Marvel has released a new mini-preview of Guardians that includes a bit of Rocket’s voice, Bradley Cooper. It’s interesting to hear the film’s director James Gunn describe Rocket as “the heart of the movie in a lot of ways”.
Blasting Your Way — For Free!
Signs of the upcoming Free Comic Book Day for 2014 are beginning to show up in Previews and other places. One of the furrier ones on the horizon comes from Marvel: None other than the furries’ favorite Guardian of the Galaxy (unless you’re really into trees), Rocket Raccoon. Written by Joe Caramagna and illustrated by Adam Archer (with a cover by Skottie Young), this 32-page full-color mini-comic features the power procyonid in his own space adventure in anticipation of the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy movie this August. Digital Spy has the story. Don’t forget, Free Comic Book Day comes to a comic book shop near you on May 3rd.
More Raccoons at the Movies
Bringing yet another well-known video game to the big screen, Sony Pictures have announced that Sly Cooper — The Movie is filming and set for release in 2016. Erik Kain at Forbes.com has the complete story, as well as a link to the teaser trailer. The film is being directed by Kevin Munroe (one of the writers on the TMNT film from 2007) and animated by Rainmaker Entertainment and Blockade Entertainment (both of whom are currently working on the Ratchet & Clank movie, also for Sony). According to the press release, “Sly Cooper is a kinetic and comedic heist film that tells the story of Sly Cooper, an orphaned raccoon thief, along with his childhood friends and partners in crime, Bentley Turtle and Murray Hippo. In the film, Sly learns of his birth family’s secret legacy; that he comes from a long line of talented and international thieves. Endowed with this knowledge, Sly and his friends are catapulted into a global adventure as they race to reassemble pieces of an ancient book holding The Cooper Clan’s family secrets before it can fall into the hands of Clockwerk — an evil Russian metallic owl bent on ending the Cooper family line. ” With the movie not coming out until 2016, we can probably assume that the teaser trailer does not reflect the look or feel of the final film — but it does get the word out and hopefully gets people interested.
Raccoon in Space!
Welcome to 2014! Today, Disney/Marvel released the first official publicity photo from the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy film, and it features the clearest view yet of Rocket Raccoon that you don’t have to still-frame to get. They also put out the following synopsis for the movie: “An action-packed epic space adventure, Marvel’s Guardians Of The Galaxy expands the Marvel Cinematic Universe into the cosmos, where brash adventurer Peter Quill finds himself the object of an unrelenting bounty hunt after stealing a mysterious orb coveted by Ronan, a powerful villain with ambitions that threaten the universe. To evade the ever-persistent Ronan, Quill is forced into an uneasy truce with a quartet of disparate misfits — Rocket, a gun-toting raccoon, Groot, a tree-like humanoid, the deadly and enigmatic Gamora, and the revenge-driven Drax the Destroyer. But when Peter discovers the true power of the orb and the menace it poses to the cosmos, he must do his best to rally his ragtag rivals for a last, desperate stand — with the galaxy’s fate in the balance.” Those of you who have followed the Guardians comic book may recall that Rocket Raccoon develops a close bond with Groot the tree-guy through the series. We’ll see what happens here. Guardians is blasting off in theaters this August.