Dan Abnett To Write A Prose Novel About Rocket Raccoon And Groot, This Is The World We Are Living In Now

Ever since the trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy hit -- heck, ever since the movie was announced -- the public has been clamoring for more Rocket Raccoon and Groot, the alien warriors who just happen to be a tiny furry cartoon animal and a talking, walking tree, respectively. Now, it seems that excitement over the two characters has hit a fever pitch, with an all-new prose novel by Dan Abnett called Rocket Raccoon and Groot Steal The Galaxy! set to hit bookshelves in July.

One more time, that's a prose novel about Rocket Raccoon and Groot, set to capitalize on the presumed success of the upcoming major, big-budget Guardians of the Galaxy feature film. This is the world we live in now.

If you're going to publish a novel about Rocket Raccoon and Groot, Abnett is a pretty solid choice. Not only was he one of the creators directly responsible for the characters' resurgence of popularity alongside cowriter Andy Lanning and artists  Paul Pelletier, Brad Walker, Carlos Magno, and Wes Craig with the Guardians of the Galaxy comic on which the upcoming film is loosely based, but he's also an old hand at licensed novels, too. He's probably best known for his tie-ins to Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000, in which he has undoubtedly spent countless paragraphs describing the sheer number of skulls adorning various characters' armor.

Seriously. They are big on skulls over at Games Workshop.

Still, the very existence of this thing is pretty surprising -- it's been while since Marvel was putting out novels without pictures in them (they still make those?) on the regular, let alone ones that were about talking trees planning galactic heists with official descriptions that mentioned the Kree, the Badoon and the Nova Corps. Find out more in an interview with Abnett at CBR, and if you're up for it, Rocket Raccoon and Groot Steal the Galaxy can be pre-ordered on Amazon.

About Rocket Racoon Co-Creator Bill Mantlo

If you enjoy the Guardians of the Galaxy comic books and plan to see the movie, consider making a donation to the continued healthcare costs of disabled Rocket Raccoon co-creator Bill Mantlo, whose insurance provides only the most minimal level of care for someone with his needs. You can read more about Mr. Mantlo’s life and plight in this in-depth article by Bill Coffin.

Mantlo is just one of numerous veteran comic book creators in need. You can learn more about artists like him and their lives at the Hero Initiative, the comic book industry’s non-profit organization that offers aid to the men and women who created the industry and work which now fuels Hollywood’s biggest success.