Another Look at Rocket Raccoon

Rocket Raccoon, Drax the Destroyer,
& evil Church dude

In Guardians of the Galaxy: The Complete Collection Volume 1 by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, our heroes fight an evil church bent on conquest and destruction. As these stories coincide with Marvel's mammoth Secret Invasion crossover, the Guardians discover that the shapeshifting Skrulls have infiltrated their ranks. How can any of them know that the others aren't Skrulls infiltrators?

Groot, Star-Lord, Cosmo, Rocket Raccoon, Quasar

The group is based on Knowhere, a space-city built into the excavated skull of an extinct Celestial. The city's Head of Security is Cosmo, a talking dog and former Russian Cosmonaut. When Knowhere's residents, including the powerful scientific and diplomatic parties from other civilizations, complain that the Guardians are attracting too much trouble to their home-away-from-home, Cosmo stands by the Guardians, even if he and the members of group don't always get along.

In addition to the shapeshifting Skrulls, members of an earlier incarnation of Guardians of the Galaxy keep turning up at their base on Knowhere. As you can imagine, all this makes it difficult for members of the group to trust each other. 

I decided to make another portrait of Rocket Raccoon, this one based on penciler Paul Pelletier's interpretation of the character. Drawing his features took ten-to-fifteen minutes, but roughly two hours passed before I finished. Colorists make an incalculable contribution to comics, but never get celebrated as much as those who draw (or pencil) the initial black and white image. So I'd like to dedicate my drawing to GURU-eFX, the colorist who worked on the above three images from Issue 4 of Abnett and Lanning's book.

This second portrait of Rocket Raccoon may be more of a copy than my first study of him, that quick pen-and-ink sketch I made that day at Dave & Buster's. Still, what better way to start than by replicating the efforts of others more advanced than ourselves, before we embark on our own unique creations?

Dragon Dave