“Guardians of the Galaxy” shouldn’t have worked, but it does

Image from Review in Haiku. Click the photo to see it at full size.

I finally got around to seeing Guardians of the Galaxy with some friends this weekend, and I’m pleased to see that people behind the Marvel Cinematic Universe are continuing to work their magic with movies, even with a work featuring some of Marvel’s more obscure characters and locales: Thanos! Xandar! The Kyln! The Nova Corps! Knowhere! Even a tip of the hat to Cosmo the dog!

And of course, we can’t forget Rocket, who loves big weaponry in the comics just as much as he does in the movie…

…gets his share of one-liners…

…and has his moments of badassery, even when facing off against the biggest bad “Big Bad” in the Marvel Universe:

Rocket Raccoon was created in 1976 as a not-so-subtle homage to the Beatles’ Rocky Raccoon and was first showcased on the cover of a comic book in 20th anniversary issue of The Incredible Hulk in 1981:

He’s in good company. You know who else got their first comic book cover appearance via the Hulk? This guy: