Rediscovering Older Comic Characters

I'm going to do a non-project related post. *Gasp* I know.. If you passed out from shock...please pick yourself up off the floor..or desk...and breathe for a minute.
I have been reading articles and comments about the upcoming film "Guardians of the Galaxy." Mainly the articles are about who is being cast, what possible plots they could come up with, etc. When I heard about Guardians, I thought, "meh...no big." It just wasn't in my comic interests at the time.
(But then...DUN DUN DUNNNNNNN)
I watch "Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes" (think what you will, I enjoyed the two season show, despite the character flaws.) In an episode during Season 2 the Guardians appear, and I fell in love with Rocket Raccoon. That happens a lot, me falling in love with characters...I think it's a good thing.
Back to the original reason why I am writing this post: Rocket Raccoon had a self titled comic series in the mid 80's that I never would have given thought to if it hadn't been for the recent articles about "Guardians of the Galaxy," and the mention/quick scenes on "Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes." It sent me straight to Marvel's website to find out more about the Guardians/Rocket. What I found was magnificent. Rocket Raccoon's profile had very little to do with the Guardians, in fact, when I began to read it, after a couple paragraphs even Rocket hadn't been mentioned. The back story of how Rocket came into existence, the place he is from (known as Half-World,) was FASCINATING. Sorry to just throw all caps in your face like that. I am a big fan of behavior studies, so when I read about a place where all the psychologically challenged (I'm putting it nicely...) people were placed to get them away from the "normal" beings (just like we'd put them in an asylum of sorts) and build robots to keep them there and try to fix them...I was completely bitten by the "must-read-bug." Oh hey...what does this have to do with a talking raccoon, you might ask? No...he is not conjured up by a schizophrenic being...he was made by the robots. That's right, the robots grew tired of their post protecting/helping the Loonies. What would you do? If you say cross breed humans and animals and give them cybernetic enhancements...you just may be a robot...BAM Rocket Raccoon is born...er....made?
There are adventures aplenty on Half World that anthropomorphic cross breeds and robots partake in...and toys, did I mention toys? The best part? A device is made (a helmet of sorts) that *SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT* alters the brains of the loonies, freeing them from whatever psychological problems landed them on Half World. What a magical idea. If only we could do that. Anyways...Rocket actually didn't join the Guardians until later on in Marvel history, you can see/hear him in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes S2 Episode 6, and if I'm not mistaken Ultimate Spider-Man (tv series) Season 2 (I'm not sure the episodes the Guardian's appear in.) You'll see why I like him so much. Cockney English accent, brilliant, and above all...kicks major butt.

Even if you don't like Rocket (why wouldn't you?) I highly recommend revisiting old comics, taking a closer look at the smaller characters, or guest characters. Who knows? You might just fall in love with another comic series. Off to find Rocket Raccoon 1-4 Happy adventures ya'll!