What do you get when you mix a raccoon, a tree and an asylum planet full of twisted clowns? You get the 2010 mini-series Annihilators, written by Andy Lanning and Dan Abnett.
The Raccoon in question is none other than the gun-toting, space adventuring, utterly awesome Rocket Raccoon, who prior to this story was part of the world saving cosmic team The Guardians of the Galaxy. The tree is the human tree Groot, Rocket’s cohort in adventuring and galaxy saving, and the planet is Rocket’s home world, which he hasn't seen in a long time. Together our two heroes venture off on one of the most amusing adventures I've read in recent years.
Ok, so I guess an anthropomorphic raccoon being attacked by an evil clown while working in an office isn’t your most normal of stories. But what I can say is it’s undoubtedly a fun one.
The story is pretty off-the-wall and it just gets weirder as it progresses through the four issues. Just when you thought you’d seen everything, we get introduced to robotic woodpeckers who act as prison guards on Planet X. I love the fact that you can never guess what’s going to happen next. There’s a new surprise around every corner. But one of the most surprising things about this tale is that it never over-does it. I mean yes, it’s crazy and completely barmy, but it never gets stale or annoying. Lanning and Abnett are truly the best things to happen to the Cosmic Marvel genre. They really have defined it as their own and have created such a great take on the universe and the characters, that it’s hard to picture them being written about by anyone else. While many of their previous works, such as Annihilation and their spin on Guardians of the Galaxy, had quite deep stories which touched on some good moral issues, this story is written just to be fun. They truly nail the writing and the humour, creating a story that never has a dull moment.
The tale has some great homages to the first Rocket Raccoon mini-series from way back in 1985, including characters such as Black-Jack O’Hare (who is like the precursor to the animated hero Bucky O’Hare from the 90s) and Lylla, Rocket’s old flame. Although it’s not necessary to have read Rocket’s previous adventures, it does give this story an extra-special quality that makes it feel like a true sequel to the 1985 series. It’s also worth noting that the story has a minor spoiler to the end of Lanning and Abnett’s Guardians run. So, if you’re currently reading through that series, it may be worth holding off reading Annihilators until you finish that.
I can’t really say much else about the series without spoiling some of the magic that the barmy story contains. Needless to say, I would highly recommend this four issue series to anyone who enjoyed any of the incarnations of Rocket Raccoon or The Guardians of the Galaxy, or who enjoy pure unadulterated fun in their comics. Four issues may seem quite short for a series, but boy, let me tell you, each minute of this adventure is oh so sweet.