Comic(s) Relief: Rocket And Groot Conquer Marvel (Covers) This November

Rocket and Groot make everything better.

By David Wharton | Updated

This article is more than 2 years old

IronManIf we’ve learned anything this summer, it’s that Rocket Raccoon and Groot make damn near everything better. Whether it’s a band of criminal misfits or a drowsy summer box office, a concentrated dose of gun-loving space raccoon and monosyllabic anthropomorphic tree creature is just what the doctor ordered, even if that doctor seemed sort of shifty and was operating out of the back of a van with the engine idling. Well, clearly Marvel has learned this lesson well — the $633 million worldwide take thus far may have helped hammer it home — because they’re letting Rocket and Groot conquer their comic-book universe this November. Well, the covers at least.

Cashing in on the ridiculous success of the Guardians of the Galaxy movie, Marvel has already launched several Guardians spin-off comics, including series focused on Star-Lord and Rocket. Now Marvel has announced that Rocket and Groot will be featured on variant covers for 20 select comics from the self-proclaimed “House of Ideas” this November. Even cooler, the covers will be paying homage to iconic Marvel covers such as that of Iron Man #128, which featured the unforgettable “Demon in a Bottle” storyline. The new version on the left is by Tom Fowler, and will be showcased as the cover of Superior Iron Man #1. Check out more of the variant covers after the jump, as well as a breakdown of this week’s new sci-fi comics!

Avengers
Avengers #38 variant by Chip Zdarsky
Avengers2
Captain America & The Mighty Avengers #1 variant by Ulises Farinas
CaptainAmerica
Bucky Barnes: The Winter Soldier #2 variant by Sanford Greene
Guardians
Guardians of the Galaxy #21 variant by Dustin Nguyen
Hulk
Hulk #8 variant by Tom Fowler
Thor
Thor #2 variant by James Stokoe

 
THIS WEEK’S NEW SCI-FI COMICS

AlienLegion4Alien Legion: Uncivil War #4 (Titan Publishing)

The space lanes to Hell are paved with good intentions and the peacekeeping mission for the veterans of Alien Legion’s elite Force Nomad has gone rapidly belly up.

Escorting a fleet of refugee ships has degenerated into a sprawling cosmic brawl and to make matters worse, a cadre of alien priests seem determined to wipe out all life on a peaceful planet in preparation for their second coming!

AliensFS1Aliens: Fire and Stone #1 (Dark Horse)

During a vicious xenomorph outbreak, terraforming engineer Derrick Russell leads a desperate group of survivors onto a rickety mining vessel. They hope to escape the creatures overrunning their colony — but they’ll face horrors both in space and on the strange planet they crash on. Ties in with the Prometheus and Aliens films!

 
 
 
 
 
Chew43Chew #43 (Image Comics)

‘CHICKEN TENDERS,’ Part Three Olive. Poyo. Colby.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
DeepGrav3Deep Gravity #3 (Dark Horse)

Hunted by a monster from the surface of the hostile planet they’ve tried to escape, the survivors have to get to the less damaged half of the ruined ship, but the only way to do it may be a jump through deep space!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Who10-2Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor #2 (Titan Publishing)

On the Day of the Dead, the mystery deepens in a brand-new brooklyn adventure for the tenth Doctor!

All Gabriella Gonzalez wanted was to skip her shift at the Laundromat and hang out with her friends. It’s Halloween, and Sunset Park is hosting its first-ever Day of the Dead festival! But her father wouldn’t listen — again — and now Gabby is stuck with a store full of empty washing machines while the rest of the neighborhood goes wild. But this graveyard shift is living up to its name!

Vortexes explode out of the machines, shadowy creatures stalk on the edge of sight, and Gabby finds herself pursued by unearthly forces.

Finally, on the longest night of her life, Gabby is trapped in a powerless subway car — and the only thing standing between her and horrific death-by-monster is some skinny white guy in a suit — who’s waving a blue flashlight around!

GB20Ghostbusters #20 (IDW Publishing)

THE FINAL ISSUE OF GHOSTBUSTERS! Mass Hysteria comes to an end and the Ghostbusters discover the price of driving Tiamat from the city, county, and state of New York! But just because the Big Bad is beaten, it doesn’t mean psychokinetic shenanigans are on the wane — there’s always another job on deck for the boys (and girls!) in grey! Don’t miss the bombastically chaotic conclusion to IDW’s ghoulishly ground-breaking GHOSTBUSTERS run!

 
GodzRulers16Godzilla: Rulers of Earth #16 (IDW Publishing)

Godzilla comes face-to-face with his deadliest opponent yet! The end game of the series most conniving foe reaches its zenith. Will Godzilla be able to survive the day? And will the Earth want him to? The stunning climax to this four-part story is here.

 
 
 
 
 
 
Guardians19Guardians of the Galaxy #19 (Marvel Comics)

Last we checked, Star-Lord, Thanos, and Nova were trapped in the Cancerverse…But Star-Lord and Thanos seem to be running around just fine. So what exactly happened to Richard Rider?

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
HaloEsc10Halo: Escalation #10 (Dark Horse)

The Master Chief returns in ‘The Next 72 Hours’ part 3! What happened to the Master Chief immediately following the events of Halo 4, and what do those events mean for the future of the crew on the UNSC Infinity? Halo lead writer Brian Reed (Amazing Spider-Man, Ms. Marvel) and Ricardo Sánchez reveal all in the thrilling conclusion to this Halo event!

 
 
 
 
Low3Low #3 (Image Comics)

In an effort to save mankind, Stel Caine embarks to do what hasn’t been done in millennia: walk on the Earth’s surface. But before she can rise from the depths of the ocean, she must first help her son rise from the suffocating darkness in which he wallows.

 
 
 
 
 
 
Massive27The Massive #27 (Dark Horse)

The Massive has been found! The story of its disappearance is as mind bending as Mary’s origin. But the solving of two mysteries only draws attention to the secret still unexplained: the reason for the Crash.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
MindMGMT26Mind MGMT #26 (Dark Horse)

Lyme, Dusty, Bill, and Perrier are all dead or missing. Alone in a world of rogue mind managers, Meru sets out in search of the first Immortal…rumored to still be alive somewhere in South America!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Pariah8Pariah #8 (Dark Horse)

The Vitros face the ultimate decision: Earth or space?

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
RocheLimit1Roche Limit #1 (Image Comics)

‘OUR DESTINY IS THE STARS, AND I WILL LEAD US THERE.’ Twenty years after this promise, billionaire Langford Skaargard’s dream of cosmic exploration is no more. Roche Limit, a colony situated on the cusp of a mysterious energy anomaly, is a melting pot of crime and terrible secrets. When Bekkah Hudson goes missing, the search to find her will plunge her sister and a cadre of the colony’s underworld figures into an odyssey that reveals a grim future for mankind. Blending 2001: A Space Odyssey with Blade Runner, ROCHE LIMIT is the first part of a bold sci-fi/noir trilogy.

Saga23Saga #23 (Image Comics)

Betrayal.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Trek37Star Trek #37 (IDW Publishing)

The STAR TREK event of the year continues here, in part 3 of “The Q Gambit”! Captain Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise find themselves decades in the future thanks to the mischievous Q. The galaxy has changed beyond recognition… and nowhere more so than on Earth itself! Don’t miss this all-new adventure produced in association with STAR TREK screenwriter/producer Roberto Orci!

 
 
 
CityForever4Star Trek: Harlan Ellison’s The City on the Edge of Forever #4 (IDW Publishing)

Harlan Ellison’s Hugo- and WGA Award-winning teleplay adaptation continues!

As Kirk and Spock bide their time in 1930s New York, Kirk finds himself doing the unthinkable — falling in love with a woman of the past! And all the while, a murderer from their own era draws ever closer, threatening to alter the very fabric of history!

Harlan Ellison’s Hugo and WGA Award-winning teleplay, visualized for the first time!

BSGSteam2Steampunk Battlestar Galactica: 1880 #2 (Dynamite Entertainment)

As the Colonial Fleet gather together under Arch-Duke Adama, Athena and Starbuck find themselves captured by the pirates of the Rising Star! Will Apollo and his friends defeat Professor Baltar’s Cylonic Knights — and what secret will they discover? Come with us on this Steampunk re-imagine of Battlestar Galactica by #1 New York Times bestselling author Tony Lee!

 
 
 
Transformers33Transformers: Robots in Disguise #33 (IDW Publishing)

WHEELJACK REBORN! After months unconscious, WHEELJACK awakens to find a strange, new CYBERTRON! STARSCREAM rules — OPTIMUS PRIME has made peace with MEGATRON — and WINDBLADE controls the city. What’s a scientist to do… but uncover the greatest mystery in TRANSFORMERS history?

 
 
 
 
Trees1Trees #1 (Image Comics)

Ten years after they landed. All over the world. And they did nothing, standing on the surface of the Earth like trees, exerting their silent pressure on the world, as if there were no-one here and nothing under foot. Ten years since we learned that there is intelligent life in the universe, but that they did not recognize us as intelligent or alive. Beginning a new science fiction graphic novel by WARREN ELLIS and JASON HOWARD.