Rocket Raccoon Fact — November 2, 2026

Today's Fact

A talking raccoon, a marooned Hulk, and a book worth starting a toy war over.

ROCKET'S FIRST BIG TEAM-UP WAS WITH THE HULK — OVER A BIBLE EVERY ARMY ON HALFWORLD WANTED!

The Featured Fact

Long before any Guardian guarded anything, Rocket was Halfworld's chief law officer, and his most famous recruit was not a tree — it was the Hulk. In Incredible Hulk Vol. 1 #271 (1982), Bruce Banner's other half wakes up marooned on Halfworld in the Keystone Quadrant, where Rocket and Wal Rus find him just before a killer Robomower tries to run all three of them down.

The prize everyone on the planet was fighting over was Gideon's Bible — not scripture, but the logbook the human psychiatrists the animals called the Shrinks had left behind, recording how Halfworld and its talking-animal caretakers came to be. The mole industrialist Judson Jakes believed the book's secrets could hand him the whole Keystone Quadrant, so Rocket talked the strongest creature he had ever met into helping guard it and rescue the kidnapped Lylla.

The alliance ended without a farewell tour. Jakes's chief scientist, Uncle Pyko, persuaded the Hulk that his sheer strength was tipping the war unfairly and teleported him home to Earth, leaving Rocket to finish the job himself — which he did, recovering the Bible and freeing Lylla before the issue closed.

Why It's Obscure

Rocket's canonical debut is routinely misfiled as a Guardians story; it is actually a Hulk issue with a lawnmower fight in it.

1982

Not the 1976 Rocky — The pipe-smoking Rocky of Marvel Preview #7 stood outside canon; Hulk #271 is Rocket's proper in-continuity debut, already on duty as Halfworld's ranger and lawman.

Gideon's Bible

A logbook, not a relic — The book Jakes hunted was the Shrinks' own record of the asylum world, which is why every toy faction on Halfworld treated it as a weapon.

The Robomower

First impressions — The debut's opening threat is a giant robotic lawnmower, and the Hulk smashing it is what convinces Rocket the green stranger is worth recruiting.

Earth-7711

A later wrinkle — The Official Handbook A to Z #2 eventually reassigned these early Halfworld stories to Earth-7711, a footnote even most Rocket fans have never run into.

Gallery

Comic art of Rocket Raccoon and the Hulk, the partner named in today's fact.

Rocket Raccoon Tales from Halfworld cover art — **Halfworld's own ranger** Rocket on the cover of Tales from Halfworld — the lawman of the Keystone Quadrant years before the Guardians existed.

Rocket Raccoon 1985 miniseries art detail — **The 1985 follow-up** Detail from Rocket's first solo miniseries era, when Bill Mantlo expanded the Halfworld war the Hulk had stumbled into.

The Incredible Hulk comic cover art — **The first recruit** The Hulk — marooned on Halfworld in 1982, recruited by a raccoon, and teleported home before he could win the war single-handed.

Sources

Every fact on this page was checked against at least two independent sources before publication.

Bullpen Bulletins

Incredible Hulk Vol. 1 #271 — Marvel DatabaseThe issue entry lists Rocket, Wal Rus and Lylla's first appearances, the Robomower attack, and the plot to safeguard Gideon's Bible from Judson Jakes.
Rocket Raccoon's First Appearance Was With the Hulk — CBRCBR confirms Hulk #271 as Rocket's official Marvel debut alongside Wal Rus, fighting Judson Jakes's factions over Gideon's Bible.
Rocket Raccoon's Comic Origins — PolygonPolygon recounts Mantlo bringing Rocket into Marvel continuity in Hulk #271 as Halfworld's chief law enforcement officer.