It’s safe to say that Rocket Raccoon is one of the most entertaining and bad ass characters to hit the big screen for years. His furry madness is addictive and he definitely is one of the highlights in Marvel’s Guardians Of The Galaxy. But Rocket may have never seen the light of day was it not for Bill Mantlo, who co-created the furry favourite with Keith Giffen. Tragically, Bill Mantlo suffered a serious brain injury after a hit and run accident in 1992 and was unable to attend any of the screenings. However, Marvel Studios stepped in and organised a private screening of one of this years most entertaining movies.
Bill’s brother, Michael Mantlo took to Facebook writing
*****WHAT AN INCREDIBLE DAY FOR BILL MANTLO*****! Marvel hooked Bill up with a PRIVATE VIEWING of "Guardians Of The Galaxy", and my wife Liz and my beloved cousin Jean assisted Bill throughout, enabling him to sit back, relax and relish in the AWESOMENESS of what is going to be, in my humble opinion, Marvel's GREATEST AND MOST SUCCESSFUL FILM EVER! Bill thoroughly enjoyed it, giving it his HIGHEST COMPLIMENT (the BIG "THUMB'S UP!"), and when the credits rolled, his face was locked into the HUGEST SMILE I HAVE EVER SEEN HIM WEAR (along with one or two tears of joy)! This was the GREATEST DAY OF THE LAST 22 YEARS for me, our family, and most importantly, BILL MANTLO!
It’s a wonderful gesture on behalf of Marvel Studios and while it’s easy to slam studios for poor movies or bad decisions, at the same time they must also receive a tip of the hat for doing a decent thing. And it’s things like this that are never publicised. The studio don’t send out press releases or photos or anything of the sort. Only for Bill’s brother, nobody would be none the wiser. We wish Bill the best and thank him for providing the world with Rocket Raccoon.
