Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-28487792-20160522100333/@comment-26066818-20160522201332

Yeah, you're referencing (2007).

Okay, here's the thing: in anticipation of Guardians of the Galaxy being a huge movie, Marvel did what's called a "soft reboot" on the Guardians characters in Avengers Assemble #4-7 (2012). Earlier continuity regarding the main Guardian members has been ignored / tweeked to make them more in line with the (then upcoming) movie versions. Star-Lord's origin in particular was heavily reimagined, nobody seems to remember Drax is a human and a tactical genius, and Rocket and Groot have been given a longer partnership with each other, like the movie.

There is no fictional concept like "Marvel-Time" to explain this particularly synergy -- Marvel just decided making the comic Guardians more like their movie counterparts was more important than staying consistent with previous comics. An enterprising writer may come along one day and tie these fraying threads of continuity together, but until then...