Marvel Entertainment is enlisting its biggest Super Heroes to bring added awareness of the problems of bullying. This October, Marvel will join forces with STOMP Out Bullying™, the leading national bullying and cyberbullying prevention organization for kids and teens in the U.S., to launch a special variant cover program to commemorate National Bullying Prevention Month and support STOMP’s relentless efforts to stop this growing epidemic. Throughout the month of October, the world’s most popular Super Heroes – Captain America, The Avengers, The Guardians of the Galaxy and more — will be featured on all-new variant covers to spotlight both National Bullying Prevention Month and STOMP’s Blue Shirt Day® World Day of Bullying Prevention. The variant issues will be available exclusively at comic shops.
“The center of Marvel’s storytelling history is the eternal struggle between good and evil, with many of its greatest Super Heroes having to contend with — and rise above — bullying, in all its forms,” said Axel Alonso, Editor in Chief of Marvel Comics. “We are proud to join forces with STOMP Out Bullying on its important bullying prevention awareness mission. We hope that all our fans take a moment this month to educate themselves on the need to stop bullying among our youth by checking out the free resources STOMPOut Bullying has to offer.”
STOMP Out Bullying™ focuses on reducing and preventing bullying, cyberbullying, sexting and other digital abuse, educating against homophobia, racism and hatred, decreasing school absenteeism, and deterring violence in schools, online and in communities across the country. It teaches effective solutions on how to respond to all forms of bullying. It educates kids and teens in school and online, provides help for those in need and at risk of suicide, raises awareness, conducts peer mentoring programs in schools, creates and distributes public service announcements by noted celebrities, and engages in social media campaigns. An additional focus educates parents on how to keep their children safe and responsible online.
In 2008, the organization created Blue Shirt Day® World Day of Bullying Prevention to signify the importance and bring awareness to the fight to stop bullying and cyberbullying. Taking place the first Monday of October – this year on October 6, 2014 – Blue Shirt Day® World Day of Bullying Prevention is designed as a sign of solidarity against bullying by having kids, teens and adults wear blue and make that the day that bullying prevention is heard around the world.
“We are privileged to join forces with Marvel Entertainment on this critically important bullying and cyberbullying prevention campaign,” said Ross Ellis, founder and Chief Executive Officer of STOMP Out Bullying. “Bullying and cyberbullying have reached epidemic proportions, with one out of every four kids being a victim. And bullying transcends race, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation; in fact, some of Marvel’s greatest Super Heroes were themselves bullied as kids and teens. But just as Spider-Man, Captain America, and Marvel’s many other Super Heroes were able to triumph and go on to combat evil, so can every one of us be a Super Hero in our own right by standing up and joining the fight to eradicate bullying.”
The following comic books, on-sale in October, will feature special STOMP Out Bullying variant covers:
- Rocket Raccoon #4
- Guardians of the Galaxy #20
- Avengers #36
- Inhuman #7
- Hulk #7
- Captain America #25
- Legendary Star-Lord #4
