bullying

It was only last month that Marvel revealed a set of anti-bullying variant covers designed to get kids to stop being complete jerks to each other, but apparently, it seems that an image of Gamorra offering to space-murder a group of mean children wasn't enough to solve all the problems. As a result, Marvel has taken the next logical step: A full-length anti-bullying comic featuring the Avengers, Spider-Man and the Guardians of the Galaxy, all teaming up to try to put an end to bullying once and for all.

Superhero comics have always come down pretty hard against bullying, whether it's Superman sticking up for the little guy in 1938 or Marvel's more direct approach to having nerdy weaklings suddenly turn into super-strong crime-fighters who turn the tables and beat the living crap out of the bad guys. Captain America, Spider-Man and the Hulk all follow that classic formula, and heck, the X-Men are an entire school made up of an oppressed minority that spends most of their time fighting robots made of racism. So yeah, Marvel is, historically speaking, pretty dead set against bullying. That's why it's no surprise that they're teaming up with the STOMP Out Bullying organization next month for a series of variant covers designed to raise awareness of bullying and help prevent it. The results are some pretty great covers that range from charming to genuinely hilarious.

There's something essential about the superhero that can be easy to overlook in today's cultural climate, and that's the idea that these heroes can inspire us to become better people, by setting an example, striving to do the right thing and using their gifts to create a better world for everyone...