Give Marvel credit where it's due... Guardians of the Galaxy anti-bullying covers

[icon_uk]

Marvel have a LOT of publicity going for their Guardians of the Galaxy characters, and with the likes of Chris Pratt (who kept the Star Lord costume so he could make Hospital visits to sick kids in it), some very good PR, so I can only applaud them for this



From Comicosity, Marvel are teaming up with Stomp out Bullying in October, which is also National Bullying Prevention Month.







Well okay, this one's not Guardians of the Galaxy, but it's Captain America, who was bullied a lot as kid Steve Rogers, and who so he gets a pass.



This ones not Guardians of the Galaxy either, but Bruce Banner was also canonically a bullied child and the Hulk has little time for bullies either.

Comments

[crinos]

Yeah, keep pointing and laughing at the kid sitting next to THE INCREDIBLE HULK.

There about thirty seconds away from getting that helmet jammed in a very uncomfortable place.

[freezer]

It is my pet theory that in the Marvel Universe, the same genetic factor that makes superpowers possible causes suicidal stupidity those without them.

[silicondream]

Whatever advice Gamora might have for bullied kids, I somehow doubt it would be a good idea for them to follow it. But cute cover nonetheless!

[icon_uk]

Agreed, she's one of the few people for whom the phrase "I'm going to tell my dad on you" can literally cause bed-wetting terror.

[starwolf_oakley]

Peter David once said Bruce Banner's childhood was "scorched earth depressing.". Maybe this cover is a flashback of Bruce on a high school football team with ghost future Hulk there.

I'm curious what kind of cover Spider-Man will get. To me, Ditko era Flash Thompson was more of a snarky wise-ass to Peter Parker than a full-on bully. Flash and Peter would never have become friends in the Romita era otherwise.

[obsidianwolf]

I don't think Peter is getting one. I think the only one that hasn't been shown is the Inhumans one.

[icon_uk]

Given the ultimate in childhood pressure that the Inhumans apply in terms of Terrigensis ceremony, not sure I'd see them as being a natural fit, but that's a personal assessment.

[obsidianwolf]

I think we are supposed to forget about all the horrible aspects of INhuman culture now that they are going to be pushed so hard by Marvel since they can't use mutants in the MCU.

[night4345]

That GotG cover is beautiful.

[donnblake]

Can they use Inhumans? I would have thought they might fall under the Fantastic Four property.

[obsidianwolf]

Nope IIRC they weren't included in the rights sold to Fox(Probably because of their connection to the Kree) that's why Marvel is giving them such a big push lately. With the Terrigen mist no longer being lethal to humans and surprise there are hundreds of thousands of humans with inhuman genes that just needed a jolt of T-mist to turn into inhumans.

[randyripoff]

Cap looks...wrong.

[drtechnobabel]

To me, it looks like he's telling the bully, "Hey, remember that Super Soldier serum I have in my blood? Yeah, I could clench my hand right now and break every bone in yours. So LAY OFF."

[glprime]

Perspective issues. His legs versus his torso length, coupled with the ambiguous size of the kids he's next. Kinda makes him look like accurateheight!Wolverine or Puck.

[cainofdreaming]

They might not qualify universally, but if they use Ahura I'd give them a pass. He's had a pretty freaking terrible childhood.

[halloweenjack]

"The popular kids sure are assholes, aren't they? Let me tell you some exciting new uses for a paper clip."

[michaelhealy]

The Celestials were serious about making sure natural selection favored their experiments.

[randyripoff]

I wasn't complaining about the perspective, although you're right, that's off too. I was referring to his costume. He doesn't look like Captain America to me.

Anti-Bullying is Bunk

[bencomicgraphics]

It's offensive, it's wrong, and it actually makes the situation worse.

Re: Anti-Bullying is Bunk

[icon_uk]

Those are some very sweeping statements, could you elaborate on what you mean?

Surely letting kids know that they aren't as alone as they feel they are is a GOOD thing?

[silverzeo]

Didn't Wonder Woman did the same thing in her animated movie, teaching a little girl how to "kill" the boys who didn't let her play pirate....

[silverzeo]

I think they could have done Cap better by have him be a kid wearing a Captain America T-Shirt...

And Rocket for ANTI Bullying? I mean... I admit to being one of the millions of newbs who didn't know much about Rocket BEFORE MvC3, but isn't how he recently depicted being a gun totting thug who blows up anything that gets in his way? The closest thing I seen Rocket BEFORE that game was a flash parody of the game to show how drastic of a change they made Rocket...

Re: Anti-Bullying is Bunk

[bencomicgraphics]

anti-bullying is the latest 'feel good' movement that's less about empowering those bullied and more about acting like you're doing good things, while in actuality you're making the situation worse.

I say this as someone who has been bullied. The ability for me to find my own voice and defend myself was instrumental in my development as a person, and anti-bullying establishes a 'free fire' zone that bullies exploit; getting right to the edge of what is punishable, but never crossing it; counting on their victims to cross that line and in return be punished for it.

Re: Anti-Bullying is Bunk

[cainofdreaming]

How does this it do that, exactly? There are some programs which are made for controlling bullying in schools, which I think is what you seem to disagree with if I get you right (and I readily admit that there's a good chance that I don't), but I don't think that anti-bullying as a concept is just that. This example certainly isn't.

And as another bullied person I'd have been grateful for something like that in my school. Standing up to bullies... yeah, didn't work so much for me. Only makes you a bigger target in the long run.

[indyreloadx]

I dunno. I think they should count their blessing if the only thing Hulk does is jam their helmets up their woohaws. I imagine Hulk would dropkick one of those kids as an example