Cleveland, OH – May 7, 2016 – Visa Inc. [V: NYSE] and Marvel Custom Solutions today announced the release of a new educational comic book that teaches readers of all ages about personal finance. The new comic, Guardians of the Galaxy: Rocket’s Powerful Plan, was released in conjunction with Free Comic Book Day. It combines Marvel’s iconic Super Heroes with Visa’s financial literacy expertise to introduce readers to fundamental money management concepts. Visa Inc. is also partnering with the Public Library Association (PLA) to make the new Marvel comic book available at public libraries nationwide.
“At Visa we believe that financial education is most effective when the public and private sectors work together,” said Hugh Norton, Head of U.S. Financial Education, Visa Inc. “Our partnership with Marvel and the Public Library Association allows us to make financial education entertaining and engaging, while also offering educators a resource that introduces basic money management concepts to the classroom.”
Guardians of the Galaxy: Rocket’s Powerful Plan is available through Practical Money Skills for Life, a free, award-winning, teacher-tested and approved financial education program by Visa. The program was launched in 1995 and is now available in 16 languages across 42 countries.
The president elect of the Public Library Association joined representatives of Visa at the Cleveland Public Library to launch the new comic book and announce the partnership. Attendees were treated to a reading of Guardians of the Galaxy: Rocket’s Powerful Plan by storytellers from the Cleveland Public Library and a visit from Iron Man, who is featured in the comic. The launch is the first in a series of events that the PLA and Visa will be hosting in libraries across the country.
“We are thrilled to partner with Visa on this exciting educational opportunity. This comic provides personal finance lessons in a way that excites children, and public libraries are the ideal place to make a resource like this available,” said Felton Thomas, President Elect of the Public Library Association and Director of the Cleveland Public Library. “We are proud to offer a tool that allows young people to get started early on making sound financial decisions.”
“Working on this comic was a unique opportunity that enabled us to introduce core concepts about finance and savings using the Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man in a fun, action-packed story,” Darren Sanchez, Marvel Custom Solutions Editor, said.
The new comic book will not only be released in the U.S. but also around the world in 16 languages. This is the second time Marvel Comics and Visa have teamed up to create a comic focused on financial education. The first comic, Avengers: Saving the Day, was released in 2012 and is available in nine languages. More than 497,000 copies have been distributed worldwide.
About Visa Inc.
Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions, and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable electronic payments. We operate one of the world's most advanced processing networks — VisaNet — that is capable of handling more than 65,000 transaction messages a second, with fraud protection for consumers and assured payment for merchants. Visa is not a bank and does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers. Visa's innovations, however, enable its financial institution customers to offer consumers more choices: pay now with debit, pay ahead of time with prepaid or pay later with credit products. For more information, visit usa.visa.com/about-visa, visacorporate.tumblr.com and@VisaNews.
About Marvel Entertainment
Marvel Entertainment, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is one of the world's most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of over 8,000 characters featured in a variety of media over seventy years. Marvel utilizes its character franchises in entertainment, licensing and publishing.
About Marvel Custom Solutions
Custom Solutions is Marvel’s in-house creative agency that leverages all the greatest talent within Marvel Entertainment to create highly dynamic and compelling content and campaigns for global brands. Marvel Custom Solutions has the ability to deploy the work it creates through its robust print, digital, social and theatrical platforms, adding scale to the programs it creates.
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