July 1, 2010: The Hero Initiative, the nonprofit organization that aids comic creators in medical or financial need, is proud to announce that it has appointed official medical and financial service consultants. Dr. Mauricio Heilbron and Harlan Wenig will offer their consultation services through Hero to its population free of charge.

"Most of the 'program service' needs we encounter run to medical and financial," said Hero Initiative President Jim McLauchlin. "By aligning ourselves with top professionals in those fields—who coincidentally have a deep love of comics as well!—we can help even more people, and do so in a more direct fashion."

Contact information for Dr. Mauricio Heilbron and Harlan Wenig can be found at:

http://heroinitiative.org/Content.asp?Id=47

Dr. Mauricio Heilbron is a fully boarded General Surgeon and one of only seven vascular surgeons in the Long Beach, Calif. area, where he performs complicated vascular surgeries involving aneurysms, dialysis and extremity by-passes. Dr. Heilbron opened his own practice in 1998, where patients are all treated like family.

"When my patients come see me, they get me for five minutes, 30 minutes, or whatever they need. I'm old-fashioned that way," said Dr. Heilbron. "I am a longtime comics fan, and there is no other surgeon on the planet who will appreciate the elder and not-so-elder statesmen of the industry more than I."

Dr. Heilbron will assist Hero with patient consultations, diagnoses, treatment, and referrals for both government programs and physicians outside his geographic area or area of expertise.

Harlan Wenig is an independent personal financial advisor who works directly with clients towards their financial goals. He works with Charter Financial Group in South Florida, and specializes in retirement planning, asset preservation, and estate planning through the use of various investment vehicles including: annuities, non-traded REITs, mutual funds, life insurance, disability insurance and other types of investments for both retirement plans (IRAs, 401(k)s, etc.) and non-qualified accounts.

"I feel it is very important for everyone who wants financial advice to have access to it," said Wenig. "Specific to the comics industry, I've worked with clients who have been at the 'Big Two' for years and freelancers just starting out through independents. Through the Hero Initiative, we help the creators of the past who need the financial support, but it's just as important to prevent current creators from needing the help in the future, by planning for it, today."

While in college at the University of Florida, Harlan interned as an editorial assistant at Marvel Comics and learned, first-hand, how the industry works. After graduation, he decided he wanted to help people create financial plans for their present and to help chart a path towards their future, so he took additional schooling to achieve Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Series 7 and Series 66 licenses. Since 2003, as an active volunteer for the Hero Initiative and a member of the regional advisory board, Harlan has been able to meld his love of the comic book industry with his desire to help people protect and grow their assets for themselves and their families.