In an effort to explain the United Nations' sustainable development goals -- a "to-do list" for addressing global problems ranging from hunger to inequality -- in a way that can be understood anywhere in the world, Reading With Pictures is working with the U.N. Office of Partnerships to produce a series of comics.

Called Comics Uniting Nations, the initiative aims to produce 17 short comics (one for each of the U.N. initiatives) by such creators as Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey, Dan Mishkin, Tintin Pantoja, and Ben McCool that will be translated into multiple languages and be distributed internationally, both in print and digitally. The goal is to reach more than 100 million people.

Companies like Andrews McMeel Universal, Archie Comics, BOOM! Studios, Dark Horse, Dynamite Entertainment, IDW Publishing, Oni Press, NBM Publishing and Valiant have already provided support and content for their own supplemental single-page comics, but Comics Uniting Nations also needs financial help. And so it's launched a Kickstarter campaign.

The hope is to raise $60,000 to put toward the production of four comics to be used as a "proof of concept" to help secure grants to pay for the other 13. If the campaign should happen to reach $190,000, well, that would fund the entire project.

The Kickstarter effort ends June 4, with Comics Uniting Nations working against an additional deadline of September, when world leaders will convene to ratify the sustainable development goals.