Marvel Swimsuit Special Resurrects a 90s Comic Tradition
Marvel is breaking the glass and pulling the usual act of desperation when a company needs to draw in customers: hot girls in bikinis. The difference is that this time, it’s unexpected and a relief. In the 90s, Marvel used to release a yearly comic called Marvel Illustrated: The Swimsuit Issue, the comic publisher’s version of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, and it featured Marvel characters – male and female, hero and villain – in swimsuits, having fun at the beach or the pool with some threadbare plot that got them all to an exotic location with as few clothes as possible. And now, Marvel is bringing it back this July with Marvel Swimsuit Special: Friends, Foes, and Rivals #1. The story centers on the Wasp (that’s Janet Van Dyne, the original Wasp, not Hope from the movies), but will likely have a bevy of beautiful super-broads and probably a bunch of the guys as well. And most tellingly, Marvel Swimsuit Special: Friends, Foes, and Rivals will tie into Marvel Rivals, the hit free-to-play online hero shooter, which will have the swimsuits as new costumes for at least some of the characters.
The return of the swimsuit issues with Marvel Swimsuit Special: Friends, Foes, and Rivals is surprising because this kind of thing has been all but extinguished nowadays – and by “this kind of thing,” I mean “fun” and especially sexy fun. You can be easily forgiven if you don’t remember what fun is because it’s been outlawed for the last decade or so, but we used to have it, and some of our American corporations and institutions even encouraged it. We were also allowed to be sexual beings who found attractive people attractive, and sometimes… here’s where your mind will really be blown… the two combined for some really cool entertainment. James Bond movies featured scantily clad Bond Girls with suggestive names that Bond always successfully seduced. Comedy films were often about guys trying to hook up with attractive women. (They were also funny because humor was still legal.) Thrillers were sometimes morality tales about the dangers of unrestrained desire, and they were fun and entertaining, too, showing us the temptation of the seductress the way Martin Scorsese showed us the allure of Mafia life. And amid all that were the Marvel Swimsuit Issues, fun diversions from the usual world-ending threats and mad scientists with gimmicks menacing Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. This stuff has been verboten for so long that the notion of its return feels seismic, like a big cultural shift – or shift back – is happening because you know a lot of shrieking harpies are going to be pissed at this trifle of a comic.
It’s easy to see why Marvel Rivals is involved in the Marvel Swimsuit Special. The game has been the most successful thing Marvel has had in a while, at least since Deadpool & Wolverine, and that’s because it’s giving fans what they want: the original characters (Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, etc.) using their powers and abilities in a cool setting. It also seems geared towards fun, and that includes a lot of the costumes, especially for the female characters; they’re form-fitting and sexy, and they’ve been a highlight for the game’s fans – and a headache for its detractors. But this is what’s getting people excited about Marvel right now, as opposed to the bombing movies and comics. People have been speculating about whether Marvel would finally do something halfway intelligent and take some cues from Rivals, and this is the first indication that they may just do that, as it’s almost a certainty that Rivals’ use of revealing outfits was the inspiration for the Marvel Swimsuit Special. The usual outrage peddlers will undoubtedly seethe over this, and a deluge of angry articles is likely incoming (“How Dare EVERYONE!?”), but maybe Marvel has finally decided that selling comics is more important than having Jezebel leave you alone.
Let us know what you think of Marvel Swimsuit Special: Friends, Foes, and Rivals in the comments!
***
Get a META PC today; use code “199” to save on all purchases!
If you want to know what kind of political leanings movies have or just talk about cinema, check out the movie ratings community Criticless.
Get Your Geeks + Gamers merch here!
