Marvel Swimsuit Special

The Marvel Swimsuit Special was developed in the early 1990s, when the "pervasiveness of bikini bodies in American culture was apparent to everyone"[1] through media such as Baywatch, MTV Beach House, and the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, the lattermost of which would heavily influence the Marvel Swimsuit Special.[1] The series was additionally influenced by the Amazing Heroes Swimsuit Issue series, first published by Fantagraphics Books as Amazing Heroes #115 in April 1987.[2][3] That series, which featured unlicensed depictions of various mainstream comics characters, featured artwork by multiple artists who would later go on to work for Marvel Comics in an official capacity, including Stuart Immonen and Ty Templeton.[2]

Tom DeFalco, the editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics during the majority of the Marvel Swimsuit Special's publication run, has characterized the decision to produce the series as being largely financially motivated.[4] As Marvel's licensing, animation, and film divisions struggled in the 1990s (culminating in the company filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 1996[5]), the company became increasingly sales-focused in its comic division. The concept of a comic series that imitated the successful Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue was proposed multiple times, and was ultimately published in 1991.[4] Similarly to many comics released in the era of comics speculation, the Marvel Swimsuit Special was marketed as a collector's item that would appreciate in value over time.[6]

The Marvel Swimsuit Special primarily featured pin-up style illustrations of characters from Marvel's main franchises, including the Avengers, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man and others such as Alpha Flight. The tone of the series was broadly tongue-in-cheek and humorous, rather than explicitly erotic.[3][7] Both male and female characters were included in the Marvel Swimsuit Special; DeFalco stated that the series "[broke] a lot of walls in terms of sexualizing some of the male characters,"[4] though the inclusion of male characters was hypothesized by critics as preemptively deflecting criticism that the series sexually objectified women.[8] Early issues in the series featured mostly women and included men primarily in group images, though by the end of the series' run it had achieved a more equitable gender balance, with male characters featured in both group images and pin-up style illustrations.[1] According to writer Warren Ellis, male characters were included at the direction of Christian Cooper, who edited the final two issues of the Swimsuit Special.[9] Multiple artists were featured in each edition of the magazine, including Joyce Chin, Mike Deodato, Jan Duursema, Greg and Tim Hildebrandt, Adam Hughes, Joe Madureira, Joe Phillips, Dan Panosian, Joe Quesada, Brian Stelfreeze, and numerous others.[3] The first issue in the series, Marvel Illustrated: The Swimsuit Issue, featured multiple parody advertisements and fake interviews with various Marvel characters, though these sections were removed or scaled back in subsequent issues.[10][11]

Each issue had a theme, setting, and a briefly-outlined plot that served as a framing device for the issue's illustrations. Marvel Illustrated: The Swimsuit Issue is set during the "Super Olympics" organized by Stark Enterprises in the Savage Land, with the images presented as characters modelling swimwear designed by Janet Van Dyne.[12] Marvel Swimsuit Special #1 is set in the fictional nation of Wakanda, with the illustrations presented as photographs from Black Panther and Monica Lynne's engagement party.[3] Marvel Swimsuit Special #2 centers on Pip the Troll using the Infinity Gems to transport the heroes of the Marvel Universe to Monster Island for a beach party.[13] Marvel Swimsuit Special #3 follows the celebration of "The Water Festival of the Inhumans" on the Moon,[14] while Marvel Swimsuit Special #4 centers on the prince of Madripoor inviting heroes to the country to boost its tourism industry.[15]

Panels of Psylocke by Roger Cruz (left) and Northstar and Hector by Jan Duursema (right) from Marvel Swimsuit Special #4. By the end of the series' run, it had achieved approximate gender parity in its depicted characters.

The Marvel Swimsuit Special has received a mixed critical reaction. Comics writer Chris Claremont has called the series "problematic and plagued by the inherent disadvantage female characters face,"[4] and criticized its focus on titillation over storytelling.[4] Reappraising the series for The Comics Journal in 2011, comics critic Richard Cook dismissed the Swimsuit Special as "spank material for nerdy teenage boys" and criticized the quality of the series' artwork, noting that the ostensibly sexualized swimsuits of multiple female characters were ironically just as revealing as their standard superhero costumes.[8] Cook cites the inclusion of objectified male characters as serving an aspirational function for heterosexual male readers and a sexual function for heterosexual female and gay male readers,[18] concluding that the series is "puerile, but it’s a smart puerile that understood its target audience."[8]

Conversely, critic Megan Byrd has praised the Marvel Swimsuit Special in Women Write About Comics, arguing that the series "fulfill[s] fans' desires to see the characters sexualized, without that goal distracting or minimizing the content of in-continuity stories."[19] Byrd praised the series for its unadorned fan service, particularly its sexualization of both male and female characters.[19] In a separate review for Women Write About Comics, critic Wendy Browne argued that the sexualized artwork of the Swimsuit Special compares favorably to sexualized artwork in narrative-focused comic books, specifically citing Milo Manara's criticized variant cover for Spider-Woman #1, arguing that sexualization in the Marvel Swimsuit Special is "contextual rather than gratuitous."[3]

The years subsequent to the release of the Marvel Swimsuit Special saw a proliferation of swimsuit issues from a variety of comic book publishers, including Homage Studios Swimsuit Special from Image Comics in 1993,[20] Lady Death: Swimsuit from Chaos Comics in 1994,[21] and Avengelyne Swimsuit Book from Maximum Press in 1995.[22] A variant cover for the 2016 Street Fighter Swimsuit Special published by Udon Entertainment directly tributes the cover artwork for Marvel Illustrated: The Swimsuit Issue, with Chun-Li in place of She-Hulk.[23]

In 2015, nude illustrations of Marvel characters appeared in that year's Body Issue of ESPN The Magazine,[24] which was contrasted by ComicsAlliance to the Marvel Swimsuit Special.[25] In 2016, Marvel published "Mighty Men of Marvel", a series of variant covers featuring beefcake-themed art. Writing for ComicsAlliance, writer Andrew Wheeler criticized the largely non-sexualized images as lacking the "confidence that Marvel showed twenty years ago with its famously tongue-in-cheek Swimsuit Specials."[26]

In 2018, the Marvel Swimsuit Special was referenced in Multiple Man #4 (2018), in which Jamie Madrox sends duplicates of himself to a variety of alternate timelines, including a timeline inspired by the Marvel Swimsuit Special.[27] That same year, a fan art tribute to the Marvel Swimsuit Special was organized by comics writer Leah Williams under the hashtag #MarvelSwimsuit2018.[28][29]