The summer season is essentially upon us, ushering in a time of warmer temperatures and buzzworthy new pieces of media. As you’re preparing to have some fun in the sun in the coming months, it looks like some of the heroes of DC Comics will be joining you. Last week, DC announced its plans for a string of swimsuit-themed variant covers, which place characters ranging from Batman to Black Adam to Harley Quinn to Nubia in their best beach attire. The covers will be available across a string of DC’s August 2022 books, and will be contributed by artists such as Stanley “Artgerm” Lau, Joelle Jones, and Nicola Scott.
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The idea of superheroes in swimsuits partially stems from the Marvel Swimsuit Specials of the 1990s, which were a series of annuals that showcased the publisher’s characters in swimwear and were modeled after the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Specials of the same era. In recent years, as the array of comic characters and comic creators has grown more diverse, there has been a renewed fervor to see the concept brought back, with fans and even creators unofficially contributing art online in the summer of 2018. The next year, Marvel announced a newer Summer Special, but it was cancelled prior to its release.
You can check out the full list of variant covers and artists for DC’s Swimsuit variant covers below, and keep scrolling to check out the first look at the covers!
- Action Comics #1046 by Stanley “Artgerm” Lao
- Batman #126 by Mikel Janรญn
- Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #6 by Rafa Sandoval
- Black Adam #3 by Emanuela Lupacchino
- Catwoman #46 by Jeff Dรฉkal
- Deathstroke Inc. #12 by David Lapham
- Harley Quinn #21 by Megan Huang
- Nightwing #95 by Nicola Scott
- Nubia: Queen of the Amazons #3 by Derrick Chew
- Poison Ivy #3 by Joรซlle Jones with Jordie Bellaire