Gentlemen, start your engines – The Best of the Amazing Heroes Swimsuit Special

Summer. Skin. It’s just around the corner, and to get us all in the mood, we have this sublimely odd paperback book of pin-ups. A collection of the old Amazing Heroes swimsuit editions, it represents all that can be fun and creepy when it comes to sexualizing characters from the funny pages. A little beach fun with comic characters can be harmless, but it, like everything else, can often come to a bridge too far. You want to combine dopey cosplay with Sports Illustrated‘s annual best-seller? THEN HAVE WE GOT A BOOK FOR YOU.

Yes, we can all get behind Batgirl in the skimpiest of skimpy attire (providing she’s of legal age) — or at least the fourteen year-old inside of us can, the one who tried desperately to draw such things behind locked doors in our bedrooms (not that I did that OKAY I DID) (art by Jeff Butler):

But when you start putting bikinis on furry critters, I, for one, start to get really weirded out (Taral Wayne):

Pepe Le Pew ogling in his Victorian swimwear isn’t helping matters. I suppose we can be thankful that he isn’t sporting a bike rack.

And then you have the ambiguous. Of all the supposedly closeted characters that people have wanted to out over the years (Peppermint Patty and Marcie, Bert and Ernie, etc.), Race Bannon and Benton Quest have to be near the top of the list. A single father cavorting around the world with a virile male companion? It has a Liberace vibe to it — not that there’s anything wrong with that. And while there’s nothing incriminating in this Coppertone-themed pic, just chillaxin’ on the beach might be enough (Marc Hempel, Mark Wheatley):

Bandit, no!

You can find this book kicking around here and there. Pick it up if you like the occasional odd swimwear showcase.