10 Comic Book Crazes You Totally Forgot Were A Thing

Comics in the 1980s and especially into the '90s featured a lot of skin-tight ladies, and while that craze is slowly abating across the industry, it wasn't until the Swimsuit Era that it became as obvious to readers as it is now in hindsight.

To capitalize on the success of Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit Edition, Marvel decided to put out a swimsuit edition of its major characters. Really. The books were released annually, and they somewhat told a story but were mostly about portraying all of the publisher's characters in skimpy swimwear, and it wasn't limited to female characters either.

Marvel wasn't the only publisher to do this, and several independent publishers joined in on the fun. There are swimsuit editions for characters like Lady Death and Vampirella, who honestly couldn't wear less if she tried, and many more. The issues were something of a hokey collectible, and they didn't exactly fail to sell despite how ridiculous they were.

Swimsuit Edition comics stayed around through the early 2000s, and have pretty much gone away since then. Still, every once in a while, a new swimsuit comic book will show up on a store shelf somewhere, and many a fan will grab a few Archie comics and a Batman to throw off the clerk when they embarrassingly purchase it... because they like the articles...?