Marvel revives its Swimsuit Special with 'Brand New Beach Day' #1

Marvel Comics is reviving its 1990s Swimsuit Special with a new one-shot, Marvel Swimsuit Special: Brand New Beach Day #1, on sale July 1. The issue pairs four short stories from writers Cody Ziglar, Daniel Kibblesmith, Rainbow Rowell, and Anthony Oliveira with pinup art and a J. Scott Campbell cover, teased on Marvel's X account as "hot mutant summer."

Marvel Comics is reviving its Swimsuit Special, the cheeky summer pinup tradition it last ran regularly in the 1990s, with a new one-shot called Marvel Swimsuit Special: Brand New Beach Day #1. The publisher teased the return on its official X account with the caption "hot mutant summer," steering fans toward a July 1 release. The issue collects four short stories from across the Marvel Universe alongside beach-themed pinup art from a lineup of current artists.

A 90s tradition returns to the beach

The Swimsuit Special was a fixture of Marvel's summer lineup in the mid-1990s, a magazine-style book that put the publisher's heroes and villains in swimwear across a run of full-page illustrations. Brand New Beach Day revives that concept, this time built around both pinups and short comic stories. Marvel announced the news itself, posting the cover to its X account with a two-word tease that leaned into the mutant thread running through the issue.

What's inside the one-shot

Previews point to four short stories, each from a different writer paired with its own artist. Cody Ziglar (Miles Morales: Spider-Man) sends Hulk, She-Hulk, Doc Samson, and Powerlift to the gym. Daniel Kibblesmith (Loki) has Namor host a beach party in Atlantis. Rainbow Rowell (She-Hulk) turns in an X-Men beach story, a nod to the "hot mutant summer" framing Marvel used to tease the book. Anthony Oliveira (Avengers Academy) rounds out the issue with a Spider-Man beach slasher story.

The pinups and the covers

Between the stories, the special is stacked with pinup art from a roster of current Marvel artists, including Pasqual Ferry, Valerio Schiti, Dan Panosian, Javier Garron, and Carmen Carnero. J. Scott Campbell draws the main wraparound cover. Retailers are also carrying a deep bench of variants, with covers credited to John Romita Jr., InHyuk Lee, Terry and Rachel Dodson, Stanley "Artgerm" Lau, Mahmud Asrar, Mirka Andolfo, and AKA.

When and where to get it

Marvel Swimsuit Special: Brand New Beach Day #1 goes on sale July 1, 2026, priced at $5.99 for the standard cover and rated T+. Readers chasing a specific artist will want to check the variant lineup before ordering, since several of the alternate covers carry higher price tags. Full solicitation details are posted on Marvel.com.