Clare L. Deming

I have been a fan of ESPN The Body Issue since I first noticed it a few years ago. I admire the athletic human form, and perhaps some of my professional study of anatomy is also likely to blame. This year, ESPN and Marvel have brought something a little different to the issue by including a superhero insert.

This special feature will include Davedevil, Captain Marvel, Medusa, Luke Cage, She-Hulk, Iron Fist, Iron Man, the Hulk, and Ant-Man. You can see a preview in a digital sketch book at ESPN now.

Here are some insights from the creators:

“For a comic book artist drawing the human anatomy is an everyday job,” says Marvel Comics artist Sara Pichelli. “But here it was matter of celebrating the maximum expression of human muscles and shapes. Creating believable, powerful, and at the same time harmonic bodies is always a challenge, that’s why I wanted to be part of this.”

“While The Body Issue itself celebrates the unique characteristics of each athlete’s physique, we thought it made perfect sense to extend this theme to these Marvel characters,” says ESPN The Magazine Deputy Editor Otto Strong.

“When comic book artists imagine the physical ideal, they have to start somewhere,” says Editor In Chief Axel Alonso. “And let’s face it, professional athletes, whose bodies are fine-tuned instruments, are the closest thing to real-life Super Heroes. Marvel’s Body Issue insert is a celebration of the most iconic Super Heroes in the world and the athletes that inspired them.”

The ESPN: Body Issue hits newstands today, July 10th.