if you don't know, now you know- ESPN & Marvel Team-Up for The NBA Preview

Since the epic purchase of Marvel by Disney in the unthinkable amount of $4 billion dollars last year-- we have seen how they have been making moves in leveraging their all new biz vehicle-- through all facets that come to mind. Animation- check, Toys- check, Comics- check, Film- Check, Sports- huh?! Yes, ESPN is owned by Disney and in an imaginative marketing ploy-- Marvel & ESPN the Magazine team up to highlight the 2010-11 NBA Preview by showcasing all 30 teams and infusing Marvel superheroes with original art by some of the best illustrators in the world of comics.

So effin, badass how artist- Greg Horn used Kobe Bryant as the centerpiece among other NBA Superstars with the Infinity Gauntlet in hand to reflect his 5 NBA championship rings. This powerful union makes so much sense as hoops enthusiasts/fans, like me-- perceive many of these superstar athletes with their unbelievable skills-- as superhuman.

Some of my fave NBA/Marvel collabos of the get this, 30 cover variants (for every NBA team!) are the following mash-ups: The Charlotte Bobcats meets Nick Fury, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. With his Heirness, Michael Jordan as the tactical/strategist behind the scenes head of no-name players, minus beast-GF, Gerald Wallace by ill-artist Alex Maleev. Probably the most talked about cover will be the remake of Amazing Spiderman calling it quits, just like Lebron James did with the Cleveland Cavaliers-- revisited by the Comic's legend, John Romita.

And finally the Los Angeles Lakers cover variant with the Lord of the Rings, Black-Mamba and in this Iron-Man remix via Salvador LaRocca, the techno-geek, futurist-- Kobe Bryant. Which is an ideal comparison being that Tony Stark, known as a womanizer-- is the genius, weapons/arms techno-geek of the Marvel U, in the same way that Kobe is that workhorse, film-geek, all around offensive/defensive weapon in the NBA Go Lakers!!!