As anyone who’s landed on this site knows, men’s underwear doesn’t have to be staid and boring. It can be elegant or edgy, sporty or sophisticated. Or, as in the case of the great selection of rocketship underwear we’re highlighting today, just plain fun.

Rocketship depictions of every conceivable design — from photo to cartoon to technical diagram — festoon this underwear, so you have plenty of looks to choose from. There are even a few styles for the UFO enthusiast.

So, if you’re shopping for a fun and funny gift for any guy who loves all things to do with NASA and the space program, UFO shows, Calvin & Hobbes, or who may just have a little bit of the little boy left in him, look no further than this great selection of rocketship underwear.

Available on all-cotton boxers and boxer briefs for men (starting at around $16), and on thongs and boy shorts for women (starting at around $12), they may just become your significant other’s favorite pair of undies.

Bottom line: You don’t have to be a little kid to enjoy the pleasures of rocketship underwear.

Click through to see the full selection of rocketship underwear.

Bend The Rules is the high-end brand of men’s underwear with both male and female devotees: Christina Aguilera reportedly wears them; and famous underwear expert Charlie Sheen owns over 60 pairs.

Notable for their ultrasoft, all-natural material — which Markus Bender, the brains behind the briefs, spent a year developing — BtR BoxerBriefs are designed to retain their shape, breathe well, and even regulate body temperature. There’s also no opening in the front — guys just pull them down to do their business.

They look pretty good, too, if you’re into the whole gothic-with-a-hint-of-heavy-metal thing. The undies are decorated with skulls, dragons, daggers, and crosses — and, with names like Urban Assault and Urban Crusade, there’s an unmistakably macho tone to the line. The final design touch is a single Swarovski crystal hand-set on each pair.

BtR undies are available in brown, olive, red, white, tan, and black, and cost from $52 – $74 per pair. You can shop for them on the Bend The Rules website.

We here at Rocketship Underwear love the Björn Borg men’s underwear collection. With their bold and sometimes humorous prints, these undies go way beyond boring. Highlights from the collection include:

• All-over tennis balls or trophies – Predictable? Maybe. But, for the sports nut, here’s a way to identify with the winner of five straight Wimbledon titles, without seeming too literal, or groupie-ish.
• Boldly-colored stripes and patterns – What a great way to introduce men to the concept that wearing splashy underwear is not only fun, but also morale-boosting. We can only surmise that AIG CEO Edward Liddy did not don a pair of these prior to his Congressional testimony last week.
• Lucky Underwear – With these on his posterior, and “is i magen” (Swedish for “ice in the stomach”), any guy will make a killing on poker night.

You can buy Björn Borg underwear on the big underwear sites, but stick with bjornborg.com for now: US buyers get $5 off with the discount code VfD4R4w (valid through April 15, 2009).

While you’re there, take 10 minutes to click around the site. There’s tons of fun stuff (this, and this); you can even marvel at the fact that – somehow – the video of a man and a woman playing tennis in their underwear is not wildly gratuitous.

And, when you’re in Sweden, make sure to stop by the Björn Borg concept stores, because, as they say, a world without concept stores isn’t worth visiting.

Well: It is not arcane. In fact, there’s a surprisingly large and varied supply of stylish men’s underwear out there on the worldwide web. Companies large and small are producing men’s underwear that is brightly colored and graphically interesting, in styles to suit every personality and interest.

And yet…every guy you know continues to wear either white or black, right? Because it’s easy and safe, and most men don’t think about their undies at all, unless it’s to wonder whether they’re clean enough to wear.

But, maybe the men you know would be open to — or even enjoy — wearing distinctive underwear…if someone they trusted (like you) were to introduce them to all the new styles, and maybe even buy them a pair or two. Win-win time: Their fashion horizons expand, and you won’t have to look at those silly tighty-whities any more.

Which is where A Girl’s Guide to Men’s Underwear comes in: We’ll scour the internet for fun, stylish, and distinctive men’s underwear and tell you where to find it, explaining all the puzzling jargon (Contour pouch? Is that important?) along the way.