#FlashbackFriday - The Cereal-ized #JusticeLeague

These comics were critic-proof. You get a free mini-comic inside a box of cereal. Bagged, of course. The only difficulty lay in the fact that they were randomly inserted into the boxes, so you were always at risk of getting "repeat" copies of comics (I'm reminded of the scene in Evan Dorkin's "Eltingville Club" comics, where Josh goes insane searching for specific trading cards packed in bundles of sliced bread at a supermarket). With luck, I only wound up with 1 repeat copy and got all 4.

These were simple Justice League stories, although juggling a large group of characters like that in an itty-bitty amount of story space is a feat, so it's hardly a simple matter. Each issue spotlighted a specific character and juxtaposed a flashback to their respective origins amidst repercussions felt in an adventure happening to the team in the present day. 

There are neat tidbits of things: Batman's mommy, Martha Wayne's vocation as a professional artist (a rare bit of character development for a character that is mostly unknown aside from serving as a catalyst in her son's story); Bat-Mite's rivalry with Mr. Mxyzptlk; Green Lantern's Simon & Jessica coming off like Wonder Twin analogues...It's nice that the comics were done by actual veterans and not freelance newcomers, so you can definitely meet them on the convention circuit, but this was all done to coincide with the release of the Justice League movie, which came and went. 

One thing that's kept this promotion from being entirely forgotten is the cereal boxes, particularly the one with Wonder Woman on the box of Multi-Grain Cheerios. I have never seen that box of cereal on any supermarket or grocery store shelf during that time. I saw the other General Mills cereals featuring their mascots dressed as DC Comics superhero characters: The Trix rabbit as Superman; Sonny, The Cocoa-Puffs bird as The Flash; Lucky, the Lucky Charms leprechaun as Green Lantern; the Honey Nut Cheerios bee dressed as Batman (or Bat-Mite, perhaps), but no Wonder Woman on Multi-Grain Cheerios.

The only time I saw that image in particular were in two places: on Neal Adams Facebook page  (for he was the artist who illustrated the character in this promotion) and in-person, when I visited Neal's "gallery" on Free Comic Book Day that year  (this was in 2017). The boxes were offered as merchandise available for sale at the "gift shop" corner of his gallery...which in all honesty, was clearly his Continuity Studios office in midtown Manhattan, which he toyed briefly with offering guided tours under the auspices of the location being an art gallery but was clearly an office space that we were invited to look around and brose the decor...it was nice, if dimly-lit in places and the corridor was a tight fit to maneuver when traveling among a group of four while nodding "Mmm-hmm, a-ha, mm-hmm, a-ha, oh, yes, that's interesing!", but yes, it was interesting. The man is a living legend, so it was a fun opportunity. His private office had a model globe illustrating that "Expanding Earth"/"Hollow Earth" theory, which he did not create, but has become associated with because he talks about it more often than those who did originate it..imagine a round, blue balloon with a single slice of pizza lying face down ontop of it...and that's it. He was also giving out free signed copies of reproductions of The Neal Adams Sketchbook, a sampler that he used to sell in the late-70's/early-80's that offered xeroxed reproductions of line-art. It was worth getting just for his drawing of Atomic Mouse, a character that probably should be dusted off and brought back, preferably with Neal's design, which reminds me of Andy Panda:

Ain't that cute?

I remember he signed that new "edition" free and then charged a fee if you wanted anything else signed. I got my copy of Batman: A Celebration Of 75 Years signed, simply because I had brought it along with me and those "Anniversary" books from that time seem built for that purpose.

An autograph book? 

 But I didn't buy the cereal box. I have never paid more than five bucks for any box of cereal and those boxes on display were priced at more than a sawbuck...I wonder if Neal still has them...I'm assuming he has the same bunch he used for that photo of them bundled in that tiny shopping cart. My dad used to save an old can of lager beer because it had a baseball-themed image on it, like an old-time baseball card, but that can got thrown away because the metal rusted and...well, it's kind of a gross idea to collect and trade beer cans like bubble gum cards...or Camel Cash, if anyone out there remembers that.

Neal's experiment with tourism made for a fun Free Comic Book Day memory. And I still have those mini-comics, so I can go back and read them, so I don't have to remember what they were about.

Now...Atomic Mouse..when are they gonna bring him back? Maybe the guys at American Mythology would be interested...

It's Been A Pleasure: The "Batman Odyssey" Casebook

A LOT has been written and said about Batman: Odyssey, Neal Adams' 13-issue magnum opus he wrote and illustrated in 2010.  I recently found a hardcover edition of the book at a good price and decided to give it a try, in light of Adams' recent efforts to turn the tide of negative opinions on it...Well, I read it...and I have something new to say about this guilty pleasure read - something that nobody has noticed:

If you own the hardcover edition of this story, then you can remove the dust jacket...and then the book looks like "Volume 2" of Batman: The Black Casebook!

The Black Casebook is a paperback reprint of Batman comics from the 1950's that inspired Grant Morrison's nine year tenure writing for the caped crusader. Morrison wanted to reintegrate material from that decade back into current Bat-continuity, so he came up with a "Bat-X Files": accounts of the Batman's strangest cases kept locked away, much like the safety deposit box in which Doctor Watson kept notes on Sherlock Holmes' cases that were to be kept confidential.  In Batman's case, these would include encounters with space aliens, Bat-Mite, time travel, alternate identities, various identity crises,  documentations on the aftereffects of repeated exposure to laughing gas, fear toxins or Bat-smoke pellets of his own design - all the offbeat stuff.

With this in mind, Batman Odyssey  fits the criteria for labeling it as "A Batman Adventure for The Black Casebook"  or a new edition entitled: "Batman: Odyssey - An Adventure From The Black Casebook". Of course,  DC Comics still uses the Legends of The Dark Knight title/brand on Batman comics, but Odyssey is really a Casebook book. If you own both of these tomes, I suggest you put them side by side and enjoy searching for thematic links between them. The quality of the scripting on both is the same, plus every page is packed with stuff to absorb - for all that's been said about Odyssey, Adams doesn't shortchange you.

So, I hope anyone giving Neal's book a try and feeling a bit dumbfounded about what to make of it after hearing or reading recent interviews in which he suggested you see it as "a book " can rest easy if you see it the way I see it...as a Casebook!

You can rest assured...the same way Batman inexplicably decides to plop down on the floor of the Batcave and take a nap at an early point leading to the book's climax. Goodnight. :)