Obscure Comics: General Mills Presents Batman V Superman #3 & Blippar

How The Comics in Cereal Get Made, Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice General Mills Edition

DC Comics and Warner Brothers really heavily promoted Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, as touched upon in the past, and for the past two Obscure Comics.  The amount of effort that went into the cereal end of that promotion, including the special Batman and Superman cereals, and in particular the special comic books that were released starting at the end of February 2016, is impressive. The marketing team, in particular, with the comics, made sure their age demographic was clear, young children Elementary to Middle School-aged. At the time, Alysia Powell, senior marketing communications planner for General Mills Cereal, said, "We are all about bringing fun to breakfast. It doesn't get much more fun than finding a special, collectible surprise in your cereal box."  In addition to fun through the comics, life lessons were designed to be an essential part of each story and emphasize the importance of diverse opinions.

In addition, the importance of making sure the comics seemed to truly be part of the Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice universe meant that "even though plot details of the film are top secret, we worked closely with filmmakers to make sure our stories were consistent. While all major reveals are saved for the film, eagle-eyed readers may discover a few clues in the comics about what's to come." Further Alex Antone, the editor of the comics, and now current editor at Skybound, added, "all the comics that we've done to support Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice were directly inspired by the film."  To make sure the comics were in universe with the movie, the creators "worked hand-in-hand with Warner Bros. Pictures and the filmmakers themselves to help come up with story lines," though who these filmmakers are is pretty vague. Also every writer had seen Man of Steel before hand too and DC "wanted each story to be a fun, action-packed adventure, but we also aimed to make a statement about how both Batman and Superman inspire people to be the best versions of themselves … albeit in different ways," Antone added. However, few people would describe Man of Steel as "fun" so this kind of promotional statement should be taken with a grain of salt, but shows that creators, marketing, and editors put a lot of work into these books, even for being just promotional pieces.  Plus, there is the additional effort that went into the Blippar part.

Obscure Comics: General Mills Presents Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice #3: Picture Proof

The third of four General Mills Presents comics was written by Marguerite Bennett, with art by Marcus To, under another great Gary Frank cover. Set clearly before Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, this issue explores the air of rumor and mystery that Batman exists under in this universe, with many not sure if he is real or just a media creation.

Still Worth Something, but Not Really Worth Reading

This issue, perhaps more than the other three, hits home the emphasis on making sure these four comics have "life lessons were designed to an essential part of each story and also emphasizing the importance of diverse opinions."  These aren't bad qualities to have in a comic, but literally, the only action in this issue is three pages in a twenty-page comic.  The writing and quality of dialogue are good, and Marcus To really draws this book well, and based on this issue alone could clearly give us some great Batman stories.  However, the issue is just boring and of the four is the least worth reading, even though it still has a value of $5 to $20 depending on the market.  It was also one of the easiest of the four to find, sadly, but the ease of obtaining all four comics is best left for next time.