Some of DC Comics' top artists are going from superheroes to the supermarket this fall in a special collaboration with General Mills, as the two groups have partnered together to give the iconic monsters seen on Monster Cereal boxes, like Boo Berry and Count Chocula, a dramatic face-lift.
Artists such as DC Comics co-publisher Jim Lee, Dave Johnson and Terry & Rachel Dodson each got to take a crack at redesigning their favorite cereal characters. The limited-edition packaging featuring the new artwork, as well as comic strips drawn by Brent Schoonover, will hit select stores this month before being distributed nationwide in September. The three cereals featuring new artwork will be Boo Berry, Count Chocula and Franken Berry.
Originally created in the 1970s, Monster Cereals have only been available in the fall, around Halloween since 2010. Lee grew up with the cereals and jumped on the chance to redesign one of his favorite childhood memories. His personal favorite? The blueberry flavored Boo Berry.
"I loved the milk turning blue afterward, and it brought back a lot of childhood memories," Lee says in an interview with USA Today.
Reimagining the friendly Boo-Berry ghost proved to be a challenge. He went through seven drafts before coming up with the final design, all of them having to maintain the iconic Boo Berry features like his hat and bow-tie but while still trying to look fresh.
"I put a lot of thought in it," Lee says." It was stressful. Drawing simpler characters is a lot more work and harder than drawing something that's more complicated or has a lot of renderings. Every line counts and every distance between the eyes and the ears, it's all super critical."
Catherine Cox Draper, business unit director for General Mills Big G Cereals, said the collaboration with DC was a no-brainer.
"The artists share our love for Monsters Cereals, and Monsters Cereals fans also love DC Comics," she says. "The reimagining of the Monsters for the packaging was a highly collaborative process, and we had a lot of fun seeing the artists' vision for our beloved Count Chocula, Franken Berry and Boo Berry come to life."
Despite having helped redesign many of DC's iconic superheroes for their "New 52" relaunch in 2010, Lee says this is one of the projects he is most proud of.
"I have a lot of highlights in my career that have nothing to do with superheroes," Lee says. "This is definitely one of them."
The boxes will hit shelves this year, in time for Halloween.
