The series of vintage cereal premiums continues with the hopelessly complicated (for its target audience) card No.3 ‘Ski Chase’ and the ‘Hangman’ inspired ‘Tower Of Pisa’ game.
Once again the only saving grace here is the fantastic artwork (presumably by Garcia-Lopez) that is a great prelude to the definitive works he would produce only a year later for the beloved Kenner ‘Super Powers’ Action Figure line…
Coming soon – The final pair..!
As promised, here are the first two (of a set of six) Superman III Shreddies promotional wipe-away ‘Action Replay’ game cards. Game 1 you will notice is a thinly-disguised version of Battleship and game 2 is a weird variation on Connect 4.
As the play potential of these is evidently limited, thank goodness the colourful artwork elevates them above your standard cereal giveaway – parts 3&4 coming soon..!
SUPERMANIA extends many happy returns to director Sidney J. Furie on this, his 82nd birthday and marks the occasion with this super-rare vintage proof sheet for his movie Superman IV: The Quest For Peace.
A beautiful oversize colour lithograph intended for print in Daily Variety in 1987 (second pic), this double-page ad puts Daniel Goozee’s striking poster art to great use (third pic) while delivering the great news that the movie had grossed a very respectable $5,683,122 domestically in its first three days (bottom pic).
While this great opening (across 1511 theatres) would ultimately falter in the proceeding weeks, this unique treasure is a fitting tribute to what many consider to be the most well intended of the Superman series, even if it wasn’t the best executed.
Many happy returns Sidney J!
Enjoy this vintage German promotional material for the international release of Superman IV: Die Welt Am Abgrund’, (Interestingly translated as ‘The World At The Abyss’) where the copy goes to considerable effort to make the movie sound like the greatest thing to ever grace the silver screen.
Featuring the ‘unique’ German cut & paste poster art, the tiny Cinenews Program from March 1988 (top pic) proudly declares this is ‘Superman’s last chance’ in ‘The huge battle with over 300 optical effects’ before opening up to a nicely composed spread of publicity photos (second pic) where the accompanying review labels it ‘As strong as Kryptonite’.
Exhibiting far more restraint is the large pull-out poster (third pic) from an unknown magazine produced in association with the movie’s broadcast on German TV channel Sat 1, where it was presented as the cult movie of the week…
In an era where cereal premiums and movie promotions really gained momentum, the Nabisco Company had wisely remained faithful to the Superman movie franchise after a successful campaign backing Superman II a few years earlier.
Always looking for new gimmicks to push product out to kids (and ensuring its longevity by making their giveaways a collectable series) the ‘Action Replay Games’ found in special packs of Shreddies were a cunning use of nothing so special as laminate cardboard that would wipe away felt-tip pen.
Based on various scenes from Superman III this handsomely illustrated (with art provided by the stalwart Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez) series of six cards were an instant hit but by their very nature would deteriorate quickly (quicker still had you not read the instructions & used ball-point pen) and so would ultimately be disposed of, making them a rarity in the years to follow.
SUPERMANIA therefore, is proud to present not only the comic book ad (bottom pic) but scans of an original pristine Shreddies cereal box detailing all the fantastic artwork (and some rare stills) used in the promotion.
And coming soon – the complete set of ‘Action Replay’ games reproduced front & back in resolution suitable for printing…