Treats

Super heroes and Halloween - they go hand in hand. Add in some candy and you've got October's holy trinity. A few years ago the concept was expressed succinctly at the end-cap of my local grocery store. Imagine the look on this beleaguered documentarian's face when I turned down the candy aisle and saw this:

Looks like we've got not one but three separate kinds of bags of branded Marvel Comics candy to give out this year (there's actually 4 types of bags but one was just "candy sticks" and anyone that knows me knows I HATE candy sticks). How will you choose? I think you know the answer to that (spoiler: get them all).

As usual, our featured players include the Marvel Movie Gang™ (minus Wolverine...super cameo in "First Class" though, big guy!). The first bag, like all good bags, is the lollipop bag.

Next up is "Dig'n Dips" a.k.a. "Fun Dip" a.k.a. the greatest candy in the world! Yes, it's essentially just flavored sugar and yes it goes great on/with everything! After a couple of bags of these you'll be able to take on Thor by yourself.

And we end with the grab bag. The secret identities of these various candies may be "Sugar Daddy", Tootsie Rolls and Smarties but they've come dressed up as your favorite super heroes to bring a little extra awesomeness to the Halloween season.

A friend of mine gives out comic books every Halloween. If you can't do that then I recommend giving out these guys.

Superman Returns

A new year calls for a new fruit snack and these seem to make me slightly giddier than the average super hero fruit snack. Yeah, I know I've said that before but, believe it or not, you don't see a lot of Superman food products these days. The Man of Steel's grocery heyday seems to have peaked in the 1980's. Not even the heavily merchandised "Superman Returns" could muster more than a few candies and a half-assed attempt at cereal.

So it's with great enthusiasm that we celebrate the real return of Superman...in candy form!


You may notice he's wearing his pre-New 52 costume (also known as his real costume). That's not terribly surprising since you would think that Betty Crocker wants people to look at this box and say, "Hey I want some Superman Fruit Snacks!" instead of, "Where are Superman's outer-under pants?"


That old school mentality continues with some of the shapes they picked. Sure, you've got the standard "Superman Standing," "Superman Flying" and "Superman's Face" but take a look at that Lois Lane design:


Is that a Noel Neill-style pillbox hat she's sporting? Well, doesn't that just make the fruit snacks taste that much sweeter? You also get the top of the Daily Planet building for your trouble which I'm all for but I can't help but notice a lack of villains in this selection.

I guess you can't have everything. But, personally, I'm hoping that this meager box of fruit snacks is a harbinger of a new wave of great things to come...and I'm not talking about the new movie, I'm talking about the new edible merchandise!

Commercial Break: X-Men Pasta