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Cavalcade Comics #8 – Kool-Aid Man gets some NAHTZEE scalps!

Posted in comic books, Kool Aid, nostalgia, pop culture with tags Cavalcade Comics, comic covers, Kool Aid, vintage, Vintage Comic Throwdowns on May 26, 2015 by Paxton

I mentioned last issue that I had a few holiday issues coming up. This was the first one. This is the Memorial Day issue of Cavalcade Comics Vintage Comic Throwdown! And in honor of all the men fighting in our armed forces, I have created this cover featuring Kool-Aid Man doing all he can for the war effort by conquering all those damn NAH-tzees.

Back in the Golden Age, it seemed like EVERY super hero got into scraps with the bad guys. It’s time Kool-Aid Man got in a few shots of his own. Last issue with Magnus, I went for a more serious, hard sci-fi cover. This is a little bit more of a goofy, Golden Age cover. And I love it because of that.

Again, like my double Ghost Rider issue, I have a variant cover for you.

This was the original cover concept when I began. Kool-Aid Man jumping out of a time machine ready to kick some ass. And I do love this cover, but I decided to use more of the original Nazi cover from The Victor 1971 Summer Special. Going that route though was a lot more work because I had to take out the soldier from the window and recreate all the breaking window glass. I also had to recreate several sections of the wall due to logo coverage. But honestly, I think it was worth it.

Below are the covers I mashed up. On the left is the aforementioned The Victor Summer Special. On the right is The Adventures of Kool-Aid Man #2. You can see the time machine concept and Kool-Aid’s body came from the latter issue. Surprisingly, I didn’t create Kool-Aid’s frown in my Nazi cover. That actually comes from The Adventures of Kool-Aid Man #4 where he’s scowling at the villain, Scorch.

Victor Summer Special - 1971-0001 [RobotArchie] kool_aid_man_002-001

I do have one other “holiday issue”. It’ll be for the 4th of July. So that’s when you can expect the next issue. Happy Memorial Day week everyone!

11 Kool-Aid products you probably didn’t know existed

Posted in Atari, comic books, ice cream, Kool Aid, pop culture, video games with tags Atari, comic books, Kool Aid, pop culture, video games on November 23, 2010 by Paxton

Kool-Aid Man animated gif

Everyone knows the famous Kool-Aid drink packets. Purplesaurus Rex, Cherry, Berry Blue, etc, etc. But drink packets aren’t the only thing Kool-Aid made. There is a plethora of items made under the Kool-Aid banner trying to capitalize on the popularity of one Mr Man (Kool-Aid Man).

Here are 11 items made under the Kool-Aid brand that you may not have known existed.

Kool-Aid Man comic books – Kool-Aid and Marvel Comics collaborated on issues #1, #2 and #3 of The Adventures of Kool-Aid Man comic book. Archie Comics then published issues #4 and #5. Several of these issues were given out free in a mail away premium, and several issues were also available in stores. You might think it would be difficult to come up with engaging stories involving a talking pitcher of Kool-Aid quenching the thirsts of little children, and you would be mostly right. However, the stories were zany and mostly entertaining, considering the entire comic is an advertisement for drink mix.

Kool-Aid Man video game – Yes, there was a video game based on Kool-Aid Man. It was released for the Atari 2600, Intellivision and Sears video game systems. The ad and box above are for the Intellivision version. Here is the box for the Atari 2600 version. If you really want to understand the meaning of the word tedious, then download a ROM of this game and play it.

Kool-Aid bottled drinks – For a while back in the 50s and 60s, Kool-Aid offered their flavors pre-mixed in glass bottles. I’m not sure if they were carbonated or not, but I don’t believe so.

Kool-Aid Kool Pumps – This was a fast food promotion with Burger King. The “push-up” style sherbert bars were flavored with the elusive Sharkleberry Fin. Matt talked about them on X-Entertainment a while back.

Kool-Aid Kid’s Trivia Game – From 1985. This actually existed. It played like Trivial Pursuit, but I would hope the questions dealt with more than just Kool-Aid. How many questions can there be about Kool-Aid?

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A look back at the awesome swag from the Kool-Aid Wacky Warehouse

Posted in Kool Aid, pop culture with tags Kool Aid, pop culture on February 2, 2010 by Paxton

KA Man

Back in the ’80s and ’90s, mail away premiums were all the rage. Being a comic book reader, I saw ads for thousands of mail away products amid the pages of my favorite books like The Flash and X-Men. One of the more prominent mail away deals was for the Kool-Aid Wacky Warehouse. You would collect points off the labels of Kool-Aid packets and cans and submit them for free stuff (paying postage, of course). It’s much like the rewards programs for hotels and airlines today. The more you use or buy their services, the more points you get and the more stuff that translates into.

Seeing the ads in comic books, I was amazed at all the cool stuff. T-shirts, cassette players, hats, nerf basketball sets, etc. These awesome items were dancing across the page with giant words screaming FREE STUFF!!!! Here are two full page ads advertising the Wacky Warehouse (click images to make bigger).

The ad on the left is themed towards the Kool-Aid flavor, Sharkleberry Fin (Greatest. Kool-Aid. Name. EVER.). You can see the awesome shark mascot (with sunglasses!) for Sharkleberry Fin in the upper right. In the ad to the right, the items are themed more for the Purplesaurus Rex flavor. As you can see, there are tons of cool swag to be had just for drinking your favorite Kool-Aid flavors, clipping the points and sending them in with like 5 bucks in postage. Here’s the Wacky Warehouse order form that goes with the above ads.

Being a Kool-Aid enthusiast, I have come across a bunch of this swag so I thought it would be fun to take a look at some of this cool stuff the Wacky Warehouse was offering. Some of it is, in fact, cool. Some of it, not so much. Here are some of the fun items kids could send away for with Kool-Aid points.

Super Jump Rope – I’m not entirely sure what makes this jump rope so “super”. It actually looks like a pair of Kool-Aid themed nunchuks. The red handles would mask the blood stains of your Kool-Aid Death Match victims.

Wacky Kid’s Canteen – Very goofy looking canteen that kids could carry around with them on their “adventures”. I’m assuming “The Warehouse” wanted it to be filled with Kool-Aid. When did Kool-Aid Man start wearing glasses?

Pitcher and cup sets – Kool-Aid offered these items throughout the Wacky Warehouse promotion. Plastic cups and a pitcher with the Kool-Aid Man face on them. The set would be colored differently depending on what Kool-Aid flavor they would currently be promoting. This particular set is red for Rock-A-Dile Red. If you look in the Wacky Warehouse forms at the top of this article you can see pitcher and cup sets colored blue for Berry Blue and purple for Purplesaurus Rex.

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Don’t Drink the Kool-Aid, Superman!!!

Posted in humor, Kool Aid, Photoshop, pop culture, Superman with tags Kool Aid, Photoshop, Superman on February 22, 2007 by Paxton

Continuing my on-going series of Photoshop creations, I have another fake Kool-Aid packet for you. For the budding evil genius in all of us, I present Kryptonite Kool-Aid.

I created this around the time Superman Returns was released in theaters. If this seems familiar, it was mentioned in an earlier article on this blog.

Check out my other Kool-Aid creations here.

Technorati Tags – Pop Culture Humor Kool Aid Superman Kryptonite

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Windex Kool-Aid: Wha-HUH?!

Posted in food, humor, Kool Aid, Photoshop, random with tags Kool Aid, Photoshop, pop culture on June 6, 2006 by Paxton

Here’s another creation from the PaxNet Kool-Aid labs. You may be thinking, “Pax, why the hell did you pick Windex?” Well, it wasn’t just a random, out-of-my-ass creation. It does have a history, though. Check it:

Kool-Aid’s Berry Blue was introduced in the late ’80s. There was a huge media blitz and push for the flavor. Pretty soon parents started complaining that the flavor looked too much like windshield wiper fluid and/or Windex. They were afraid that kids would be confused and mistake the two. Apparently these parents keep their wiper fluid and Windex in the fridge next to the juice. WTF?! So, according to urban legend, Kool-Aid pulled the flavor in order to avoid massive lawsuits from crazy-ass parents.

Well, Berry Blue is back and you can buy it in stores. Let me tell you, it is tasty…and BLUE. Like really blue. Radiation blue. It’s almost scary.

I thought I would create the flavor Kool-Aid almost did, but didn’t.

And there was much rejoicing.

Check out all my other creative, and completely made up, Kool-Aid creations here.

Technorati Tags – Pop Culture Humor Kool Aid Kool-Aid Berry Blue Windex