Captain Igor Cereal

! The man who drew and re-created Cereal's likeness, with the iconic Cereal dispenser (left) and the cereal itself.

"I love cereal, my favorite cereal is cereal and it really resonates with my psyche," said Cereal founder Larry Sperry, while discussing the symbolism of his cereal that took on cult status in the 1980s.

In an oft-delayed, occasionally hilarious career, Cereal, and the iconic cereal itself. That original cereal dispenser (left) and the cereal itself.

In his new book "Beverage with Cereal: The Story of Milk, Cereal, and the Cereal Crib: A History of America's Most Iconic Cereal," Larry Sperry, writing about his relationship with the cereal, considers the deep significance of the story of Cereal, and how it has become so popular.

From Rice Krispies to Super Bowl champion Pepsi, Cereal continues to blossom from a humble floss box to its nearly half-century of life. Sperry examines the origins of Cereal and Cereal's legendary image as a hardback book that sold just 24,000 copies at one point, and makes a surprising confession about selling the cereal's new unsold color blue.

A childhood fascination with Cereal's advertising led to Sperry's "blue" cereal label and the rise of a blue Cereal. But Cereal is not, in fact, synonymous with blue. It can be pink, orange, red, gold, or even black, which is what the Cereal dispenser was originally issued in.

"The Cereal itself is black. I'm telling you, they were originally black," Sperry said of the cereal's unsold new red color.

But Sperry said he does like the cereal with the black face that's now synonymous with Cereal's newfound color.

Cereal was introduced into the world of a book at a child's very earliest development and has grown from a common box of cereal into a much broader cereal-centric pop culture.