One second before realizing his “P” meter was empty and he forgot his parachute.
Super Mario Bros. #1
Valiant/Nintendo Comics System (1990)
George Wildman, Jade, & P. Zorito “Piranha-Round Sue” Bill Vallely, Mark McClellan, & J. Jackson “Cloud Nine” John Walker, Andrea Brooks, The Gradations
Our first adventure this round finds the king turned into a chameleon for no particular reason other than to send Mario and Toad out to find a magic wand to turn him back. This coincides with the Piranha Plants, led by Piranha Sue, revolting against Koopa. Since the wand they need is in the Plants’ home turf (under a rock instead of another airship, which means the Special Edition was a better adaptation despite magic flying coins) the duo come up with a plan involving the Green Gecko Gem, which gives the wearer invulnerability but they can’t touch anyone. Although when Sue gets it Koopa has no trouble breaking through it so that was pointless, like much of the story. At least this time Mario and Toad were only pretending to not like each other instead of the usual “we’re fighting and the villain is going to take advantage of one side feeling left behind” plot.
Our second tale is interesting because it involves not Koopa but Wart. Who’s Wart? The enemy from Super Mario Bros. 2, who has never appeared outside of that game, although some of his flunkies have. When the King needs a new bed Wart tricks him (and the Mario Brothers, which is rather easy in this comic series) onto a cloud that rains all over the people and turns them against the King. Then Mario plugs up the leak in the cloud because….he’s a plumber, and everyone likes the king again. It’s about this time you realize everybody in this comic is an idiot to one degree or another.
I could recommend this if the jokes were funny but so far they really haven’t been. I’d rather see something similar to Archie’s Mega Man comics, a light but serious adventure, probably a little lighter than Mega Man, though. But while the art is good and this is the only time Wart shows up outside of the second game there isn’t much to recommend here.
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