Mamma mia! One of the most iconic series in existence has to be the video games that include a red clad plumber and his green wearing brother. The Super Mario Bros have dozens and dozens of video games but only a handful of comics. This spotlight will be a bit different since the comic we’re talking about today is Super Mario Adventures, which came out in the 1990s and may be one of the most fun comics adaptations for a series ever. You may be asking where does this story of plumbers fighting a dragon turtle start? Let’s find out!
Mario and Luigi were born like all of us, a stork brought them to their parents. Unfortunately, on their way to Brooklyn there was an accident and baby Mario landed Yoshi’s Island while baby Luigi was kidnapped by the Bowser family. Baby Mario would have to be escorted by a collection of Yoshis that ha found him to reunite him with his brother and get them back to the stork so they could go home.
Upon reaching adulthood, roughly 25 years old, Mario would be working as a plumber when a gorilla named Donkey Kong would kidnap a young woman named Pauline. Climbing up and jumping over many obstacles and barrels that Donkey would throw at him, Mario would rescue Pauline and send Donkey Kong out of the city.
Mario and Luigi would find their way, through plumbing and piping, to the Mushroom Kingdom. This was a land where mushroom like beings, Toads, lived in peace under the kind rule of Princess Peach. This experience would be short-lived as the king of the Koopa Kingdom, Bowser, would kidnap the princess resulting in Mario and Luigi going off to rescue her and the Toads of the Mushroom Kingdom.
Having settled into their new home in the Mushroom Kingdom as heroes, a new threat came to Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad, Wart. He would bring an army of new enemies to try and take over the dreamland of Subcon. The four would have to traverse strange locations and use their unique abilities to fight off Wart and his enemies. Mario would awaken from the dream after Wart’s defeat, this was in no way to explain why Mario and friends were fighting new enemies that we rarely see anymore because they were in a re-skinned other video game, what?
Bowser would return to attack the several kingdoms, kidnapping Peach while transforming several other rulers into animals. He would be accompanied by his Koopa Kids, eight devilish children who would stand between Mario, Luigi, and Bowser. The brothers would gain access to new abilities that made them try out fursonas to help them out. This battle would be won but then the fight would go from the Kingdoms all to one massive place called Dinosaur Land. This would have Mario and Luigi teaming up with Yoshis once again. They would fight Bowser and his Koopa Kids while taking down their fortresses on this new land.
Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Bowser would play this battle over and over again, some would change, sometimes Bowser would even team up with Mario to fight an even greater evil or just to have fun like play Tennis or other sports and games. Mario would fight Bowser in painting realities, on islands, in space and beyond. Sometimes he would employee weird technology or magical items or beings to help along the way.
Luigi would often taken second place but he would step into the limelight when Mario was kidnapped by the ghostly Boos. He would don the Poltergust 3000, a ghost trapping vacuum made by Professor Egad, a researcher of the paranormal. Luigi would have to face his fears to rescue his brother after a housing scam got Mario. Luigi would get to build a new mansion to replace the one he busted of ghosts. Peach would even get to have her own adventures as well, where she wasn’t the one needing saving. Toads, there are many, would get their own hero in Captain Toad, the adventurer who had to solve puzzles to get to where he needed in his explorations.
Mario and Luigi have some strange… counterparts in Wario and Waluigi, two guys who like to hang out together, they are not brothers. They like to show up when Mario and friends are doing group activities like go-kart racing or fighting. Wario originally was an enemy of Mario’s but like Donkey Kong before him, became a hero in his own right. More of an anti-hero seeking treasure and revenge than for any sort of heroics to help others, which would be purely coincidental if it did happen.
There you have it! Mario and company have become a huge sensation for over 30 years, becoming the mascot of Nintendo. He’s had animated series, a live action film, and Super Mario Adventures among a handful of other comics. This article didn’t get into the plot of Super Mario Adventures so as to not spoil it, it’s still something that you can find and I highly recommend it. Mario’s latest starring game was Super Mario Odyssey which celebrated his many adventures. Coming soon is the fifth installment of the Super Smash Bros series where Mario and other Nintendo and video game characters come together to clobber each other. Mario and Luigi have been killed in teaser trailers for new characters but Nintendo has assured us they are still very much alive. Will Waluigi join the fight? We’ll have to wait and see! See you next time!
Suggested Reading
Super Mario Adventures
Dr. Bustos
drbustos@comicattack.net
