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It’s kind of hard not to get warped back to a level of Mario nostalgia with the Nintendo mascot’s renewed popularity from the recent New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Though he is hugely popular now, Mario is nowhere near the phenomenon he was in the early 90s, when the heroic Italian was king plumber. Back then; Mario had the Super Mario Bros. Super Show cartoon hosted by “Captain” Lou Albano, an ongoing comic feature in Nintendo Power magazine, multiple comic series published from Valiant Comics, 3 hugely popular NES video games, and the bizarre cult classic Super Mario Bros. The Movie. As a kid caught up in the mitts of Mario-mania, I collected everything I could, and most of the Valiant Comics Mario series remains in my collection. With all things Mario in my head, I’ve recently looked through the old back issues and still love the 90s Mario issues.

The short-lived comics focused on game characters from the first 3 Mario Bros. games for the NES, and were an odd mish mash of the best elements of the gaming series. Included were mainstays like Koopa Troopas and Hammer Brothers, the dreamlike Shy-guys from Mario 2, and King Bowser Koopa and the Koopalings from the piece de resistance Mario 3. Yet, the Valiant comics were distinctly American, and Mario had less of a manga style and some weird western nuances, like the character’s strange obsession for Dirk Drain-Head, a plumbing superhero who never appeared in the video games.

My favorite issue was the Super Mario Bros. Adventures Comic and Cassette, which as the name implies was a comic with an audio cassette included that recited the story in a bad Mario Italian accent. The story was supplemented with the music of Mario 3, recorded while someone played through individual levels of the game. I listened to the tape so much as a kid I actually wore it out (man, that makes me sound really old). Here is some of the audio tracks for your listening enjoyment. The issues were really fun all-ages comics, and I enjoyed reading them again as an adult.

Unfortunately, there aren’t any Mario comics in print, but this site collects quite a few complete issues from the Adventures of Super Mario Bros. series. Sorry, but the physical issues are in another back issue castle.

-Jon

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