VIZ Media offered us a chance to take a look at their official Nintendo labeled graphic novel called Super Mario Adventures. Now, before you write this off as some gimmick that mixes the wonderful world of Mario together with manga, which VIZ is highly known for — it’s their bread and butter and they do it well, please note that it’s more than just a brand with a half-hearted story.
Super Mario Adventures is a collection of comic strips that appeared in Nintendo Power from January 1992 until January 1993. They were written by Kentaro Takekuma, also the author of Even A Monkey Can Draw Manga, Vol. 1 (what a great name, right?) and drawn by Charlie Nozawa, true name Tamakichi Sakura, who is known for his manga talent. Combined, they put together a story with great art that contains a lot of traditional manga influence and made a series of comic strips that when put together into one book equals out to an entertaining story of Mario and Weege (Mario’s pronunciation for Luigi).
In total, the graphic novel, if you will, contains twelve chapters of art and dialogue that are broken into a serial of sorts where you’re left hanging with characters in peril. What is remarkable about this is that the peril works incredibly well for the overall body of work. I cannot imagine getting a Nintendo Power and being left with Mario and crew inside of Bowser’s castle when it explodes from a bomb and having to wait until the next month to see if they got out alive or not. That’s some heavy stuff for a kid to worry about, but nonetheless makes for a perfect serial structure.
As for the story itself, it’s simple enough for kids to read, my son loved it (he’s eight), and entertaining enough for adults to enjoy. The exposition is kept to a minimum in the overall story, so you get more action-driven, manga-esque moments, rather than the characters explaining their every move. It’s a good decision when it comes to pacing, as well as a good decision when it comes to capturing a young audience.
The story starts with the brothers being hired by Princess Peach to come work out some pipe issues in the Princess’ castle before a celebration begins. Things go smoothly until a large green pipe appears and Koopas soon follow in hopes of kidnapping the princess, as well as taking out anyone who tries to stop them. Ultimately, the brothers are led to a different land, via the green pipes, in hopes of rescuing the princess, but soon find themselves on the opposite side of the coin. A good part of the middle of the story revolves around the Princess having to extract Mario, as well as flex her muscles to show she’s more than just a damsel in distress (loved this part, couldn’t believe they wrote this in 1992 — very progressive). Along the way in this adventure, Takekuma throws in familiar faces, such as the Koopa kids and Yoshi, as well as Super Mario World references like Boo’s haunted house and Reznor. None of the story relates back to any particular Mario game, but it does sprinkle in elements of familiarity, which probably helped the Super Nintendo sells back in the day. Regardless, the story is entertaining and just a quick, fun read.
Overall, Super Mario Adventures is a great product, if not just to celebrate what was Nintendo Power’s hay day. The art is visually entertaining and the story is good enough for children and adults to enjoy. The book is also built to last, so if you have kids you can rest assure that it will survive a lot of abuse. The cover is quality and the pages are thick. It feels sturdy.
Anyway, Super Mario Adventures is a fantastic product that I highly recommend, especially if you want to honor the memory of Nintendo Power.
