The delightful Super Mario Adventures comic collection is on sale for only $9.47 (was $17) at Amazon, which is the best price we’ve seen in years. The 112-page paperback is filled with full-color artwork and a glossy cover featuring Mario and Luigi on the front and Bowser in his Koopa Clown Car, microphone in hand, singing about Princess Toadstool long before he composed his smash-hit ballad “Peaches.”
Inspired by classic Mario platformers for the NES and SNES, namely Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World, all 13 of the comics in this collection originally appeared in Nintendo Power in 1992-93.
$9.47 (was $17)
Viz Media acquired the rights to some of the Nintendo Power Mario comics and packaged them as a trade paperback in 2016. And just like the original run, Super Mario Adventures has proven to be quite popular. It has received at least 14 printings over the past eight-plus years.
The first 12 chapters form a graphic novel centered around–you guessed it–Bowser’s quest to marry Princess Toadstool (Peach) and rule the Mushroom Kingdom. Since these comics were written by Kentaro Takehuma in the early ’90s, Bowser is aided by his seven children, the Koopalings. These days, Bowser Jr., who didn’t make his first appearance until 2002 in Super Mario Sunshine, is King Koopa’s only child; Roy, Morton, Lemmy, and the rest of their siblings are just seven of his minions.
There’s a bonus 13th chapter called Mario vs. Wario. Based on Super Mario Land 2, this entertaining side story follows Wario’s quest for revenge stemming from a childhood grudge with Mario. A cool aspect of this comic is that Mario encounters several bosses that only ever appeared in Mario Land 2 on Game Boy, including the Three Little Pigheads, a sewer rat, and an octopus.
Like most things related to Super Mario, these comics were written for young readers, but adults who read Nintendo Power as kids and love classic Mario games will likely appreciate the charmingly nostalgic illustrations by Charlie Nozawa.
Nintendo Power also published comics based on other iconic franchises and games, including The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. The 12-part graphic novel originally appeared in the magazine in 1992. Just like Super Mario Adventures, Viz Media reprinted the series in trade paperback. A Link to the Past’s graphic novel adaptation remains in print a decade after its initial publication. The 196-page, full-color paperback is available for $16.89 (was $20) at Amazon.
Both franchises have received manga adaptations, too. Most of Mario’s manga series hasn’t been translated to English, but you can give the zany series a try by picking up Super Mario Manga Mania. This 160-page paperback includes an assortment of chapters from the long-running Super Mario-kun series.
Zelda fans have a lot more manga to choose from. The original 10-volume Zelda manga features adaptations of a handful of Link’s adventures. You can get the complete Legend of Zelda Manga Box Set in trade paperback for $51 (was $105) at Amazon. Viz Media also published premium Legendary Editions, which are collected in a $72 (was $125) box set styled as a treasure chest. And if you love Zelda: Twilight Princess, the manga reimagining was collected in an 11-volume, 2,000-plus page box set last fall.