I Got Rich Selling Mold (original) (raw)

Here are some more Nintendo Comics System reviews for anyone who cares. And they’re still here even if you don’t care. Strange how that happens.

Bedtime for Drain-Head – The second Dirk Drain-Head story starts with Mario having stayed up reading Dirk comics for seventy-two hours. Just when he’s ready to go to sleep, Luigi comes in announcing that Toad was kidnapped by King Koopa. Mario falls asleep and thinks he’s Dirk, something that Luigi indicates has happened before. The thing is, Dirk is more competent than Mario, so he easily trashes a bunch of Koopa minions, all while making heroic speeches.

That’s cold, Luigi.
Thinking Toad is Dirk’s sidekick Snakey, Mario scares Koopa so much that he shows up at the Mushroom Castle and almost surrenders to the good guys.

In the Nintendo Adventure Books, Wooster is mostly characterized as a neat freak. That’s less the case in the comics, but it didn’t come from nowhere.
The Mushroom King makes the mistake of saying Mario was asleep the whole time, though, so Bowser storms off, angry and embarrassed.

Love Flounders – Mario, Luigi, and Toad are supposed to participate in a bowling tournament, using meatballs as bowling balls. Mario can’t go, however, as he has to gather chuckberries for the Princess’ breakfast cereal, and since they grow underwater he’s wearing a Frog Suit. Unfortunately for him, he runs into Stanley the Talking Fish, making his second appearance.

He’s still just as annoying, and now he’s actively getting Mario into trouble instead of just hassling him. He asks for the plumber’s help in breaking his date with Big Bertha, because he’s since fallen for Smookers the Jelectro.

He figures it wouldn’t be that bad, until Bertha falls for him instead. As in the game, she carries a kid in her mouth, and the kid comments on what’s going on, a common theme for side characters in these comics.

I’ve seen it suggested that the scene with a human (well, humanoid, since I think they’re all supposed to be evolved reptiles in that world) Big Bertha in the live-action movie having a thing for Mario might have been inspired by this comic. Mario escapes Bertha and picks some chuckberries, only to have the giant fish catch up and give him a kiss, which makes the Frog Suit disappear. She’s disappointed that he’s not really a frog, because apparently fish-amphibian dating is okay while fish-mammal dating isn’t. Mario feels bad for her and gives her the chuckberries, and upon arriving back home and trying to come clean with the Princess, it turns out she got so hungry she ate his bowling meatball.

Fins and Roses – Stanley and Bertha reappear in this one, and Wendy O. Koopa is actually the main character. Her spy network has alerted her that Mario is going to pass through a certain area in the water at a specific time, and she looted her father’s arsenal for weapons to kill the hero. Stanley shows up and falls for her, and she wastes time and weapons chasing him away. And since a misunderstanding Bertha thinks Wendy is interested in Stanley, she keeps tossing Wendy back to the surface. Wendy turns down her chance to fire at Mario to shoot Stanley instead, because he’s just so irritating.

After Wendy is blown up by her own bomb, Mario declares a truce so they can say mean things about Stanley.

Cloud Burst – There aren’t that many of these comics, so how did there end up being two titles that started with the word “cloud”? The Princess has lost her crown, and needs it for her re-coronation ceremony, or the King will have to rule alone. When Mario asks why this would be so bad, the King immediately demonstrates by showing up with a peanut butter jar caught on his tie.

The Princess intimidates Mario and Luigi to go to World 3 to take on Koopa’s entire army, assuming he’s the one who took her crown. As seen here and in “Love Flounders,” Peach is way more formidable in the comics than in many takes on the character, convincing her friends to walk right into potential danger.

Is the ex-girlfriend mentioned here Pauline?
When a Lakitu attacks with Spiny Eggs, Luigi takes to the sky, landing on the Lakitu’s cloud Fluffy. It turns out that the kleptomaniac Lakitu not only stole the Princess’ crown, but also Bowser’s crown and a bunch of his gold. He then steals Luigi’s clothes while they’re talking to each other, and makes the green-clad plumber polish his stolen gold.

Bowser is wearing a hat because he’s lost his crown and is bald, even though this was after Super Mario Bros. 3 when he had hair in-game.

Maybe it was burned off in the lava or something.

Luigi finally escapes by pulling the escape hatch, spilling the treasure on top of Mario and Koopa.

Since Luigi doesn’t get a whole lot of attention in most of these comics, it’s cool to see him taking center stage here.