Staff Picks (August): Super Mario Adventures GN

Hey paisanos! You can finally give your old Nintendo Power magazines a rest, because VIZ has collected Super Mario Adventures, originally published in those issues, into a much friendlier format! Great care has gone into preserving Kentaro Takekuma’s story and Tamakichi Sakura’s original art—the books will be printed at magazine trim size and will match the previously released Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past GN (MAR151495) already on shelves!

In addition to being a beloved franchise with major nostalgic ties to 1980’s video gaming culture and childhoods all the way up to the present, this particular collection is a real slice of history!  Princess Peach was still Princess Toadstool to the US markets back when this series was originally commissioned for and released in Nintendo Power in the early 90s. Japanese mangaka hadn’t really carved a niche for themselves in the North American comic market, so this widely-distributed magazine was a "first exposure" to manga visual tropes for a large portion of the 80’s and 90’s generation of comic readers. Timed to sustain excitement in the new Super Nintendo System, this particular comic did the heavy lifting for fleshing out the world outside the game for Super Mario World (the first one with Yoshi). This was also a major spotlight on characters outside of Mario himself! Princess Toadstool, Luigi, King Koopa, and the Koopa Kids got an abundant amount of character development that couldn’t be given in the classic side-scrollers.  These characterizations have persisted throughout the license since.  It’s so great to see it all in print again—letting these characters shine for the next generation of readers!

— Sarah Martinez

Publisher: Viz Media
Item Code: AUG162108
Release Date:  10/12/16
SRP: $14.99