So I recently decided to look up that old Super Mario comic that was originally released in Nintendo Power-- after minimal searching I found the whole story here [link] . Now... I'd only seen bits and peices of it before. It was only in reading the whole thing that I realized how goofy, exaggerated, and awesome it actually is. It was originally published in 92, back when corny alliteration and cutesy rhymes were apparently still the pinnicle of hilarity in kids' comics. Not to mention the facial expressions... every other frame there's an emotion being exaggerated to the extreme!

I'm not saying any of this in criticism, by the way. I loved the whole thing, corny silly bits and all (or perhaps especially?). If you've never read Super Mario Adventures, go ahead and have a look, enjoy yourself.

The reason I'm writing about it, though, is that on those few panels when someone isn't screaming his mouth right off the edges of his face or some other cartoonish visual device... the art style is really great! I love how the characters are handled, and how their personalities reflect so well in the art. I especially like the princess, both artwise and storywise-- she's not some helpless chick, she's got some serious attitude! That's the Peach that we sometimes forget about, because in a lot of the games up until recently she's just been the prize at the end of the game, without much chance to develop as a person. You see it somewhat in games like the Paper Mario series or the Mario and Luigi rpg series, but it still tends to get downplayed, and that's a shame.

So um... anyway, I've been doodling around in an attempt the mimic the comics' style, since I like it so much. Maybe if I get into a groove I'll be able to blend the style into my own, and maybe even start doing finished fanart once in awhile again (that's not a promise, because, well... you know me). Anyway, I like it nonetheless, and I really admire the artist's skill and style.

So yeah, I guess my point is, go have a look, and it's awesome and so on. Yeah.