Just Deserts

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Just Deserts
First page of the comic

"Just Deserts" is a Super Mario Bros. comic, originally published in Nintendo Comics System No. 1. Its title is a pun on the phrase of the same name, which refers to what someone morally deserves based on their actions.

Plot synopsis

One day in the desert, King Toadstool is driving a dune buggy with Mario and Luigi in the back. Unfortunately, they run over a cactus, which shreds all the tires, including the spare. The King pulls out his portable throne to rest on while Mario and Luigi get to work to fixing the tires, getting tire repair kits from a nearby vending machine that a Toad named Benny had installed there. Meanwhile, King Koopa and his Cobrat minions are in their hidden headquarters under a pyramid, watching them. King Koopa pushes a key on his computer keyboard that makes an oasis appear behind the Mushroom King. The Mario Bros. think it is a mirage, but the King runs off to go swim in it anyway. Seeing what a good time the King is having in the oasis, the Mario Bros. go to join him, but right when they reach it, Koopa makes the oasis disappear, taking the King with it, and Mario and Luigi hit the sand.

The brothers hop into their dune buggy and drive off, searching for the King. They come upon another vending machine, this one dispensing ransom notes and sundries. Luigi gets a ransom note saying that the King is being held hostage, and if they want to set him free, they must leave ten million Koopabits by the tiny pyramid. The brothers are puzzled by this, not realizing that they are parked right on top of the tiny pyramid - which is actually the very top of Koopa's hidden pyramid. Annoyed with the plumbers not understanding his ransom note, Koopa makes his pyramid rise from the ground, leaving Mario and Luigi teetering atop the pyramid. They drive down, but go through a window into the pyramid and crash into the pyramid basement, where they find the oasis and the King. Mario finds an exit with their names on it and presses the "Master Mirage" control button, destroying Koopa's fortress and sending Koopa and the Cobrats in the middle of the desert. Mario then turns the dune buggy into a limousine using the mirage controller as the three of them drive back to the Mushroom Kingdom.

Gallery

Characters

Version differences

  • In the German version:
    • When Luigi shows Mario shredded spare time, he mentions that the world record for flat tires is five, adding that the cactus shredded their spare tire. In the original, he only mentions the world record for flat tires.
    • The vending machine for the tire repair kits reads "Tire Repair Kits" in the original version. In the translation, it is merely Flickzeug ("repair kits").
    • The Kleenex option from the ransom note vending machine is changed to tissues.
    • On King Koopa's ransom note, the text "XOXOXO Koopa" is removed.
    • In the original version, one of the Cobrats wonders if they are watching Olympic blimp diving. In the translation, it is instead Olympic champions in beach towels.

Names in other languages

Language Name Meaning Notes
French Mirage, mirage ![1] Mirage, mirage!
German Nichts als Wüste![2] Nothing but Desert!

Notes

  • King Koopa's design in this comic is the closest any of the Super Mario Bros. comics come to using his design from the games. However, just like in all his other appearances in the comics, he is still colored about the same as in the DIC Entertainment cartoons, and he still has a crown instead of a mane.
  • In the original version, one of the options from the ransom note vending machine is Kleenex.
  • In the original version, King Koopa's ransom note refers to him as "your friendly neighborhood Koopa," referencing a recurring phrase said by Spider-Man in his titular comic book series.

References

  1. ^ 1992. Super Mario Bros. no 1. Comics USA / Glénat (French). ISBN 2-87695-184-3. Page 5.
  2. ^ Super Mario Bros. Video-Comic-Magazin