Almost two years ago I downloaded a whole bunch of manga scans off this blog that doesn't exist anymore, so I figured I'd upload them all to the web and share them here so I can spread them as far as possible. Finding exact information on these has been pretty difficult. All I know so far is that they were published by Kodansha (講談社) in two magazines, Comic Bonbon (コミックボンボン) and Deluxe Bonbon (デラックスボンボン), they were written by a cartoonist named Motoyama Kazuki (本山一城), they were collected in a total of 42 paperback volumes from 1989 to 1998, and it doesn't have a unified title: rather, each volume is named after whichever game the stories adapt, while fans in Japan have nicknamed this particular manga "KC Mario". Not all of the stories from the magazines were collected, so I don't have those, and I'm still missing
several two volumes regardless. If I ever get my grubby mitts on them, I'll be sure to update this thread.
Do note that this is not to be confused with
Super Mario-kun (スーパーマリオくん), a completely different Mario manga published in CoroCoro Comics (コロコロコミックス) and one that's still running to this very day. "KC Mario" on the other hand ended in 1998, while Comic Bonbon itself went defunct in 2007. From what I understand, after that happened the copyrights to "KC Mario" went to Shogakukan, and since
they're the publisher of CoroCoro it's not likely that they're ever going to re-release these stories, which a) sucks majorly and b) makes these scans all the more valuable to have.
As for the content of the manga itself, most of the stories loosely adapt then-current Mario games, but some of them are wholly original pieces. The author seems to have been given a fair bit of creative freedom, as he liberally introduces original characters and features all sorts of whacked-out meta jokes, sometimes even featuring characters from Japanese popular culture! Seriously, this comic is absolutely
nuts. Even if you can't understand the language, it's still worth a look just for the crazy imagery. What I find most fascinating about it is how much stuff in here seems to have inspired later Mario games. For example, Daisy is a semi-recurring character and acts really tomboyish, there's a Mario Kart story that features the cast splitting into teams and driving themed vehicles on a cross country rally, and Dr. Mario appears as a separate character from Mario in a few stories....
somehow.
Without any further digression, here is the list of links:
Vol. 1: Super Mario Land #1Vol. 2: Super Mario Land #2Vol. 3: Super Mario Land #3Vol. 4: Super Mario Land #4Vol. 5: Dr. MarioVol. 6: Super Mario World #1Vol. 7: Super Mario World #2Vol. 8: Super Mario World #3Vol. 9: Super Mario World #4Vol. 10: Super Mario World #5Vol. 11: Super Mario World #6Vol. 12: Super Mario World #7
Vol. 13: Mario Open Golf (aka NES Open Tournament Golf)
Vol. 14: Yoshi no Tamago (aka Yoshi)
Vol. 15: Super Mario Kart #1Vol. 16: Super Mario Kart #2Vol. 17: Super Mario Kart #3Vol. 18: Super Mario USA (aka Super Mario Bros. 2)
Vol. 19: Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins #1Vol. 20: Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins #2Vol. 21: Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins #3Vol. 22: Yoshi no Road Hunting #1 (aka Yoshi's Safari)
Vol. 23: Yoshi no Road Hunting #2Vol. 24: Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land #1Vol. 25: Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land #2Vol. 26: Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land #3Vol. 27: Mario & WarioVol. 28: Wario's WoodsVol. 29: Donkey Kong #1Vol. 30: Donkey Kong #2Vol. 31: Super Donkey Kong with Mario #1 (aka Donkey Kong Country)
Vol. 32: Super Donkey Kong with Mario #2Vol. 33: Yoshi's Island #1Vol. 34: Yoshi's Island #2Vol. 35: Yoshi's Island #3Vol. 36: Super Mario 64 #1Vol. 37: Super Mario 64 #2Vol. 38: Super Mario 64 #3Vol. 39: Super Mario 64 #4Vol. 40: Super Mario 64 #5
Vol. 41: Yoshi's Story #1Vol. 42: Yoshi's Story #2The volume numbers are by no means official, I just put them there for my own reference. Titles without links are those I don't have scans for. Hopefully one day I'll find them along with somebody willing to translate these...
