Family Album "The Early Years"

"Family Album 'The Early Years'" is a one-page comic that first appeared in the Super Mario Bros. comic book Super Mario Bros. No. 3. Originally published in 1990, the comic offers the first interpretation of what Mario and Luigi were like as children. The comic implies that Mario and Luigi are not twins, a development that Nintendo retconned into the Super Mario franchise in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, published roughly five years later. With five captioned panels, the comic resembles a family photograph album.
Plot synopsis
The comic is a series of five captioned photographs that, together, briefly tell the story of Mario's life as a baby and as a toddler. When Mario was born, he was unlike other babies in that he had a full head of hair and mustache stubble. He showed an affinity for plumbing from the very beginning, taking apart Mama Mario's sink while she bathed him. A jet steam of water hit her in the face to her displeasure. As time passed, Mario's stubble grew into a full mustache by the time he became a toddler. He "fixed" Papa Mario's pipe, making it emit bubbles instead of smoke, much to his father's displeasure. However, Mario showed a great talent for sports as well; he had the most home runs on his entire neighborhood softball team. Mario used his "lucky bat," a plunger. The future plumber's interest in the profession only grew as he aged, and by the time Luigi was born, Mario could fix nearly every leak. In the last picture, he is shown studying Luigi, with a wrench and a bag of diapers behind him.
Characters
- Mario
- Luigi
- Mario's mom
- Mario's dad
- Baseball players
Names in other languages
Language | Name | Meaning | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Finnish | Perhe-albumi: lapuusvuodet[1] | Family album: childhood | |
Portuguese | Álbum de família "Os primeiros anos"[2] | Family album "The early years" | |
Swedish | Familje album: De första åren[3] | Family album: The early years |