Beauty and the Beach

The cover art of Beauty and the Beach.

Beauty and the Beach was the first Mario comic published in the Nintendo Comics System. Its title was a pun on "Beauty and the Beast".

Summary

This comic opens with Mario, Princess Peach (Toadstool in the comics) and Toad all on a yacht on the open sea. Peach sarcastically asks Mario if "his three hour tours usually last two days" and Toad is extremely seasick. It is shown on a map that they have been looping in wild directions, and Peach decides to ask some nearby Trouters for directions. However, she makes the mistake of calling them "fishy fishies", and the Trouters, insulted, begin to tear apart the boat.

Fortunately, they wash up onto an island, and a surfer Toad, named "Moonfungie" (a pun on Moondoggie) greets them. He shows them where they can change, but tells them they need to follow "the Boss's" dress code. Toad, noticing a statue of Bowser on the edge of the beach, asks just who this "Boss" is, but Moonfungie appears not to hear. Up at the shacks, there are more Bowser statues, doll, poster, and t-shirts! In spite of this, Mario is trying to figure out who the "Boss" might be as he changes his clothes.

After dressing up (Peach in a one-piece bathing suit, Mario in a red-striped suit, and Toad in a comical pair of trunks that are bigger than he is), Moonfungie tells them they need to "get to work". At that moment, a stream of more surfer Toads race by them, all carrying bombs. Mario inquires of one of them why they are toting explosives, and finds that they want to make the volcano at the center of the island hotter, the reason being that it will scare away the same fish that chomped on Mario, Peach, and Toad's boat, since the fish also have an appetite for surfboards.

A page from the comic, as Bowser reveals his evil plan.

It turns out that their "Boss" was the one who started the idea, and at that second, who should appear but the "Boss" himself - none other the Koopa King, Bowser! Except now he's clad in a purple Hawaiian shirt and a flower garland (which he then discards because "[he] hates anything that's louder than [he is]"), under the alias of "Ka-Hoopa". He makes no move to make trouble for Mario and company, and even discloses his plan, to turn all the native Toads into Fryguys by blasting the volcano! He then goes off on his way, telling them that the volcano will erupt in five minutes.

Peach decides to make a pipe system to cool off the volcano, but Mario is skeptic, asking why they should help them, as they got themselves into this! Peach answers "because we're nice people, and that's what nice people do!" Mario moans "I hate it when she makes sense!", but still participates in the plan. Four minutes later, they have made a huge pipe system out of hollow bamboo, and Koopa is out on the sea, wondering how to attack with his Fryguy army, when he notices the good guys' plan. The plan works, and the volcano is stifled! The Toads apologize for what they did, and Peach asks what they've learned. They answer that they've learned that there are things more important in life than surfing... "Jaccuzzis are more important!" Mario asks Peach how it feels to be a "good guy" as they comic ends.