Pipes is Pipes

Pipes is Pipes
Publisher	Valiant Comics
Label	Nintendo Comics System
Artist(s)	Bill Valley, Gray Morrow, Pocho Morrow, Jade, The V-8's
Writer(s)	Mark McClellan
<< List of volumes

Pipes is Pipes is the final issue of Valiant Comics' Game Boy comic book series.

Plot synopsis

At an amusement park in Seaside Heights, New Jersey, Herman Smirch is cleaning a clown statue's head while Michael Hallis and Jonathan argue about summoning Mario from the Game Boy. One of the boys asks Herman if he can borrow his Game Boy, but he refuses. While the boss of the amusement park dismisses him as a loser, Herman is hypnotized into opening the gateway. Pionpi, Tatanga, and Princess Daisy appear. Tatanga announces it is Daisy's birthday and orders Herman to prepare smokeworks. He promises her he has the thing she desires the most—not her freedom, but the most precious gem in Sarasaland, the Gem of Aicheizi.

Daisy tries to escape but she is quickly caught by the Bunbun guards. She asks why he is sending out Roketons, but Tatanga does not answer. Herman sets up the smokeworks and Tatanga proposes Daisy to marry him, but she is unimpressed. Annoyed, Tatanga orders Pionpi to cancel the smokeworks.

At his home, Michael is calling his mother about her work, and she reassures him she will be back from the Clam Creek Nuclear reactor by midnight. Outside, the Roketon scouts Tatanga sent find the power plant and breach the reactor's coolant system, triggering meltdown protocols. Panicked, the mother thinks of going out to save her son, but a fellow operator reminds her they have to stay and try to solve the problem.

Thirty minutes later, the authorities are organizing the evacuation of the town. Unable to call his mother due to jammed phone lines, Michael gets the idea to summon Mario, which he manages to a few minutes later, popping out of the Game Boy with the Sky Pop. Mario is eager to rescue Daisy, but Michael implores him to save his mother, which he eventually agrees to. After Mario leaves, Michael goes to the amusement park, thinking that since Mario has agreed to save his mother for him, he must pay him back by saving Daisy himself.

Michael rescues Daisy

Mario flies to the power plant and finds a large hole in one of the reactors. Meanwhile, Michael finds Daisy under the boardwalks at the beach and catches her, Tatanga's forces in tow. As Michael mentions the power plant, Daisy realizes its takeover is a trap to get rid of Mario.

Inside the nuclear reactor, Mario navigates the complex pipe system. The operators estimate they have forty minutes left before meltdown.

Fleeing Tatanga's minions, Michael tries to cut them off by running through a house, but he trips and drop Daisy. Interrogated by Tatanga, Michael says he dropped Daisy in a mailbox a few blocks away. Tatanga orders Pionpi to kill him but Daisy reveals herself. Invoking her birthday right, Daisy says to keep the boy alive, which Tatanga reluctantly agrees to.

In the reactor, Mario is using his plumbing skills to repair the reactor. Following the stress lines, Mario finds a Suu gnawing on the cooling pipes. He flees the creature by jumping into a heavy water path, using his wrench to hold onto a broken pipe while the spider misses him and melts. Having been heavily exposed to radiations, Mario comments he is not feeling so well and faints.

Mario's actions bring the plant's safety systems back online. An inspector finds Mario's body and mistakes it for a doll. The inspector brings Mario to the other employees, saying they will be in big trouble with the Nuclear Regulator Commission. Michael's mother recognizes the "doll" as Mario and takes it from the man.

The inspector grabs an unconscious Mario

She seals Mario inside a plastic bag. Mario wakes up and explains he needs to rescue Michael, but he is in no condition to fly the Sky Pop. Believing him, Michael's mother puts Mario in her bag and drives off.

At Michael's house, Daisy is growing weary of her birthday celebration. Tatanga orders his forces to warp back to the Game Boy and Daisy tosses the Gem of Aicheizi to Michael right before they warp out. Michael's mother arrives with Mario, and Mario explains he can only warp back to the Game Boy world while Tatanga are maintaining a Warp Corridor. He laments that he does not know how long he can survive in the real world with the radiation exposure he has endured, but Pionpi warps back and asks Michael to give him the gem. As he does so, Mario uses the opportunity to sneak back into the Game Boy.

Now rid of the invaders, Michael's mother asks her son to sit beside her and tell her about the characters of Super Mario Land, in great details.

Quotes

• Don't worry about me, kid--I know my way around. I got relatives in Jersey! - Mario
• Okay, Mario, the pipes here are a little larger than you're used to--but, as I always say, "Pipes is Pipes!" - Mario
• -Don't you dare touch that boy, Tatanga!
  -There you are. I knew how to get your attention! Pionpi, your orders stand! - Daisy and Tatanga
• I think the radiation is affecting my delicate complexion. Yuck. - Mario
• -Michael, why don't you sit beside me here?
  -You aren't mad? You aren't gonna make me clean this up?!
  -Later. Forget I ever told you to be quiet about Mario and Tanga. Right now, I want you to tell me everything about these guys. In great detail!
  -First of all, it's "Tatanga"... - Michael's mother and her son, in the final words of the series.

Trivia

• Despite being the last installment, the issue features no indication of the comic ending, the writers even teasing the possibility of including characters from more Game Boy games in a response to one of the letters.