Game Boy No. 1: "In The Palm of Your Hand..."

I've always been a huge fan of Tears For Fears, as vocalist Roland interpreted their song Don't Drink The Water saying this:

"Water being emotion. Don't drink the water - don't be taken in by your immediate sensations."
-Roland

(Source quoted by MemoriesFade.com.)

Perhaps someone ought to inform Herman after lashing in at work with a grudge-stricken attitude because a mishap with a stranger in the streets. Then again, if you bring in your bad-day rage to work, it affects the people who witness it (not so much for Herman's boss). It wasn't until Herman's thoughtless anger held him hostage by the....villains of the million-seller game Super Mario Land. (You can read our video game review here at SHOWSOTROS and listen to an overview of it on our podcast series PODSOTROS! here.)

With life going dandy, not expecting an actual live-action, video game-like adventure, Rick and Josh unknowingly become involved in Tatanga's conquering of the "real" world. Even though Rick would rather be checkin' out them hot ladies, Josh wanted to be a hero....with a hero: Mario! Concluding to what looked like a Pokémon-esque summon, Josh had to bring out his Game Boy to 'summon' Mario to eliminate Tatanga. During the course, you see Princess Toadstool Daisy using simple logic to deter Tatanga's hopes to marry her and to comply with his wishes. Slowly taking over New York, the boys—Rick and Josh—keep contributing in the help to wipe out the enemies before the damage increases. And like any other wimpy boss, Tatanga activates the "warp zone vortex" which brings them back in the Game Boy after Daisy informs Mario is invincible, thanks to the Invincible Star, then hopes to wipe out Mario "some other time." Rick and Josh saw Herman avoid the chaos but realize that what happened may just be a perfect day-long conversation with friends and family.

Have you seen those quote images that very much plague the Internet—the one which starts with, "Watch your words, they become actions..."? This issue seems like the underlying message it is trying to convey. What your words/actions you express affects the other(s), and the fact that Herman was held hostage by Tatanga and crew was perhaps what got him to bring back his ability to stop and think after witnessing what has gone on in the mall.

After the chaos started, and I know Steven J. Massarsky was unaware despite that this was released back in 1990, one scene description said this:

Later, an ominous DARK CLOUD hovers above the renowned twin towers of the World Trade Center...

Facts: In 1993, an explosion happened at the World Trade Center but its strong structure kept it from tipping over (invariably, it seemed like the actual plan). And then on September 11, 2001 became a day never to forget as the towers were struck and gone including thousands of innocent lives.

Yes, I understand we're all unaware of such references but it's a little odd: everyone is catered to a good comic. (Perhaps this is why Comic Con isn't a convention for comic books anymore, it's very much a "Media Con" featuring upcoming films and TV/web series.) Depending on its deeper meaning behind the story and/or the references made, you just never know what may happen down the line. I'm not sure if this comic even reached the "bad guys" but that description quoted above, and the country-wide news occurrences reported about the twin towers that happened years later was possibly something Massarsky never thought would actualize. Still, yes, it's a comic; It's all in good fun and only for the sake of the story. (Unless, of course, they may have known something abound would happen to the twin towers without releasing a controversial comic. Who knows?)

However, like what was written at the very top of this overview, it's one's emotions that correlate with the "data bytes" from the video games we play. Check out Comic System's very own interpretation of the comic itself:

"You're just little bytes of data from a chip!"

So says a confused and frightened Herman Smirch to Pionpi, who is standing on Smirch's chest at the time. It's true though. Pionpi, Tatanga, Princess Daisy and even good old Mario himself are merely tiny flecks of energy organized in precise patterns.

But, on some level, aren't we all? Aren't our thoughts and feelings mere flickerings of electricity along the circuitry of our brains? Isn't all that is real, ultimately and fundamentally, an organization of energy?

We draw a line between the real and the imaginary. We, the imaginers, who are patterns of energy, declare that our imaginings, which are patterns of energy, are not real.

But, what if one of them stood on your chest one and said, "Hmph! You seem rather improbable to me, giant! Now, then... what is this place?"

This place is whatever we imagine. It's as real as we believe. It's GAME BOY. Power in the palm of your hand. Believe it.

I don't know about you but this interpretation scratches the surface of what I think is one of the most difficult subjects one can ever study: the Philosophy of Mind (that doesn't mean that folks like me can't try to study it). The part "this place is whatever we imagine" almost sounds like Philosophy of Perception with a spice of Solipsism to me. I like to say and explain more about it but I can't do it without sounding confusing and wordy for you, the reader.

Overall, excellent issue!

Kris Caballero

Founder and operator of KCU Network, Kris has been writing since he managed a personal blog created back in late 2005. Despite publishing articles and reviews from time to time for the network's website, Kris enjoys studying the sciences, namely Math, playing old video/DOS games, reading non-fiction books and listening to sports radio.

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