Well, it sure took me long enough, but my commission for Shade Koopa is finished!

...what do you mean I need to shade the characters?! Why I oughta...!

Er, anyway. This was time-consuming, but fun. I like diapers, and I like Super Mario Bros., so this comic was a perfect fit for me. A few quick notes:

• I managed to cram most of the Koopalings into this picture, but Lemmy and Ludwig were the odd turtles out. My apologies to the fans of these two characters, but this was starting to look like a Where's Waldo? picture as it was!

• Goombas are actually supposed to be chestnuts, not mushrooms as I initially believed. Why didn't I know this until now?

• Yes, Morton Koopa Jr. has a cigar. I don't know if that's canon, but as Shade Koopa himself so astutely observed, the character was named after compulsive smoker Morton Downey Jr., so it felt right.

• I actually used myself as the model for Bowser's petulant pose in the bottom panel. No, I was not diapered at the time.

• My version of Kamek was (loosely) based on Professor Farnsworth of Futurama fame. Hey, it seemed to fit!

• I was heavily influenced by the interpretations of the characters in the Super Mario Bros. Super Show. I never much cared for Charles Martinet's Italian Pillsbury Dough Boy, for instance... for my money, Captain Lou Albano is the better Mario. Similarly, I liked the gruff portrayal of Bowser in the cartoon... they nailed his personality, unlike most of the Mario games where he acts like he should be stomping Tokyo. (Exceptions are obviously Paper Mario and Mario and Luigi, where they fleshed him out a bit and he better fits into my head canon.)

• I never liked Bowser Jr. I think he's an obnoxious little bastard, not fit to lick the Koopalings' collective boots.

• There was one scene from New Super Mario Bros. DS (arguably one of the weaker entries in the series) that stuck with me, and not in a good way. After Mario plunges Bowser into a river of lava, the Koopa king briefly struggles to the surface of the bubbling magma as a skeleton, only to sink to the bottom once more. This is immediately followed by Mario cheerfully observing, "That's-a so nice!" Good lord Mario, you need to talk to a psychiatrist. Or maybe your parole officer.

• I just started Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. Note that this is the first time I spent more than a couple of minutes with the game, and I've owned it for about a decade now. I know, I know, I'm ashamed of myself, too. Still, it's better late than never!