Shortly before Captain N became the Game Master, "Nintendo Power's" "Howard and Nester" strips plunged real-world characters into popular video games for goofy comic strip adventures and gaming tips. Based on then "Nintendo Power" editor Howard Phillips' personality manifested by a version of himself and a smart alec teenager named Nester (a play on the Nintendo Entertainment System), the duo ran into everyone from Mega Man to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as they tested and/or had nightmares about gaming.

As an early '90s reader of "Nintendo Power," I was pretty stoked to see a link to a site collecting the strips over at the Are You A Serious Comic Book Reader? blog. While the stories rarely run longer than two pages, their spirited content has held up over the years thanks to a timeless cartooning style and an uncompromising (well, mostly, several strips work to avoid copyright infringement with less-than spot-on character likenesses) sense of fun.

I'd honestly buy a collected edition of the strips if I could track one down, but until then this link is the next best thing.

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