Originating from a well-known video game franchise comes a 3-issue mini-series written by Dan Slott and published by Marvel in 1995. Whilst it takes elements of the game and the cartoon for inspiration, this comic takes place in its own continuity.
In the first issue, Jim has been a spacefaring superhero for at least a little time; he has defeated Queen Slug-for-a-Butt, Major Mucus and Doc Duodenum and successfully rescued Princess What's-Her-Name, bringing her to live on Earth with him.
As the issue starts, the Queen, the Doctor and the Major all arrive on Planet Heck, seeking to hire Evil the Cat's demonic lawyers to hunt Jim down and sue him for his attacks on them. Back on Earth, Jim asks Princess What's-Her-Name on a date, only to be interrupted by Psy-Crow, Professor Monkey-For-A-Head, and several of Bob the Killer Goldfish's feline lackies. Jim and the Princess are kidnapped; Jim is taken to the Professor's lair, whilst the Princess is taken to Bob's world. Though the Professor and Psy-Crow extract Jim from his super-suit, they underestimate his resourcefulness and he escapes.
On La Planeta De Agua, Princess What's-Her-Name easily defeats Bob's lackies, but is brought to heel by a transmission from the Professor's lair, where he seemingly threatens to kill Jim unless the Princess goes along with Bob's demands that she marry him. But things soon go wrong for the Professor and Psy-Crow, as Jim easily defeats them and reclaims his suit. They escape a beating by revealing Bob's impending nuptials, with Jim pausing only long enough to free the Professor's victims — including one Peter Puppy, who insists on coming along to help Jim — before he rockets off in search of La Planeta De Agua.
In the second issue, after some trouble finding the way, Jim makes it to La Planeta De Agua and interrupts the wedding at the last moment. Despite Bob's wedding present of a giant battle suit of his own, the Killer Goldfish is defeated.
In the final issue, after blowing up the wedding hall with a bomb conveniently planted in Princess What's-Her-Name's bouquet, Jim, the Princess and Peter escape La Planeta De Agua. Peter makes a request that they escort him to his home planet in the dangerous Dogstar System, a trip complicated by his repeatedly transforming into a monster. However, lonce they reach Peter's home, he realizes that his planet is actually a sucky place to live on, and he decides to go back to Earth with Jim and the Princess. The two finally resume their date, whilst Peter puts a final thwarting on Evil the Cat and his army of lawyers.
The Earthworm Jim mini-series contains the following groovy tropes:
- Adaptation Deviation:
- At the start of the mini-series, Jim and Princess What's-Her-Name are living on Earth, but they haven't met Peter Puppy.
- New Junk City is an interplanetary garage and junkyard run by Chuck, who's not a bad guy but just an average joe whom Jim sees for directions.
- Peter Puppy is an experiment of Professor Monkey-for-a-Head's, rather than an alien (games) or the victim of Evil the Cat's cruel sorceries (cartoon).
- Princess What's-Her-Name combines elements of her Valley Girl game self and her Action Girl cartoon self in personality. She's also very fond of Jim, and open to a romantic relationship with him.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Whilst the super suit seems perfectly loyal to Jim when he's in the cockpit, once Jim is out of the picture, it become a major nuisance that causes Professor Monkey-for-a-Head no end of trouble.
- Army of Lawyers: A literal army of demonic lawyers are hired from Evil the Cat by Queen Slug-for-a-Butt, Doc Duodenum and Major Mucus to seek revenge against Earthworm Jim. Unfortunately, they are consistently too late to catch up with Jim as he constantly moves around the galaxy.
- Dumbass Has a Point: When Big Bruty shows up in the final issue, Jim lets out a relieved exclamation. When Peter angrily questions this response, Jim points out that if the giant monster before them was only Little Bruty, then they'd be in even worse trouble. Peter concedes that Jim has a point.
- Genius Ditz: Earthworm Jim may be highly eccentric and prone to spouting nonsense, but he's also surprisingly skilled in combat and adventuring. Even when forcibly removed from his supersuit, he proves clever enough to take down both Psycrow and Professor Monkey-For-a-Head without it.
- Girly Bruiser: Princess What's-Her-Name is a weird blending of her game self's implied Valley Girl attitude and the strength, confidence and fighting skills of her cartoon self. Best exemplified by how she is introduced after her capture sitting atop a mountain of unconscious Cat Folk whilst complaining that she broke a nail beating them all up. Then she proceeds to mop the floor with their reinforcements.
- Glass-Shattering Sound: Jim defeats Bob's giant battlesuit by shrieking at such a high pitch that it shatters Bob's bowl and leaves him flopping harmlessly on the floor.
- Growing Muscles Sequence: In a visual gag, when Princess What's-Her-Name explains that she has the strength of 100 men, the explanation is tied to three panels. In the first, she strikes a pinup girl pose. In the second, she becomes as muscular as an Olympic level bodybuilder, representing her flexing her muscles. Finally, in the third panel, she snaps back to normal as she unclenches her muscles.
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: When Jim inadvertently asks Princess What's-Her-Name on a date to "go cow-tipping", having been stunned by the sight of her in nothing but a towel and shower cap, he spends a panel literally beating himself up over asking her on something as lame as that.Earthworm Jim: Cow-tippping? Cow-tipping?! Nice one, Jim! If you ask a gorgeous intergalactic princess to go on a date in a cow pasture... you may be a redneck!
- Interspecies Romance: Jim and Princess What's-Her-Name, of course. And then there's Bob the Killer Goldfish's attempt to force the Princess to marry him, and the supersuit trying to marry the Professor's grandmother.
- Monstrous Cannibalism: In the finale of the mini-series, the canine abomination of mad science Monster Peter eats demonic feline Evil the Cat.
- Mythology Gag:
- Whilst racing to interrupt Bob's wedding to Princess What's-Her-Name, Jim uses a bathysphere to navigate underwater tunnels and rides a giant hamster, just like in the original game. He also shouts "Whoa, Nellie!" whilst riding the hamster, just like in the game.
- After beating up Bob's feline minions, Princess What's-Her-Name boasts that being an Insectikette gives her the strength of 100 men, just like she did when held hostage by Psycrow in the cartoon's first episode.
- Peter Puppy wears his clothes from the cartoon. In the finale of the mini-series, he's shown playing an Earthworm Jim game on a handheld Sega console and notes that his game self is naked, which is actually true to the games.
- When an irritated Jim gets sick of the monsters on Peter's planet and pulls out a really big gun to deal with them, he complains "Aw, for Pete's sake!" — the level in the original game with the Peter Puppy Escort Mission is actually called "For Pete's Sake!"
- Almost every "boss" enemy character from the original videogame shows up; Queen Slug-For-A-Butt, Professor Monkey-for-a-Head, Psycrow, Bob the Killer Goldfish, Evil the Cat, Doc Duodenum, Major Mucus, even Chuck and Fifi.
- The mini-series ends with a bunch of black-and-white dairy cows flying through the air and landing all over the place, after Jim accidentally releases them from the phone booth they had been crammed into.
- Nails on a Blackboard: When Major Mucus makes the mistake of laughing at Evil the Cat, Evil shows off his cruelty by first menacingly brandishing his claws, and then using them to slowly scratch a nailboard, leaving his three guests in agony.
- Rocket Punch: Earthworm Jim shows he can launch his fists as projectiles when he and the Princess are first attacked.
- Shout-Out:
- Bob's wedding minister is Gillman.
- When Peter changes into Monster Peter for the penultimate time, he shouts "Peter smash!"
- Swallowed Whole: When Evil the Cat makes the mistake of mocking and laughing at Peter Puppy, Monster Peter swallows him whole. Being a demon, Evil is left unharmed, simply grumbling that when nature takes its course, Peter had better flush twice in order to give him a hand in getting back to Heck.
- Took a Level in Badass: In the final issue, Princess What's-Her-Name is given the super-suit in hopes that her superior baseline alien biology will make her more powerful than Jim and thus able to fight off Big Bruty. It works magnificently; she literally one-shots the giant alien monster off of the planet, ranting about how she is now the most powerful being in the universe.
- Wolverine Claws: As in the cartoon, Evil has exaggeratedly long, sword-like claws that pop out of the tips of his fingers when he wants to fight.
