....I would punch it in the balls.’ This is my favourite quote from the Scott Pilgrim graphic novels. Or it might be this one, ‘You hear that? That's market bacon hitting the pan. Today a child is born unto us, and his name will be bacon.’ I can’t decide there are too many of them. The witty humor which makes Scott Pilgrim a brilliant read comes straight from the mind of its author Bryan Lee O’ Malley. A writer and comic book artist from Toronto Canada, O’Malley has written a gem of a series spanning six volumes. The first volume Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life was released in 2004 and since then the series has developed a cult following of devoted fans. The final book in the series, Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour was released this summer.
The series follows the life of 23 year old Canadian slacker Scott Pilgrim. He lives in Toronto and rents a tiny one room apartment. He also shares a bed with his gay roommate and best friend Wallace Wells (who owns nearly everything in the flat). When he is not playing video games he is rocking out with his band Sex Bob-omb (they suck in Scott’s opinion). At the start of volume one Scott Pilgrim is (sort of) dating 17 year old Knives Chau, much to his friend’s amusement as they make fun of him for dating a high schooler. It’s not long before Scott meets the girls of his dreams, Ramona Flowers. She literally is the girl of his dreams as she rollerblades through his subconscious (it makes sense in the books...kinda). After breaking poor Knives’ heart (she is obsessed with Scott btw) he hooks up with the cool and mysterious Ramona. However there is a catch if Scott is to officially date Ramona, as he must defeat several of her evil exes who have sworn vengeance on Ramona for dumping them. Scott confronts a different ex in each volume and gets one step closer to becoming Ramona’s boyfriend.
The illustrations reflect O’ Malley’s love for anime which is perfect for Scott’s video game style battles with Ramona’s exes. O’ Malley also throws in the odd video game reference and as a gamer it was great to read an amused Scott telling his less interested friends that he has learned how to play the bassline from Final Fantasy II. The characters are well written from an egotistical skateboarder turned movie star to a samurai sword wielding lesbian ninja. Overall he has written a story about growth and responsibility as Scott takes control of his life (he gets a job in volume 4 washing dishes and earns 500+exp) and stands up for what he believes and loves.
Scott Pilgrim has been given the Hollywood treatment recently as the movie directed by Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and the brilliant Spaced) has come and gone at the cinema with great reviews. I enjoyed the movie as it stayed true to the books by casting people who look exactly like the character illustrations. I only became aware of the whole Scott Pilgrim universe after watching the trailer for the movie on YouTube. I wanted to read the books before I saw the movie so I ordered the first volume on Amazon right away. I spent the summer reading each volume and they are now arranged on my bookshelf in numerical order. If you enjoyed the movie I recommend you read the books as they give more depth to Scott’s relationship with his friends and Ramona (and her exes). I leave you now with some immortal words from Scott’s band ‘WE ARE SEX BOB-OMB!!! AND WE ARE HERE TO MAKE YOU THINK ABOUT DEATH AND GET SAD AND STUFF!!!’.
