Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Scott Pilgrim returns in this second installment of his quirky, action-packed romance graphic novel series, and his troubles are far from over. The story opens with a flashback to Scott's high school days, when he was new to school and became friends with Kim, the current drummer of their band, Sex-Bob-omb. He rescues her from some psychopathic bullies, and they began dating.

Cut to the present, as Scott's roommate Wallace threatens that if Scott doesn't break up with Knives, his high-school girlfriend he was seeing when he fell in love with Ramona in the last book, Wallace is going to tell Ramona about her. Scott genuinely likes Knives, and he is a non-confrontational sort of guy. But he really, really doesn't want Ramona to know about her, and in a hilarious but pathos-filled scene, Scott finally tells Knives they can't be together anymore.

Knives turns out not to be the timid, compliant girl she appears to be, and her fury and bitterness at the end of the relationship spur her to take some drastic measures, particularly when she sees Scott with Ramona and realizes what has happened. My favorite scene of the entire book is when Knives stages a surprise ninja attack on Ramona in the Toronto Reference Library. Meanwhile, the second of Ramona's evil ex-boyfriends whom Scott must defeat arrives in town. He turns out to be a famous actor and former pro skater, a formidable opponent - but to compound Scott's troubles, his ex-girlfriend calls. She needs an opening band to replace once that canceled, and she's wondering if Sex Bob-omb would like to play. It is clear that Scott has yet to recover from that relationship, but until we see him huddled and trembling on the floor in the wake of her phone call, it becomes evident that he has a ways to go before he can put the relationship behind him.

I find it difficult to articulate what it is about this series that has me hooked. I love the quirky quality - you never know just where it's going to go, and it's fresh and surprising. The relationships among the characters are portrayed so well, through the bold, energetic illustrations as well as the dialogue, and there is an emotional resonance present that is not typical of many graphic novels. The social commentary is there, but it's clever and understated, and the humor is often sneaky and surprising. Readers who are looking for something different, something that will make them think and laugh, will be sure to enjoy this series.

Books in the Scott Pilgrim series:
1. Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life
2. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
3. Scott Pilgrim & the Infinite Sadness
4. Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together
5. Scott Pilgrim vs. the Universe

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (#2 in the Scott Pilgrim graphic novel series) by Bryan Lee O'Malley (Oni Press, 2005)

Also reviewed at:
A Book a Week: "The art is simple, attractive, and easy to follow. It's set in Toronto and spends a surprising amount of time in recognizable Toronto libraries, so I would love it for that alone. But the story and the characters don't need any help. They've got me hooked."
Painted Smiles; Written Words: "The characters really are nothing short of adorable, but that doesn’t stop the series from having some fantastically dynamic action shots. And it’s a mixture of detailed and stylized backgrounds and surroundings that moves the story from the real world, surreal in varying degrees, to what feels like an epic video game."

This is cross-posted at my blog, Books and Other Thoughts.

Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life

This one is entirely Kiirsten's fault. Her excellent review of the first two volumes in this graphic novel series completely won me over. She described the books as possessing that quirky combination of humor and oddness and compelling characters that never fails to entice me. And she was absolutely right.

Scott Pilgrim is an unprepossessing kind of guy. He's twenty-three years old, is dating a high school girl (in an odd kind of platonic way), plays in a bad band, is unemployed, and even though he seems like a total slacker loser, comes off as sweet and funny and manages to grab the reader's sympathy in spite of himself. He shares an apartment with Wallace, who is gay and boy crazy and always has a funny, caustic remark at the ready.

When Scott has vivid dreams about a pretty Rollerblading girl, and then actually runs into her in real life at a party, he becomes obsessed with her. He learns that her name is Ramona Flowers, she is American, and she works as a delivery girl for Amazon in Toronto, where the story is set. Scott's initial encounter with her doesn't go too well, since he's still reeling about the fact that he's seen her in his dreams. He hatches a plan to see her again (a plan that involves ordering merchandise from Amazon and paying for it with Wallace's credit card), and this time things go a bit better. She admits that she's been using Scott's head as a shortcut when delivering packages: "It's just, like, this really convenient subspace highway happens to go through your head, it's like three miles in fifteen seconds," Ramona tells him. Of course he falls in love with her, but little does he know that Ramona happens to come with a some emotional...baggage...so to speak.

This was such a fun story. I found the characters to be quirky and engaging, and the dialogue rang true and kept me laughing as I read. The characters' relationships were believable and realistically portrayed, as with, for example, Scott and his little sister Stacey. She calls him up in the middle of the night after Wallace tells her about Scott dating the teenager. Their phone conversation perfectly captures the mixture of bafflement, affection and concern a little sister would feel towards a beloved but exasperating brother in such a situation.

I won't reveal any surprises, but let me say that the final scenes of the story are unexpected and hilarious. This is a delightful, intelligent, refreshing read, and I am very much looking forward to the continuation of Scott's story in the next volume of this series. The book classifies itself as "T" for teen, ages 13 and up. My library shelves these in the adult section, though, probably because while (at least in this volume) there is no graphic sexual imagery, there are some fairly adult themes. To date there are five volumes, the most recent of which was released just last month, and there is also a film in the works, which should apparently be released some time in 2009.

Books in the Scott Pilgrim series:
1. Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life
2. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
3. Scott Pilgrim & the Infinite Sadness
4. Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together
5. Scott Pilgrim vs. the Universe

Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life (#1 in the Scott Pilgrim series) by Bryan Lee O'Malley (Oni Press, 2004)