Scott Pilgrim

This is a long overdue post I've been meaning to make. Granted, most of you that read this are most likely people who actually know me, and therefore have heard me rant about this being my new favorite comic. Bryan Lee O'Malley's Scott Pilgrim series was something I checked out entirely at random. I had read a bit of the 3rd volume, and before getting very far, I realized I immediately needed to read the first two before continuing on.

This comic is just amazingly good. It's humor based, but there is action in it, as our hero Scott Pilgrim has to fight 6 (or 7) evil ex-boyfriends to date his new girlfriend. It's set in Canada, which for me is rather uncharted territory, but you know, I hear things. Mostly from people who watch Degrassi. So my immediate reaction was to suggest this to people I knew that watched Degrassi. Additionally, Scott is about 23 or so, and if you were born in the range where the video games close to your childhood heart are original nintendo game (but especially Mario 3), and the original transition into Super Nintendo and the Sega Genesis, then there's lots of references here just for you.

For example, his band's name  is "Sex Bob-omb." Don't know what a bob-omb is? Either you've never read any of the guide books that came with your Mario games, never saw the movie (in which it is screamed multiple times), or you're just too lazy to go look it up on wikipedia. 

Regardless, various other video game references are scattered throughout the books, without losing any part of the story. 

The books come in a manga size, and are often hidden in the manga section of the bookstore. Now, I know some of you regular comics readers shun the manga format or the average manga as if it were an unbelieving unicorn. And I understand that position. Scott Pilgrim is not manga though. Yes it's in black and white. Yes, the eyes are huge. But I'd hardly say it's manga-styled art in anyway, and is read left to right. In fact, one of my favorite parts of is the last page of the 4th volume, where Scott's gay roommate Wallace informs us that this is, indeed, THE BACK OF THE BOOK. "What do you think you're doing? WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?"

I'd tell more about the book in general, such as things about Scott's group of friends. Or the leadup to him meeting this girl in the first place. But I personally the reader gains more by meeting these characters on their own. So go. Do it.