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Scott Pilgrim graphic novels by Bryan Lee O'Malley Kaldric Send a noteboard - 07/01/2011 04:58:56 PM
I am not a fan of graphic novels in general. I really don't have anything against them, I simply have never gotten into them. I distinctly remember my parents buying me a comic book so I would have something to read on a long road trip. It was about the Green Arrow. Or maybe the Green Lantern. Perhaps it was the Green Hornet. I know there was something green. Anyway, it was a long time ago, and it didn't really interest me at the time. So, yeah; not the biggest comic book/graphic novel fan. But I watched the movie Scott Pilgrim vs The World and loved it, so I figured I could check out Bryan Lee O'Malley's series of graphic novels on which the film was based.

I am very glad I did.

Scott Pilgrim is a 23-year old slacker bass player who recently started dating Knives Chau, a naive 17-year old highschooler. He soon meets the girl of his dreams (well, he thinks he's dreaming of her, but really she's just using his mind as a subspace super highway to get from one point to another quickly), Ramona Flowers. Unfortunately, he soon learns that if he wants to date her, he must first defeat her seven evil exes.

If you've seen the movie, the graphic novels don't hold a lot of surprises, but they do manage to flesh out the story and characters more than the movie was able to. For instance, we learn that Ramona likes the X-Files enough to watch every episode while on a "wilderness sabbatical" and Scott can't seem to remember his birthday. Also, Ramona's gigantic hammer is "+2 against girls."

While the story was excellent, there were a few aspects that I didn't care for. There are many flashbacks throughout the story with no segue to inform the reader of what is happening. Sometimes it is hard to follow, and on several occasions I thought I had skipped a page because the story changed so suddenly. This was annoying near the beginning of the series, but by volume 6, O'Malley includes captions to tell the reader when and where the characters are.

Overall this is a great story. If you liked the movie, you'll love the books. And even if you didn't care for the movie, you might still like the books, so go check them out.

There are six volumes recounting Scott Pilgrim's adventures:
Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
Scott Pilgrim & The Infinite Sadness
Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together
Scott Pilgrim vs. The Universe
Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour
Kaldric

P.S. The "NSSP" is implied.

Of course, [Quixote] carried it a bit too far. He thought that every windmill was a giant. That's insane. But, thinking that they might be...
--Justin Playfair, They Might Be Giants
This message last edited by Kaldric on 10/01/2011 at 02:00:54 PM
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Scott Pilgrim graphic novels by Bryan Lee O'Malley - 07/01/2011 04:58:56 PM 7936 Views
I loved the books. Although... a lot of the characters look very similar - 07/01/2011 05:11:04 PM 1450 Views
I agree. - 07/01/2011 05:33:30 PM 1474 Views
I adored the Scott Pilgrim books. Very... generational, though. - 07/01/2011 05:34:05 PM 1431 Views
Segue, not segway. - 09/01/2011 12:36:15 AM 1355 Views
I've looked at them in the shops - 09/01/2011 09:24:17 AM 1366 Views

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