Scott Pilgrim: Wackiness Ensues

While the story of Scott Pilgrim is good, it is not exactly original. The reason the series is so spectacular is because of the humor. Some of it is cynical, some random, and some is self-referential, but it is all great. Many of the jokes derive from the fact that the world that Scott and his friends inhabit isn't exactly the real world, despite what the reader is led to believe in the opening chapters of the first volume. As I said in the previous post, Bryan Lee O'Malley is obviously a huge fan of independent music, video games, and comics (notably manga). This love manifests in various situations where video game cliches and references. The characters level up, the losers in fights drop items and/or money, and a save point shows up at one point. All of the bands have names that are video game references, the best being Scott's band, Sex Bob-omb.

And then there are the fight scenes. Things don't truly cross into the realm of over-the-top otherworldlyness until Scott fights Ramona's first evil ex-boyfriend. Without warning, the book changes from a smartly-written love story into an insane fight involving nearly every major character. The moves are stylized and synchronized, and suddenly, Scott goes from slacker to the best fighter in Toronto.

There are also plenty of comments that break the fourth wall; mostly Scott does this to answer other characters' questions about the story. If someone asks him about an event that has already been shown to the reader, he might say something like, "Go read the second volume". On the other hand, he has referenced future plot points by saying that they will be covered in a future installment.

If all of the humor was comic book and video game references or self-referential, it would get old fairly quickly. Fortunately, there is plenty of clever and cynical word-play that the characters use to (usually) express how much they hate each other. Don't get me wrong, Scott has friends, but he also has to deal with many people who dislike him (and what is a friendship without a few shared insults).

The jokes obviously work best in context, and I don't really want to give away any more. I hope that these two posts have given you enough reasons to check these books out. I know that the style of art and the story may be a little off-putting (it did with me for a while), but once you start reading it, you will be hooked.

Up next: An American horror story...