Next Big Thing?
Okay, perhaps the title is a bit of overkill, but after almost a month of silence here I thought I should return with a little something extra. Then again, like anything with a cult following, I’m sure there are many people who would agree with this post’s title. After a mere five years, perhaps Scott Pilgrim is about to become the “next big thing”. Why? Let me try to explain…
Actually, why don’t I let ScottPilgrim.com explain:
Scott Pilgrim’s life is totally sweet. He’s 23 years old, he’s in a rock band, he’s “between jobs,” and he’s dating a cute high school girl. Nothing could possibly go wrong, unless a seriously mind-blowing, dangerously fashionable, rollerblading delivery girl named Ramona Flowers starts cruising through his dreams and sailing by him at parties. Will Scott’s awesome life get turned upside-down? Will he have to face Ramona’s seven evil ex-boyfriends in battle? The short answer is yes.
Still not convinced? Does it sound like some sort of cliched teenage romance story? Well, not exactly. It’s a ‘graphic novel’ for starters, written by Toronto’s Bryan Lee O’Malley and published through Oni Press. One volume has been released each year since Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life, Volume 1 came out back in July 2004. There will be six volumes in total; volume five came out just last month. I first became interested in this series about a month ago when I heard that Edgar Wright — director and co-writer of both the incredible Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz — was involved in turning these stories into a movie. If these stories are good enough for him, then colour me interested.
This morning I finally took a moment to check out the local library system and, lucky for me, it turns out that they own the series. Better yet, the branch closest to my work had volume one on the shelves. Suddenly I had plans for lunch (and it was a lovely day for a walk). Although it’s 168 pages long, I was able to read through the whole story tonight; mostly during the commercial breaks in LOST. It was cute, funny and interesting. It had enough of something to make me want to read it again before I return it. There are good characters in here and the art is well done. If you want to get a feel for how everything looks and reads, the Preview page at sp.com lets you read the first 20-or-so pages of each volume.
After my first quick read-through, I think it reminded me a bit of Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist (a movie which I loved, btw), but it probably helps that the perfectly cast Michael Cera will be playing Scott Pilgrim in the movie next summer (who played Nick in the aforementioned movie, if you didn’t know). I’ve never read a proper ‘graphic novel’ before and I have to admit that the comparisons to a traditional comic are totally understandable; I don’t know exactly how people argue against this, but I know they do. Regardless, it’s a great format for a story like this. For instance, when the band first plays for Knives Chau (and, of course, Young Neil) the lyrics are included between scenes of the band playing… complete with the chords!
So, perhaps not a lot of in-depth review of the story here tonight, but I think I wanted to start talking about this series with the intention of posting after I’ve read each volume or so. I hope to make time in the next few days to read through Volume One again at a slower pace and try to get something more from it ’cause I honestly think it’s in there. After that, it’s back to the library for the next volume and so on. (Even if you have no interest in this series, consider this a PSA for your public library system; the summer is a great time to get back to borrowing!)
If you know anything about these stories or have any experience with other graphic novels — Watchmen anyone? — please leave a comment below. Think comics are silly and juvenile? Think it’s about time that graphic novels are being recognized as an actual form of prose? Are you totally jealous that Ramona Flowers has caught Scott’s eye ’cause you wanna hang with the bass player of Sex Bob-omb? Have your say!
Side Note: Surprisingly, this is the first post dealing with reading… or at least I assume it is since I had to create the “Literature” category before posting this! I know I’m a slow reader, but really… have I not talked about books or magazines or the newspaper or anything like that before now?! Wow.