Scott Pilgrim's life is so awesome. He's 23 years old, in a rock band, "between jobs," and dating a cute high school girl. Everything's fantastic until a seriously mind-blowing, dangerously fashionable, rollerblading delivery girl named Ramona Flowers starts cruising through his dreams and sailing by him at parties. But the path to Ms Flowers isn't covered in rose petals. Ramona's seven evil ex-boyfriends stand in the way between Scott and true happiness. Can Scott beat the bad guys and get the girl without turning his precious little life upside-down?If that description doesn't sell it to you, I'm not sure what will. This book (and series) offers a refreshing take on the slacker genre, where instead of spending his spare time playing video games, Scott Pilgrim inhabits a world that is a video game, and his life is filled with all the paradoxes of a real world gamer. Sure, he can fight Ramona's evil exes, but is he emotionally mature enough to keep the relationship going? And will he ever get up the courage to actually break up with his high school girlfriend?
The supporting characters turn this book into pure gold-- there's Wallace Wells, his suave gay roommate who he shares a bed with (because he can't afford his own!); the female drummer of his band Sex Bob-omb Kim Pine (don't tell her she's not the only one!); his more mature younger sister Stacy Pilgrim; Sex Bob-omb's only fan Young Neil; and Knives Chau, the Chinese Catholic schoolgirl whose relationship with Scott is so ridiculously chaste you worry more about what it says about his emotional maturity than his intentions with her.
This book also surmounts the challenge of writing a (obviously silent) book with a musical backdrop, as the music scenes are drawn with such raw energy that you'll at least feel the urge to bob your head. And it has something for everyone-- it's a romance for people who hate romance, a video game story for non-gamers, and the art is manga-style for people who hate manga. It's just funny, funny, funny. Now that the series is complete and the movie's about to come out, it's the best time to pick up this book (be cool and read it before you see the movie!) You can read a 34-page preview here.
⊗⊗⊗⊗⊗ (out of five!)
Man, I really need to stop slacking and get my hands on this books before the movie comes out.
ReplyDeleteYeah, you don't want to be one of those people who reads the book after they see the movie! Horrors!
ReplyDeleteOkay, it was weird because some guy on my facebook posted the create the Scott Pilgrim avatar thing. I had never heard about it up until that point. Then I saw the trailer for the movie and watched it three times. And then, I went to Borders and bought the comic it that day. It's so stupid, but so funny. And the artwork is so deceptively simple, but yet so detailed.
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