Scott Pilgrim Vol. 1

by Bryan O'Malley

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

I'm not a big graphic novel person.

I feel like graphic novels are usually too quick, and they leave me wanting more.  I can appreciate the effort that goes into the artwork and what not, I've just never really connected with this.  But I really wanted to read the Scott Pilgrims graphic novels.  I love this franchise and I needed to see how it compared to the movie.  Hey guys guess what?  Scott Pilgrim is pretty fantastic.

The dialogue is basically what you would expect.

Scott's life is massively not-put-together.  He's dating a high schooler (he's 23), he lives with his best friend (who owns everything in their apartment except one "lame poster").  His little sister has a better job than him (Scott is "between jobs").  Scott's life just isn't going well.  There's a lot of conversation about how Scott's life seems to be derailed.  Scott, unsurprisingly, sees nothing wrong with the way things are going.  In the discussion of Scott's utter failure to LIFE, I really like Kim.  Kim is the band's drummer ("WE ARE SEX BA-BOMBS!") and she has no problem telling it like it is.

This book isn't going to win any brownie points for intriguing philosophical discussion.  But it's fun.  And also Scott is so stupid you have to feel a bit anxious for him.

The artwork is simple and subtly clever.

One thing I really appreciated about this novel is that the artwork isn't overwhelming.  You get some graphic novels with all sorts of shading and line art and it's really difficult to focus because chaos surrounds you.  With Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life, that's not a concern.

Additionally, I really enjoyed the subtle nuances that Bryan Lee O'Malley included in the artwork?  In-drawing footnotes and even chords to the Sex Ba-Bomb's first song can be found if you search hard enough.  And, of course, he's constantly making fun of the lameness of Scott's existence.

This book is short and quick.

Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life definitely did not satiate my need for a bigger, deeper book.  The story line ends right after Scott fights Matthew Patel - the first evil ex.  The closest thing we get to closure is Ramona explaining herself.  I wanted more.  Fortunately I have all the books, so I can plug on, but I think I would have been massively frustrated if I had to wait a year for volume two.

Find this review and others like it at The Literary Phoenix.