An Affirmation
So, over the last half a decade or so, I've been told several times both by personal acquaintances and by artists whose work I follow that Scott Pilgrim (a series of graphics novels/comics) is awesome. But I'd never gotten around to really taking a look at it. So when its author Bryan Lee O'Malley was scheduled to do a signing at my local comics shop I was at least moderately intrigued... but had a scheduling conflict and couldn't go.
Next time I visited the comic shop in question, I noticed that they had kept several newly-signed copies of the books available to date, and were selling them for regular price. Tempting. I should get one and try it out. Of course, the other signed copies, which I might want if I end up liking it, could easily sell out. Oh, who am I kidding; everyone who likes stuff I like and has read it has loved it. I give in and buy all four volumes, plus the rare author's notes pamphlet for the first two volumes, also signed.
I have now read everything and can confirm: Scott Pilgrim is indeed Awesome.
So it's about this bunch of shiftless 20-somethings in Toronto, and if that were as far as it went it would still be an above-average life/love/comedy/drama piece. However, this book is firmly rooted in the magical-realism category, as becomes quickly apparent when one of the main characters turns out to use sub-space corridors through people's heads as part of her job as a delivery girl for Amazon.ca. Now the nice thing about magical realism is that, if handled with aplomb, you can get away with about whatever the hell you want. And happily what Brian Lee O'Malley wants is to reference just about everything I've found to be cool in the last couple decades.
The first book contains both an impromptu psychic-augmented Bollywood musical number and the second starts off with an extended River City Ransom sequence. The fourth has the only really *tasteful* Sonic the Hedgehog call-backs I've ever seen in fiction, and a bad-ass Revolutionary Girl Utena reference. The author is clearly a fan of Beck. There are even subtle name-drops and shout-outs to things as obscure as They Were Eleven and Sexy Commando.
Which is not to say you have to get all that to enjoy the book. I know there are a lot of Canadian band references I'm missing (including the title character's very name), but the whole thing is written well enough that it's both funny and gripping whether you follow all the influences or not. In short: buy this book.
Also, the second volume contains a complete vegetarian shepherd's pie recipe that I can confirm is quite tasty, if a bit time-consuming. Bonus get.
Next time I visited the comic shop in question, I noticed that they had kept several newly-signed copies of the books available to date, and were selling them for regular price. Tempting. I should get one and try it out. Of course, the other signed copies, which I might want if I end up liking it, could easily sell out. Oh, who am I kidding; everyone who likes stuff I like and has read it has loved it. I give in and buy all four volumes, plus the rare author's notes pamphlet for the first two volumes, also signed.
I have now read everything and can confirm: Scott Pilgrim is indeed Awesome.
So it's about this bunch of shiftless 20-somethings in Toronto, and if that were as far as it went it would still be an above-average life/love/comedy/drama piece. However, this book is firmly rooted in the magical-realism category, as becomes quickly apparent when one of the main characters turns out to use sub-space corridors through people's heads as part of her job as a delivery girl for Amazon.ca. Now the nice thing about magical realism is that, if handled with aplomb, you can get away with about whatever the hell you want. And happily what Brian Lee O'Malley wants is to reference just about everything I've found to be cool in the last couple decades.
The first book contains both an impromptu psychic-augmented Bollywood musical number and the second starts off with an extended River City Ransom sequence. The fourth has the only really *tasteful* Sonic the Hedgehog call-backs I've ever seen in fiction, and a bad-ass Revolutionary Girl Utena reference. The author is clearly a fan of Beck. There are even subtle name-drops and shout-outs to things as obscure as They Were Eleven and Sexy Commando.
Which is not to say you have to get all that to enjoy the book. I know there are a lot of Canadian band references I'm missing (including the title character's very name), but the whole thing is written well enough that it's both funny and gripping whether you follow all the influences or not. In short: buy this book.
Also, the second volume contains a complete vegetarian shepherd's pie recipe that I can confirm is quite tasty, if a bit time-consuming. Bonus get.