Scott Pilgrim is a “manga-influenced” or OEL (Original-English-Language) comic series by Brian O’Malley. The series, of which there are six parts, was originally published by Oni Press from 2004-2010. Its eponymous character, Scott Pilgrim, is a 23 year-old Canadian neardowell struggling with the middling space of oblivion that is post-college years (of which Scott is unsure if he graduated).

Plot Summary

Precious Little Life

As the series begins Scott is living an unemployed Canadian sharing a bed (and just about everything else) with his roommate, Wallace Wells, who would rather he not be around at all. Scott, whose is still reeling from the loss of his girlfriend burgeoning art-house rock star Envy Adams, only real joy in life is being the bassist in a terrible band called Sex-Bob-omb along with his friend Steven Stills, and his ex-girlfriend/Scott Pilgrim hater, Kim Pine.  Much to the dismay of nearly everyone he knows, including himself, Scott has recently started dating naïve, high school student, Knives Chau. All of this changes for Scott when a young woman, Ramona Flowers, rollerblades through his dreams and captures his heart.  However, not confined to merely the dreamscape, Scott soon encounters Ramona and, not so subtly, stalks her until she agrees to go out with him. However, it isn’t just Scott who is getting over a bad breakup. Ramona fled to Toronto after fleeing New York and the calamity that was left there after her breakup with her ex, Gideon. It’s at this time that Scott begins to receive correspondence from a man named Patel claiming to be from the league of evil exes. Scott, finding it boring, disregards all of this correspondence and continues to romance Ramona while still stringing Knives along. This all comes to a head when Scott and Sex Bob-omb are set to perform at a show that has both Knives, and Ramona in attendance. Before Sex-Bob-omb can perform, Scott is confronted by Patel and is told that in order to date Ramona he must defeat all of her evil ex-boyfriends. After the battle, during which Scott hits a 64 hit combo, a personal best, and punches Patel into coins, Ramona informs Scott of the task ahead of him. However, in good news, the two finalize their relationship.

Vs. The World

The second volume begins in flashback where we see how Scott and Kim met, became friends, then bandmates, and started dating after Scott saved her Double Dragon style. Sadly, their love was not to last as Scott’s move away from Toronto causes the two to breakup. After the flashback, Scott learns that the second evil ex of Ramona’s that he has to defeat is movie star/skateboarder, Lucas Lee, who is filming a movie in Toronto. But before Scott can move forward on his journey, he still has personal issues that need to be resolved – namely the delicate heart of Knives Chau. A heart he must destroy. And destroy Scott does, he breaks up with the girl which causes her emotions, she is a teenager afterall, to spring out of control and dedicate herself to destroying the one responsible for her explosion of hormonal angst, Ramona Flowers. Meanwhile, Scott confronts Lucas in front of a massive series of steps. So, instead of fighting Lucas (he’s quite bigger than Scott) Scott convinces Lucas to skateboard down the dangerous slope of rails. Lucas, being stupid, does so and it ultimately leads to death by explosion of coins. Despite being two evil exes down, all is not well in Scott’s world. For starters, Knives has taken the aggressive approach to her obsession with destroying Ramona, and attacks her in the mall. Also, Scott gets a phone call from Envy Adams, who, whilst shamelessly flirting with him, invites Sex-Bob-Bom, to open for them at a show. Even if Scott was inclined to turn down such an offer, Steve and Kim aren’t, so the band, along with Ramona, go to see Envy and her band: The Clash at Demonhead. During the evil band’s performance, Scott and Ramona both learn that the man who Envy left Scott for is also one of Ramona’s evil ex-boyfriends.

Significant Features

Scott Pilgrim doesn’t just break the fourth wall, it burns it to the ground. From the narration speaking directly to the reader, or showing the keys being played by Sex Bob-Omb, to a complete disengagement from the narrative during the vegan shepherd’s pie sequence, Scott Pilgrim embraces a happy-go-lucky postmodern aesthetic where the values and rules of the text are arranged from the inside out. Consider that Scott dating a high-school student is wrong, but a band killing, or attempting to kill, the entire first several rows of an audience isn’t given two thoughts. While the art style is significantly influenced by manga, the signs and icons inside of the text are primarily influenced by video games.

Critical and Public Reception

The Scott Pilgrim series has been an enormous success for Oni Press garnering over a million copies of the books in print. The series has earned O’Mally several nominations and awards including the 2010 Eisner Award for best Humor Publication for Scott Pilgrim vs the Universe.

References

http://www.comicsbeat.com/2010/09/17/scott-pilgrims-finest-sales-chart-1-million-in-print/

http://www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_eisners_10win.php