Scott Pilgrim

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Scott Pilgrim Volume 1 cover
Scott Pilgrim Volume 1 cover

Scott Pilgrim is a comedy/action/romance comic series by Bryan Lee O'Malley, intended to eventually consist of six manga-sized black-and-white graphic novels. The first volume was released in 2004 and, as of 2006, three have been released, all published by Portland, Oregon independent comic book publisher Oni Press.

The series is about 23-year-old Canadian Scott Pilgrim, a slacker, hero, wannabe-rockstar, who is living in Toronto and playing bass in the band "Sex Bob-Omb." He falls in love with American delivery girl Ramona V. Flowers, but must defeat her seven evil ex-boyfriends in order to date her.

In 2005, Universal announced that they had optioned the property for a possible future film adaptation.[1] Edgar Wright is attached as director, and Michael Bacall is to write the screenplay. The film has yet to be scheduled.

Contents

[edit] Characters

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

[edit] Main characters

The cast of Scott Pilgrim:front row: Knives, Ramona, Scottmiddle row: Neil, Stephen, Kim, Wallaceback row: Lynette, Todd, Envy
The cast of Scott Pilgrim:
front row: Knives, Ramona, Scott
middle row: Neil, Stephen, Kim, Wallace
back row: Lynette, Todd, Envy
  • Scott W. Pilgrim: 23-year-old protagonist. Between jobs. Bass player for the band Sex Bob-omb. The character's name was inspired by the song "Scott Pilgrim" from Plumtree's 1998 album Predicts the Future.
  • Ramona Victoria Flowers: main love interest. Amazon.ca delivery girl. Age unknown. She reveals very little about her past in New York, before she moved to Toronto. Is capable of traveling through subspace. Has seven evil ex-boyfriends.
  • Knives Chau: 17-year-old Chinese-Canadian high school girl. Scott dated her for a short while, but broke up with her when he met Ramona. Following their break up she started dating Young Neil, although she is still in love with Scott.
  • Wallace Wells: Scott's gay roommate (they share a bed, although Scott is heterosexual). 25 years old. The character was inspired by O'Malley's former roommate Christopher Butcher, the co-founder of PopImage and PreviewsReview.
  • Stephen Stills: lead singer and guitarist of Sex Bob-omb. 22 years old. Named after the Stephen Stills of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young Fame. Scott always refers to him by his full name.
  • Kimberly "Kim" Pine: drummer of Sex Bob-omb. Dated Scott in high school. 23 years old.
  • "Young" Neil Nordegraf: Sex Bob-omb's biggest fan. Stephen Stills's roommate. 20 years old. Currently dating Knives Chau.

[edit] Supporting characters

  • Natalie V. "Envy" Adams: Scott's ex-girlfriend. Lead singer and keyboardist for The Clash At Demonhead.
  • Stacey Pilgrim: Scott's younger sister. 19 years old.
  • Julie Powers: Stephen Stills's on and off again girlfriend. Works at the same coffee shop as Stacey Pilgrim.
  • Lynette Guycott: drummer for The Clash At Demonhead, has a biomechanical arm.
  • The League Of Ramona's Evil Ex-Boyfriends
    1. Matthew Patel: Ramona's first evil ex-boyfriend. Indian. Has mystical powers and can summon Demon Hipster Girls at will.
    2. Lucas Lee: Ramona's second evil ex-boyfriend, a pro skateboarder turned movie star.
    3. Todd Ingram: Ramona's third evil ex-boyfriend. Bass player for The Clash At Demonhead. Has special vegan psychic powers. Dating Envy.
    4.  ?
    5.  ?
    6.  ?
    7. Gideon: apparently Ramona's boyfriend previous to Scott, in New York; has been mentioned several times. Referred to by Lucas Lee as responsible for the organization of the League of Ramona's Evil Ex-Boyfriends.

[edit] Minor characters

  • Hollie: Kim's 26-year-old co-worker.
  • Joseph: Hollie's 24-year-old, soft-spoken gay roommate. Has a crush on Todd Ingram.
  • Luke "Crash" Wilson: Singer and guitarist for Crash And The Boys, another local band.
  • Joel MacMilllan: Bass player for Crash And The Boys.
  • Trisha "Trasha" Ha: drummer for Crash And The Boys. 8 years old. Was apparently "discovered" playing DrumMania at the Pacific Mall arcade.
  • "Other Scott": A friend of Wallace's.
  • Michael Comeau: A friend of Scott's who knows everybody. Based on Bryan Lee O'Malley's friend of the same name.
  • Sandra: Former classmate of Scott's. 24 years old.
  • Monique: Another ex-classmate of Scott's. 23 years old.
  • Jimmy: A friend of Stacey's.
  • Sara: One of Kim Pine's roommates. Apparently unpleasant.
  • Lauren: High school friend of Kim.
  • Simon Lee: A figure from Scott's and Kim's past, who dated Kim and/or kidnapped her, depending on whose version you believe.
  • Tamara Chen: Knives's 17-year-old best friend.
  • Lisa Miller: old high school friend of Scott and Kim's; current whereabouts unknown.
  • Lawrence Pilgrim: Scott's younger brother. He has only been heard and mentioned, never seen. According to a flashback in Volume 3, Scott has indefinitely borrowed Lawrence's bass guitar.
  • Cole: Briefly touched upon in a flashback in Volume 3. Envy invited Cole to join Scott's previous band, Kid Chameleon, replacing Scott on the drums. Also final character to be shown at end of vol.03
  • Mr. and Mrs. Pilgrim: Scott's parents. Only actually seen in flashbacks, they seem to have a tendency for embarrassing Scott, even when only on the phone. Currently travelling Europe. O'Malley has suggested that the character "Vincent" in the short comic "Monica Beetle" (which originally appeared in the "Project: Superior" anthology) might be Scott Pilgrim's dad having "Pilgrim"-esque adventures in 1974.

[edit] Bands

(The names of all the bands in Scott Pilgrim have thus far been references to video games.)

[edit] Locations

All of the events of the books take place (for the most part), in the city of Toronto, Ontario. There are several actual location which are referenced, where events take place, some simply as subtle allusions, others as directly effecting the plot.

Book 2

  • No Account Video: This is in reference to an independent video store located in Toronto, Suspect Video. There are two locations, but the one in the book is located at Markham Street and Bloor Street.
  • Casa Loma: A local historic building, and tourist attraction. Both the building itself, as well as the rather large staircase leading up to it from Spadina Avenue are featured.
  • Lee's Palace: A night club in Toronto, featuring local and international bands.

Book 3

  • Honest Ed's: A very, very large discount store opened by Ed Mirvish, a local businessman and theater mogul.

[edit] Volumes

# Title ISBN Release date
1 Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life ISBN 1-932664-08-4 August 18, 2004
2 Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World ISBN 1-932664-12-2 June 15, 2005
3 Scott Pilgrim & The Infinite Sadness ISBN 1-932664-22-X May 24, 2006
4 Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together tentative set for summer 2007[2]
5
6

Other appearances:

  • Comics Festival (40-page anthology including a one-page Scott Pilgrim comic; released on Free Comic Book Day 2005)
  • PENG (72-page one-shot comic book by Corey Lewis where Scott Pilgrim appears in one panel; released in 2005)
  • Free Scott Pilgrim #1 FCBD 2006 Edition (32-page comic book featuring an 18-page original Scott Pilgrim story; released May 6, 2006)

[edit] Critical reception

The first volume of Scott Pilgrim was well-received by comic book critics and had favorable reviews outside the comic book industry, in Publishers Weekly and on E! Online among others. Though O'Malley's simple, cartoony-looking and manga-inspired artwork was put off as "amateurish" by some readers, critics were fascinated by they way he managed to get the characters' emotions across with so few, seemingly simple lines. They noted that O'Malley used this style by choice, and not because of a lack of talent. While there were some objections against the book's art, its humour made the book very popular and got it a lot of praise, as did its "strong characterization and convincing dialogue" [1], depicting a large set of realistic, sympathic characters with whom the readers could easily identify. Only the video-game-like fight sequence at the end (wherein Scott fights Matthew Patel, the first of Ramona's evil ex-boyfriends, in a style reminiscent of Street Fighter, the fights in Ranma ½ and River City Ransom) was not met as enthusiastically as the rest of the book by all readers and it was noted that the scene "completely abandons the tone, pace and genre of everything that comes before it". [2]

The second volume got equally good reviews, with some critics grading it "even better" than the first volume [3] and continuing to praise the series' humour and how O'Malley manages to shift readers' sympathies from one character to the other by expanding the characterizations of the cast, giving new insights into the characters' pasts. Critics also noted how seemingly effortless O'Malley manages to mix "relatively real life and superhero power fantasies" [4] and that "No matter how weird or surreal things get, Scott and company treat it like it’s the most natural thing in the world." [5].

Publisher's Weekly ranked the third volume, Scott Pilgrim & The Infinite Sadness, as one of the best comic books of 2006 in a critics' poll. [6]

[edit] Awards

In 2005, O'Malley won the Doug Wright Award for Best Emerging Talent for the first volume of Scott Pilgrim [7] and was nominated for three Harvey Awards (Best New Talent, Best Cartoonist and Best Graphic Album of Original Work). [8]

In 2006, O'Malley was awarded Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Cartoonist (Writer/Artist) in the Joe Shuster Awards. He was previously nominated in the same category in 2005.

O'Malley was nominated for a 2006 Eisner Award in the category Best Writer/Artist—Humor, for Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, but lost to Kyle Baker. O'Malley and Scott Pilgrim were also nominated for two 2006 Eagle Awards, and nominated for a second Wright Award (for Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World).

[edit] References

  1. ^ "'Pilgrim's' progresses: Wright will helm O'Malley comicbook adaptation". Variety. Retrieved on July 8, 2006.
  2. ^ O'Malley, Bryan Lee. "More-on". destroyerzooey. Retrieved on December 7, 2006.

[edit] External links

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