Scott Pilgrim, the sophomore effort from Bryan O'Malley, is one odd and thoroughly entertaining little book. It reminds me of any number of things, from Blue Monday to the work of Jeffrey Brown, but it's wholly unique as well, and has a likable energy and personality that makes it an irresistible read. What it really reminds me of is a lot of the manga that is currently selling gangbusters at book and comic stores across the country, but given that I'm really, really picky about what manga I like and that I liked Scott Pilgrim quite a bit, that's not entirely accurate. Scott Pilgrim is what you'd get if you took manga and poured it into American comics, and the result is a fusion of the strengths of both.
Scott Pilgrim is a story about a 23-year-old rocker/slacker in a relationship with a high school girl who finds himself enamored of a mysterious new girl in town who haunts his dreams. And that makes it sound far more normal and mundane than it actually is. Scott Pilgrim is a hero in his own mind, not just a kid living his life but the star of his own personal movie. To be honest, I expected to find him a little full of himself to an annoying degree, but O'Malley manages to give Scott immense confidence in himself while still allowing him some foibles, as well as an awareness of those character weaknesses, to make him likable. The way Scott stumbles through his first conversation with Ramona is hilariously real, and I love the humility that Scott shows about his band and their talent, even though it's clear from the story that they actually sound pretty good.
What really makes Scott Pilgrim jump for me, though, is the stylistic touches that O'Malley brings to the work. The introduction of the characters comes with these little "name, occupation, age, rating" thing that is hard to describe in text but which really gives a good sense of the flavor when it pops up, as well as being worth a few laughs. O'Malley makes great use of the comic-book format to provide some exposition and character development, with one notably clever sequence being an "ownership diagram" of Scott and Wallace's apartment.
In addition, while this could almost be classified as slice-of-life, O'Malley adds some quirky, magical touches to spice things up. For one thing, he's got a gift for interesting names, and Scott's girlfriend, Knives Chua, may have the best one. It's just this side of too cutesy for me, and sometimes Scott Pilgrim does feel a little bit on the overly cutesy side for my taste, but it is these touches as much as it is O'Malley's storytelling that calls to mind the manga influence of the book. I sometimes felt like I was about 10 years too old to really appreciate this book, especially his relationship with Knives, which does feel like he's taking advantage of a younger girl at times, but I can relate probably as much as I can to the high school hijinks of the cast of Blue Monday or the punk rock family matters of Hopeless Savages.
O'Malley's art style is another difficult thing to categorize, as it could look at first blush like something a little on the amateurish side. O'Malley's artwork brings to mind the work of Jeffrey Brown, not because their styles resemble each other at all, but because the first impression from many will be "Jeez, I could draw like this." However, despite what seems like simple designs for the characters using only a few lines, when you start to examine O'Malley's exceptional storytelling and see how he uses those few lines to really convey emotion and movement, not to mention looking at the detail he puts into the background, most will realize that he's more like Andi Watson, minimalist because it's a chosen style, not because he lacks artistic talent. As an art object, Scott Pilgrim impresses me more and more with each reread, and while the art may not be for everyone, I think O'Malley's talent is clear.
By the time we're coming to the close of the book, it's easy to realize that this book shares another thing with manga, and that's its format. Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life really is just volume one of the story, and while there's some closure to the events of this issue, there are also big stories left unfinished, including the state of Scott's relationship with both women and the bizarrely appealing notion of Ramona's seven evil ex-boyfriends, a very manga touch. What's most notable for me, though, is that when I got to the end, I immediately wanted to read the next volume, which means that maybe O'Malley has captured the most important aspect of popular manga, namely the absolute need to read the volumes as they come out.
