The Scott Pilgrim series of books is one that I've heard many people rave about over the last couple of years but, until now, I've never got round to picking up a copy to check it out for myself. The first thing I noticed about the book was the format. As with the other volumes of the series, Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life is presented in a small, square-bound black-and-white digest-style book that seems designed to appeal to the manga crowd.

The art style reinforces this impression, with a wide-eyed squat-nosed cartoonishness to the character designs that reminds me of the typical visual stylings of manga. However, despite the manga stylings, the subject matter is resolutely Western--presenting a cast of characters and a story that will feel accessible and familiar for English-speaking young adult readers.

The book revolves around Scott Pilgrim, a man who is undergoing the transition between childhood and adulthood, and finds himself caught between childish pursuits and the more complex world of adult relationships. In many ways, the book reminded me a little of the TV show SPACED as it's peppered with plenty of pop culture references and goes off on frequent tangents (sometimes humourous, sometimes surreal), but ultimately remains grounded in a realistic world of fully-formed characters and true-to-life situations.

Scott plays in a rock band, shares a Toronto apartment with his dryly-witty roommate Wallace Wells, and finds himself torn between dating a 17-year-old high-schooler and pursuing a slightly older, more mature and experienced girl from New York. It's from this simple setup that the book's story flows, and whilst that might not sound like much of a basis for a 168-page graphic novel, Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life gets a lot of mileage out of its well-observed character interactions and humour.

Young adult readers will identify with many aspects of Scott's life. Judging by the pop-culture references, the book feels specifically geared towards readers in their early-to-mid-twenties--who will likely appreciate the specific references to certain videogames and movies, and will no doubt empathise with Scott's stumbling and incoherent attempts to impress women and manage his love life.

There's also a frank and honest approach to topics like sex and alcohol, which helps the book avoid feeling patronising. It never oversells these aspects or come off as self-conscious. Rather, it feels like a pretty accurate portrayal of the interests of modern-day “kidults.”

It's unusual to read a comic that has been produced by such a small group of people. Scott Pilgrim is essentially the work of one man, Bryan Lee O'Malley (the only other names listed in the book's credits are that of editor James Lucas Jones and co-designer Keith Wood). As such, there's a more unified creative vision here than most comics can boast, and it helps to give the book a distinctive voice and a consistent feel throughout.

The characters feel believable and genuine, and O'Malley manages to make all of them sympathetic, to an extent, without glossing over their flaws and foibles. There's a maturity to the characterisation and character relationships that's belied by the simplistic artwork and occasionally juvenile preoccupations--and it's difficult not to be won over by the book's overall warmth and charm.

However, if the book has one major flaw, it's the ending. I feel as though the climax of this first volume doesn't capitalise on the strong buildup of the rest of the story. It's as though O'Malley didn't really know how to end this first chapter, and decided to throw in an incongruous super-powered videogame-inspired fight scene in order to give the book a memorable and dazzling conclusion.

It doesn't sit well with the tone of the rest of the story as, despite some fairly surreal tangents, the rest of the book is always rooted in a tangible and grounded reality. The final scenes dispense with any pretense that the book takes place in a realistic world, and I feel as though it works to distance readers from the characters that they've been gradually getting to know over the course of the preceding pages.

The less realistic nature of the finale makes me unsure as to whether the future volumes of the book will continue in the same vein as the first or whether they'll be more surreal or fantastical in tone. As a result, I came away from the book feeling a little confused, and I didn't feel like my investment in the characters had been rewarded with an ending that was satisfying on an emotional level.

Despite this reaction, I'm still interested enough in the characters and their story that I'll probably check out the next volume. I just hope that O'Malley manages to keep the book's (admittedly enjoyable) fantastical diversions in perspective, and that he uses them as dressing for the more human elements of the book rather than the other way around.

---

What did you think of this book?
Have your say at the Line of Fire Forum!

---