Scott Pilgrim
Encyclopedia
Scott Pilgrim is a graphic novel
series by Bryan Lee O'Malley
. It consists of six digest size
black-and-white
volumes, released between August 2004 and July 2010, by Portland
-based independent comic book
publisher Oni Press
. It was later republished by Fourth Estate, an imprint of HarperCollins
. The series is about 23-year-old Canadian Scott Pilgrim, a slacker
and part-time musician who lives in Toronto
and plays bass guitar
in the band Sex Bob-omb. He falls in love with American delivery girl Ramona Flowers, but must defeat her seven evil exes
in order to date her.
A film adaptation of the series titled Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
starring actor Michael Cera
in the title role was released in August 2010. A videogame of the same name
developed by Ubisoft
for PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade
was released the same month.
Creator Bryan Lee O'Malley
was inspired to create the series and eponymous character of Scott Pilgrim after listening to Canadian band Plumtree
's 1998 single "Scott Pilgrim", a song then-Plumtree singer Carla Gillis describes as "positive, but...also bitter sweet." In particular, O'Malley was inspired by the lyric "I’ve liked you for a thousand years,".
O'Malley wanted to write a shōnen
-style comic book series, but initially he had only read one series, Ranma 1/2; in the early 2000s the United States did not yet have a significant Japanese comic book industry. O'Malley gained inspiration from the book Even a Monkey Can Draw Manga
by Koji Aihara
and Kentaro Takekuma
. In 2002 O'Malley's roommate, who worked in a comic book store, brought the book to him while O'Malley was working on Lost at Sea and was planning Scott Pilgrim. Upon reading the book O'Malley realized that, despite the satirical tone, it could be an effective guide on how the Japanese comic book industry worked.
To ink, O'Malley usually used brushes, including #2 and #3 brushes. He mostly used computers to build the screentone
; he stated that he encountered difficulty finding screentone in North America. O'Malley himself created most of the Scott Pilgrim material. When production on Volume 6 had began, O'Malley had hired two assistants. The backgrounds in Volume 6 are more detailed than backgrounds in the previous volumes. O'Malley said that "[m]ost fans don't seem to notice the change".
O'Malley stated that he wanted to create a "hybrid" work that received inspiration from American and Japanese comics, and that he "wanted to reach towards the japanese comics from my own starting point." When asked if he considers Scott Pilgrim to be a manga, O'Malley responded by saying "Um… No, I think I was just thinking about that today. I guess I was just thinking about the whole OEL
thing. I think it’s influenced… I like the term “manga-influenced comics,” but I only like it because no one else likes it."
O'Malley said that he expected Scott Pilgrim to sell around 1,000 copies. He did not expect the series to sell millions of copies and to produce a film adaptation. O'Malley cited the United States comics industry and how it differs from the Japanese comics industry; the United States comic book companies specialize in superhero comics
and many newer concepts originate from underground comics. The United States also lacks weekly and monthly comic book magazines and American comic companies generally do not have the system of story editors and assistants that Japanese comic companies have.
To illustrate his reasoning for eventually ending the Scott Pilgrim series, O'Malley used a quote from famed Belgian
comics
writer and artist
Hergé
, creator, writer, and illustrator of the well-regarded The Adventures of Tintin
comic book
series, from 1929 until his death in 1983. Hergé told his wife "And right now, my work makes me sick. Tintin is no longer me. And I must make a terrible effort to invent (him)… If Tintin continues to live, it is through a sort of artificial respiration that I must constantly keep up and which is exhausting me." O'Malley said "If I was still doing Scott Pilgrim in ten years, I would be dead inside."
The cover of the third Japanese Scott Pilgrim volume, which includes content from the original volumes 5 and 6, was based on an illustration from Street Fighter Alpha 2
(Street Fighter Zero 2).
with his gay roommate Wallace Wells. He is the bass player for a band called Sex Bob-omb, along with his friends Stephen Stills "The Talent" (guitar) and Kim Pine (drums). He begins dating a Chinese-Canadian high-schooler, Knives Chau. Kim criticizes the relationship due to Knives' age, but Scott dismisses her complaints by pointing out that the relationship is platonic
.
One night, Scott begins dreaming about a girl on Rollerblades who he has never met before. He later glimpses her in real life delivering a package to the library. Her repeated presence in his dreams, and a coincidental meeting at a party thrown by Stephen's on-off girlfriend Julie Powers, prompts him to find out more about her. He discovers that she is Ramona Flowers, a girl who works for Amazon.ca and has recently come to Toronto from New York after a rumored messy break-up with someone named Gideon.
Scott orders CDs on Amazon
as a pretense to meet her again, and receives an email from someone named Matthew Patel warning him about an upcoming battle, but Scott pays it little heed.
At the venue, Sex Bob-omb prepare to begin their set when Matthew Patel descends upon the stage and engages Scott in a video game-style duel. He reveals himself as the first of Ramona's evil exes, who has mystical powers allowing him to summon "demon hipster
chicks." Scott defeats him in a musical battle, his final attack obliterating Matthew and leaving behind a handful of coins. On the subway home, Scott and Ramona decide to become a couple, on the proviso that Scott agree to defeat her six other evil-exes. When Scott asks if Gideon is one of them, Ramona's head glows.
, and dates Scott up until they break up when he tells her he has to move to Toronto.
In the present, Scott and Wallace ride the bus together, and Wallace tells him that actor and professional skateboarder Lucas Lee, Ramona's second evil ex-boyfriend, is filming a new movie in Toronto. Wallace also tells him to break up with Knives, or he will tell Ramona about her. Scott goes to meet Knives and awkwardly breaks it off, but is cheered by thoughts of Ramona who spends the night with him while he watches several of Lucas Lee's films to "train". The next day, Scott shows up at the video store Kim works at to rent several of Lucas Lee's films to prepare for his next battle. While his friends make dinner, Knives spots Scott with Ramona.
Scott goes to meet Lucas at his filming location, Casa Loma
. Lucas immediately beats Scott up, after which they take a lunch break and Lucas tells Scott about how Ramona broke his heart, and how there is a "League of Ramona's Evil Ex-Boyfriends" who have organized themselves to come after Scott. Scott then defeats Lucas by goading him into skateboarding down a dangerous set of rails
, where he ends up going too fast and bursting into coins upon landing.
Infuriated with Ramona for stealing Scott from her, Knives gives herself a hipster makeover by dyeing her forelock and attacks Ramona at the Toronto Reference Library
. After a short battle and various insults, Knives confirms that Scott was cheating on her by dating Ramona simultaneously and takes off. Meanwhile, Scott gets a call from Envy Adams, Scott's ex-girlfriend, who asks him to open for her band The Clash at Demonhead
that weekend. Speaking with Envy reopens Scott's unresolved issues about their breakup and he becomes a mess. Nevertheless, Sex-Bob-omb show up to see Envy's band on Friday, only to discover that Knives is now dating Young Neil, Stephen Stills's roommate. The book ends with an epic opening by The Clash at Demonhead, where Ramona identifies the band's bassist as her third evil ex-boyfriend, Todd Ingram.
The story then unfolds with a series of flashbacks detailing the relationship between Scott and Envy, then known as Natalie V. Adams, a mousy girl who gradually bloomed into a confident, musical talent, finally adopting the name "Envy". She broke up with Scott once their band started to get noticed, and Scott's devastation resulted in him and Wallace becoming friends.
The next day, Scott and Todd engage in an unsuccessful challenge at Honest Ed's
department store, where neither comes out the winner. They agree to fight again the following night. Ramona convinces Scott to ditch the challenge and they return to Ramona's apartment. After an unsuccessful make-out session, Ramona begins to fill Scott in about her relationship with Todd. In a flashback to their college years, Todd proves his love to Ramona by using his newly-gained vegan powers to blow a crater in the moon. Meanwhile, Todd is secretly cheating on his vegan diet (by eating gelato
) as well as cheating on Envy with Lynette.
Later, that evening, before opening for Envy's band, Ramona and Envy get into an argument and begin to fight, Ramona armed with a giant mallet. As Envy starts to get the upper hand, Knives attacks her for the sake of Scott's happiness. Before Sex Bob-omb can perform, Scott sees Envy about to kill Ramona and Knives, and jumps from the stage to hit her "weak point
"—the back of her knees. Envy then discovers Todd cheating on her with Lynette, but after confronting him, Todd unapologetically strikes her with his powers, shocking everyone. Todd and Scott then proceed to have a bass battle, and Scott is aided by the powers of Crash and the Boys (the opening band for the evening). Todd almost wins the battle until the Vegan Police show up and strip him of his powers for violating his vegan diet. Scott headbutts the powerless Todd, who is reduced to a pile of coins, and receives an extra life
in the process. Finally, Sex Bob-omb gets to play, and Scott spots a strange character (Gideon) from the stage. The volume ends with Envy moving back home.
The Infinite Sadness also features extras, such as guest comics from Josh Lesnick, Alex Ahad, Andy Helms, John Allison
, and David McGuire
, as well as a map of the major characters illustrating their relations to each other. The title is a reference to the album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
by The Smashing Pumpkins
.
for Julie's birthday, Kim moves into an apartment with her friends, Hollie and Joseph. Stephen notices Joseph has a home recording studio, and asks him to help Sex Bob-omb record an album. As Scott goes to the Dufferin Mall
to escape a heat wave, he sees Lisa Miller, later re-acquainting her with Kim and introducing her to Ramona and the others. Meanwhile, at Knives's house, Knives and her friend Tamara notice that the picture of Scott on Knives's shrine is mysteriously slashed.
Annoyed with running into his daft subspace dreams in the middle of the day, Ramona recommends that Scott get a job. Kim brings him to The Happy Avocado, a vegetarian restaurant where Stephen works, where he gets a job as a dishwasher. Shortly afterward, Scott and Kim are attacked by a samurai, who slices a streetcar in half and chases them until they escape via a subspace portal. The next day, Scott and Wallace venture to the financial district to meet with their landlord, Peter, who tells them that they must re-sign the lease or leave by August 27. Wallace recommends that Scott move in with Ramona. As Scott contemplates this, he briefly encounters a female "half-ninja", who unsuccessfully attacks him and disappears. The following afternoon, Scott spots the same girl talking to Ramona at the restaurant where he works. She is revealed to be Roxie Richter, Ramona's fourth evil ex. Not keen on fighting girls or people with swords, Scott hides in Ramona's bag while she heads into a subspace portal and fights Roxie. After nearly killing Ramona, Roxie leaves. Afterward, Ramona tells Scott that he can move in with her temporarily. Later on, though, things go downhill when Ramona suspects Scott might be attracted to Lisa and kicks him out.
After walking in on Wallace having sex with someone in their apartment and being informed that he was fired from his job during the fight, Scott goes to Lisa's house to spend the night. Lisa recalls their high school friendship, asking whether Scott had any feelings for her then and if they should have an affair now. After waking up from a dream infiltrated by Roxie in an attempt to kill him, Scott cannot remember the previous night, but learns from Lisa that nothing happened between them and that he confessed that he loved Ramona. Scott gets his job back and goes to the Second Cup, where he finds Knives working there. He is suddenly attacked by the samurai, revealed to be Knives's father who was not keen on Knives dating a white boy. Scott escapes via another subspace portal and ends up in Ramona's mind, where she is a slave to a shadowy figure. Ramona kicks Scott out of her head, telling him to forget what he saw, but before he can explain his true feelings, he sees that Roxie spent the night at Ramona's and his head begins to glow. Ramona tells him to walk it off and as he does, Scott encounters his dark self and rejects it, rushing back to Ramona to find her being attacked by Mr. Chau. Scott lures him away and gets him to fight against Roxie. When Scott realizes that he has been cowardly, he plucks up the courage to confess his love for Ramona, earning the Power of Love sword, which emerges from his chest. Scott uses this to defeat Roxie, Ninja Gaiden-style, who warns him about "the twins" before dying. Scott then apologizes to Mr. Chau, who leaves having earned respect for Scott, before Scott finally moves in with Ramona. After the group gives Lisa a farewell meal, Ramona finally tells Scott her age, which is 24.
The back of Gets it Together features guest art from Steve Manale
, Michael Comeau, Philip Bond
, and Zander Cannon
as well as a back cover illustrated by pixel artist Miguel Sternberg.
After spending the next night at Kim's, Scott arranges a setup so that he can casually bump into Kim and Ramona while they get coffee. During the conversation, Kim brings attention to Ramona's head glowing, of which she herself was unaware, although it disappears before she can see for herself. They later all attend another of Julie's parties that night where Scott is forced to fight yet another robot. Kim approaches Ramona on the balcony, and takes a picture with her camera phone
of Ramona's head, which is yet again glowing. Kim and Ramona proceed to get drunk, and after defeating the robot, Scott joins them. Later, Kim takes the subway home, but is kidnapped by the twins. After some initial intimacy, Ramona confronts Scott about cheating on Knives with her and tells him he is just another evil ex-boyfriend waiting to happen, which worries Scott into thinking they might break up. While Ramona takes a shower in the early morning, Scott receives word of Kim's kidnapping, and rushes to a construction site to face the twins, despite being disadvantaged due to his hangover. During the fight, the twins explain that Ramona cheated on both of them at the same time, and imply Scott is fighting for the wrong girl. As he begins to lose the fight, Kim lies and says that Ramona text messaged her to give Scott the encouragement to defeat the twins simultaneously.
Scott rushes back to the apartment. Ramona, now with her hair cut and dyed again, tells Scott that she is a bad person and that she "had a good time." Her head begins to glow brighter and brighter until she disappears. Scott tries to look for her, but instead lets her cat out and accidentally locks himself out of her apartment. Over the next few days, Scott bed-hops while trying to get Ramona's cat to come back and constantly mistaking people for Gideon. Kim moves back home to the north, accepting Scott's apology for his behavior. After moving into a new apartment, Scott reads a note Ramona left behind addressed to Gideon, telling him she would not come back to him. While Scott wonders what this means, he receives a call from Gideon, asking when it would be convenient to die.
The end of Scott Pilgrim vs. The Universe features a section called "Creating Scott Pilgrim for fun and profit." The section includes drawings and comments from Bryan Lee O'Malley detailing the development of the series, including a playlist for the fifth book.
In order to reinvigorate Scott to confront Gideon, Wallace sends him on a "wilderness sabbatical" to Kim's home up north. While walking in the woods, Scott kisses Kim and sparks fly between the two. But Kim pushes Scott away in part because she doesn't want to be a "safe" alternative to Ramona and in part because she knows that they can never be together as long as Scott still has feelings for Ramona. Kim also tells Scott of the errors in his repressed memory surrounding their breakup. Scott began dating Kim after beating up Simon Lee, a wimpy kid who was dating her at the time, not a suave villain as Scott remembered. Likewise, Kim only learned that Scott would be leaving for Toronto from Lisa—Scott never told her in person that they would have to break up. Upon this revelation, Scott's head starts to glow and the NegaScott emerges. Scott becomes determined to defeat him so he can forget his relationship with Ramona and move on, but Kim reminds him he cannot keep running away from his mistakes. During the fight, Scott remembers Ramona and merges with NegaScott, fully remembering and accepting responsibility for his poor actions in his previous relationships. After receiving one last good luck kiss from Kim, Scott heads back to Toronto to earn Ramona back.
Scott arrives at the newly-opened club, the Chaos Theatre, owned by Gideon, where Envy is making her solo debut. As Envy starts her performance, Gideon attacks Scott, who is enraged to learn that Ramona is not with him. When Scott refuses to join the League of Evil Exes, Gideon steals his Power of Love sword and kills him with it. Scott awakens in a desert, where he encounters Ramona, who apologizes and attempts to explain why she left, though the reader is not privy to what she says. They reconcile, but Ramona reminds Scott that he is dead. However, he returns to life thanks to the extra life he obtained from Todd Ingram, and Ramona bursts out of his chest to confront Gideon. Gideon reveals several cryogenic capsules inside the club filled with former girlfriends, wanting Ramona to join them (despite that Gideon kept pushing her away during their time, a fact which he can't remember, either). He fights them and explains that he formed the League of Evil Exes following a drunken post on Craigslist
after his breakup with Ramona.
Ramona tries to use the glow to escape into subspace, but Gideon stabs her. He explains that the Glow is an emotional weapon which seals people inside their own heads, consumed by self-loathing and personal demons. After learning from Ramona that Gideon literally has a way of getting inside her head, Scott jumps into Ramona's subspace bag and arrives in her head, where he finds and confronts Gideon. Scott's actions encourage Ramona to fully overcome his influence and oust him from her head. Ramona retrieves the Power of Love sword, healing her wounds, but breaks her bag which unleashes a torrent of junk into the real world. When Scott sees Gideon snap at Envy, he comes to understand that he has been no better than Gideon in terms of his past relationships. This realization earns him the Power of Understanding sword. As they fight him, Gideon reveals he had been watching the two via the subspace highway in Scott's head, altering some of his memories in the process. Whilst Gideon tries to turn Scott and Ramona against one another, they defeat him, causing him to explode into seven million, seven hundred and seventy-seven thousand, seven hundred and seventy-seven dollars in coins, which rain painfully on the watching crowd.
Scott and Envy reach closure and Gideon's former girlfriends are unfrozen (and they have no idea of what just happened). Ramona reveals that her disappearance was merely an unsuccessful wilderness sabbatical to find herself while at her dad's cabin. She decides to give her relationship with Scott another shot. In the closing pages, Scott is working with Stephen as co-chef, Stephen reveals that he is gay and in a relationship with Joseph, Scott and Kim start an awful new band, and Knives heads off to college. The last pages show Scott meeting up with Ramona as they affirm their desire to face the challenges of a relationship and walk hand in hand into a subspace door together.
On June 3, 2010, O'Malley announced that he had hidden the word "hipster" on Ramona's t-shirt in one panel to mark the day he finished drawing the series. This panel is on page 161 in a flashback involving Ramona and Gideon.
Other appearances:
All of these ancillary stories are available to read on the Scott Pilgrim Website. A collector's box containing all six volumes and a fold-in poster was released in North America on November 3, 2010.
ranked the third volume, Scott Pilgrim & The Infinite Sadness, as one of the best comic books of 2006 in a critics' poll.
Scott Pilgrim was ranked 85th on Wizard magazine's 2008 list of the "200 Greatest Comic Characters of All Time".
In 2007, O'Malley was interviewed by the AV Club for the fourth volume. Written by Jason Heller, the article states that Gets It Together is "his best to date." The article goes on to praise O'Malley's consistent bold stylistic choices, saying that he "has raised the bar, art-wise: His deceptively basic style is suddenly deeper, richer, and more mature, while his eye for dynamics and graphic economy has gotten even keener."
In 2011 Scott Pilgrim was ranked 69th in the Top 100 Comic books heroes.
Japanese comics author Kentaro Takekuma
said in an interview that the structure and style of Scott Pilgrim initially did not match the structure and style of Japanese comics, but when he read the battle scenes "it feels very much like a Japanese manga, especially in how you structured the panels. It develops into a very strange, neither American nor Japanese atmosphere." Comics author Koji Aihara
added that "I did feel the inspiration from Japanese manga, but it did not strike me as a ripoff of manga style, but a very unique way of expression, I found it a very interesting work. I appreciated you using your own style of expression. Also, I thought your use of solid blacks was very skilled and attractive."
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).
In 2007, O'Malley won the Harvey Award
. The series was also awarded a spot in Entertainment Weekly
's 2007 A-List.
In 2010, O'Malley won his first Eisner Award
in the "Best Humor Publication" category for Scott Pilgrim Vs. The Universe.
and stars Michael Cera
and Mary Elizabeth Winstead
as Scott and Ramona, respectively.
The film was a critical success, but did not fare as well commercially. Despite the lack of advertising the film was released on DVD and Blu-ray and became popular. The DVD includes extras such as bloopers and outtakes, deleted scenes and trailers. On the 2-disc edition, the 2nd disc includes soundtracks, animation (when Scott dates Kim), the film in the making and sound in the making.
, Alison Pill
(who plays Kim Pine in the movie), revealed that her character's past relationship with Scott will be explored in other media. "There will be a little something-something that will air on Adult Swim
," she said.
Creator Bryan Lee O'Malley elaborated by stating "It's gonna be like a series of short animations (to promote the movie). One of them will be the Volume 2 high school stuff with Kim and Lisa Miller. I don't know how long it will be but the rough they showed me was like 5 minutes. The stars of the movie will do the voices for the cartoons." Michael Cera
and Alison Pill
reprise their roles of Scott Pilgrim and Kim Pine from the movie, whilst Mae Whitman
and Jason Schwartzman
, who play Roxanne Richter and Gideon Graves in the movie, provide voices for Lisa Miller and Simon Lee respectively. The animated short, entitled Scott Pilgrim vs. the Animation, was produced by Titmouse Inc.
and aired on Adult Swim on August 12, 2010, later being released on their website.
The short is based on the flashback from the second graphic novel, elaborating on Scott's adventures in high school. The animation features music by Wavves
, though it is replaced with the movie's soundtrack in the version included on the DVD/Bluray Disc of the film.
, released alongside the film. The game is a four-player side-scroller influenced by 8-bit
and 16-bit
video games, with players able to play as Scott Pilgrim, Ramona Flowers, Kim Pine and Stephen Stills (Knives Chau was added later as a downloadable character). If you complete the game with Scott, Ramona, Stephen Stills, and Kim, you unlock NegaScott. Mr. Chau, Knives Chau's father, is also an unlockable assist character. The game features music by chiptune
punk band Anamanaguchi
and visuals by Paul Robertson, who is well known for producing stylized sprite-based animations.
The game was released on PlayStation Network on August 10, 2010 and Xbox Live Arcade
on August 25, 2010.
and Robot Comics
. The app uses movement, sound and vibration to create an original reading experience and includes extra material hidden in the scenes of the comic. It is available for iPhone
, iPod touch
, iPad
and Android.
Graphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
series by Bryan Lee O'Malley
Bryan Lee O'Malley
Bryan Lee O'Malley is a Canadian cartoonist. He is best known for the Scott Pilgrim series, but is also a musician using the alias Kupek.-Career:...
. It consists of six digest size
Digest size
Digest size is a magazine size, smaller than a conventional or "journal size" magazine but larger than a standard paperback book, approximately 5½ x 8¼ inches, but can also be 5⅜ x 8⅜ inches and 5½ x 7½ inches. These sizes have evolved from the printing press operation end...
black-and-white
Black-and-white
Black-and-white, often abbreviated B/W or B&W, is a term referring to a number of monochrome forms in visual arts.Black-and-white as a description is also something of a misnomer, for in addition to black and white, most of these media included varying shades of gray...
volumes, released between August 2004 and July 2010, by Portland
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
-based independent comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
publisher Oni Press
Oni Press
Oni Press is an American independent comic book publisher based in Portland, Oregon. It was founded in 1997 by Bob Schreck and Joe Nozemack with the goal of publishing the kinds of comics and graphic novels they themselves would want to read...
. It was later republished by Fourth Estate, an imprint of HarperCollins
HarperCollins
HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
. The series is about 23-year-old Canadian Scott Pilgrim, a slacker
Slacker
The term "slacker" is used to refer to a person who habitually avoids work. Slackers may be regarded as belonging to an antimaterialistic counterculture, though in some cases their behavior may be due to other causes ....
and part-time musician who lives in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
and plays bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
in the band Sex Bob-omb. He falls in love with American delivery girl Ramona Flowers, but must defeat her seven evil exes
Ex (relationship)
In social relationships, an ex is someone with whom a person was once associated. As a prefix, ex- can refer to a variety of different relationships; for example, one might refer to a music group's ex-guitarist, or someone's ex-friend...
in order to date her.
A film adaptation of the series titled Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is a 2010 comedy film directed by Edgar Wright, based on the graphic novel series Scott Pilgrim by Bryan Lee O'Malley. The film is about Scott Pilgrim , a young Canadian musician, meeting the girl of his dreams, Ramona Flowers , an American delivery girl...
starring actor Michael Cera
Michael Cera
Michael Austin Cera is a Canadian actor best known for his roles in Arrested Development, Youth in Revolt, Superbad, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and Juno. Cera received the 2008 Canadian Comedy Award for best male performance for his work in Superbad.-Early...
in the title role was released in August 2010. A videogame of the same name
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game is a side-scrolling beat 'em up game based on the Scott Pilgrim series of comic books by Bryan Lee O'Malley, tying in with the release of the film of the same name. It is published by Ubisoft and developed by Ubisoft Montreal with Ubisoft Chengdu. The game was...
developed by Ubisoft
Ubisoft
Ubisoft Entertainment S.A. is a major French video game publisher and developer, with headquarters in Montreuil, France. The company has a worldwide presence with 25 studios in 17 countries and subsidiaries in 26 countries....
for PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade
Xbox Live Arcade
Xbox Live Arcade is a type of video game download distribution available primarily in a section of the Xbox Live Marketplace, Microsoft's digital distribution network for the Xbox 360, that focuses on smaller downloadable games from both major publishers and independent game developers...
was released the same month.
Development
Bryan Lee O'Malley
Bryan Lee O'Malley is a Canadian cartoonist. He is best known for the Scott Pilgrim series, but is also a musician using the alias Kupek.-Career:...
was inspired to create the series and eponymous character of Scott Pilgrim after listening to Canadian band Plumtree
Plumtree (band)
-History:The band formed in their hometown of Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1993 after meeting through their music teachers. The original line-up included Lynette Gillis on drums, Carla Gillis on guitar and vocals, Amanda Braden on guitar and vocals and Nina Martin on bass and occasional vocals.When...
's 1998 single "Scott Pilgrim", a song then-Plumtree singer Carla Gillis describes as "positive, but...also bitter sweet." In particular, O'Malley was inspired by the lyric "I’ve liked you for a thousand years,".
O'Malley wanted to write a shōnen
Shonen
The term refers to manga marketed to a male audience aged roughly 10 and up. The Kanji characters literally mean "few" and "year", respectively, where the characters generally mean "comic"...
-style comic book series, but initially he had only read one series, Ranma 1/2; in the early 2000s the United States did not yet have a significant Japanese comic book industry. O'Malley gained inspiration from the book Even a Monkey Can Draw Manga
Even a Monkey Can Draw Manga
is a parody instructional book by Koji Aihara and Kentaro Takekuma. The series was serialized in Shogakukan's Big Comic Spirits and in Viz Media's Pulp from May 2001 to August 2002. Shogakukan published the manga's three tankōbon volumes between October 1990 and May 1992...
by Koji Aihara
Koji Aihara
is a manga artist. He grew up reading the works of Osamu Tezuka.Aihara made his debut with Hachigatsu no Nureta Pantsu in 1983, which ran in Weekly Manga Action Magazine. He is one of the authors of Even a Monkey Can Draw Manga, a satiric look at the manga industry. Aihara's other best-known works...
and Kentaro Takekuma
Kentaro Takekuma
is a manga artist.He is one of the authors of Even a Monkey Can Draw Manga. He is also the story writer of Super Mario Adventures.-External links:*...
. In 2002 O'Malley's roommate, who worked in a comic book store, brought the book to him while O'Malley was working on Lost at Sea and was planning Scott Pilgrim. Upon reading the book O'Malley realized that, despite the satirical tone, it could be an effective guide on how the Japanese comic book industry worked.
To ink, O'Malley usually used brushes, including #2 and #3 brushes. He mostly used computers to build the screentone
Screentone
Screentone is a technique for applying textures and shades to drawings, used as an alternative to hatching. In the conventional process, patterns are transferred to paper from preprinted sheets, but the technique is also simulated in computer graphics...
; he stated that he encountered difficulty finding screentone in North America. O'Malley himself created most of the Scott Pilgrim material. When production on Volume 6 had began, O'Malley had hired two assistants. The backgrounds in Volume 6 are more detailed than backgrounds in the previous volumes. O'Malley said that "[m]ost fans don't seem to notice the change".
O'Malley stated that he wanted to create a "hybrid" work that received inspiration from American and Japanese comics, and that he "wanted to reach towards the japanese comics from my own starting point." When asked if he considers Scott Pilgrim to be a manga, O'Malley responded by saying "Um… No, I think I was just thinking about that today. I guess I was just thinking about the whole OEL
Original English-language manga
Original English-language manga or OEL manga is the term commonly used to describe comic books or graphic novels in the "international manga" genre of comics whose language of original publication is English...
thing. I think it’s influenced… I like the term “manga-influenced comics,” but I only like it because no one else likes it."
O'Malley said that he expected Scott Pilgrim to sell around 1,000 copies. He did not expect the series to sell millions of copies and to produce a film adaptation. O'Malley cited the United States comics industry and how it differs from the Japanese comics industry; the United States comic book companies specialize in superhero comics
Superhero comics
Superhero comics is a form of American comic books. The form rose to prominence in the 1930s and 1940s and has remained the dominant form of comic book in North America since the 1960s...
and many newer concepts originate from underground comics. The United States also lacks weekly and monthly comic book magazines and American comic companies generally do not have the system of story editors and assistants that Japanese comic companies have.
To illustrate his reasoning for eventually ending the Scott Pilgrim series, O'Malley used a quote from famed Belgian
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
comics
Comics
Comics denotes a hybrid medium having verbal side of its vocabulary tightly tied to its visual side in order to convey narrative or information only, the latter in case of non-fiction comics, seeking synergy by using both visual and verbal side in...
writer and artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
Hergé
Hergé
Georges Prosper Remi , better known by the pen name Hergé, was a Belgian comics writer and artist. His best known and most substantial work is the 23 completed comic books in The Adventures of Tintin series, which he wrote and illustrated from 1929 until his death in 1983, although he was also...
, creator, writer, and illustrator of the well-regarded The Adventures of Tintin
The Adventures of Tintin
The Adventures of Tintin is a series of classic comic books created by Belgian artist , who wrote under the pen name of Hergé...
comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
series, from 1929 until his death in 1983. Hergé told his wife "And right now, my work makes me sick. Tintin is no longer me. And I must make a terrible effort to invent (him)… If Tintin continues to live, it is through a sort of artificial respiration that I must constantly keep up and which is exhausting me." O'Malley said "If I was still doing Scott Pilgrim in ten years, I would be dead inside."
The cover of the third Japanese Scott Pilgrim volume, which includes content from the original volumes 5 and 6, was based on an illustration from Street Fighter Alpha 2
Street Fighter Alpha 2
Street Fighter Alpha 2, known as in Japan, Asia and South America, is a fighting game originally released for the CPS II arcade hardware by Capcom. The game is both a sequel and a remake to the previous years Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams, which is itself a prequel to the Street Fighter...
(Street Fighter Zero 2).
Plot summary
Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life (Volume 1)
The series begins by introducing Scott Pilgrim, a 22-year-old Canadian slacker living in TorontoToronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
with his gay roommate Wallace Wells. He is the bass player for a band called Sex Bob-omb, along with his friends Stephen Stills "The Talent" (guitar) and Kim Pine (drums). He begins dating a Chinese-Canadian high-schooler, Knives Chau. Kim criticizes the relationship due to Knives' age, but Scott dismisses her complaints by pointing out that the relationship is platonic
Platonic love
Platonic love is a chaste and strong type of love that is non-sexual.-Amor Platonicus:The term amor platonicus was coined as early as the 15th century by the Florentine scholar Marsilio Ficino. Platonic love in this original sense of the term is examined in Plato's dialogue the Symposium, which has...
.
One night, Scott begins dreaming about a girl on Rollerblades who he has never met before. He later glimpses her in real life delivering a package to the library. Her repeated presence in his dreams, and a coincidental meeting at a party thrown by Stephen's on-off girlfriend Julie Powers, prompts him to find out more about her. He discovers that she is Ramona Flowers, a girl who works for Amazon.ca and has recently come to Toronto from New York after a rumored messy break-up with someone named Gideon.
Scott orders CDs on Amazon
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
as a pretense to meet her again, and receives an email from someone named Matthew Patel warning him about an upcoming battle, but Scott pays it little heed.
At the venue, Sex Bob-omb prepare to begin their set when Matthew Patel descends upon the stage and engages Scott in a video game-style duel. He reveals himself as the first of Ramona's evil exes, who has mystical powers allowing him to summon "demon hipster
Hipster (contemporary subculture)
Hipsters are a subculture of young, recently settled urban middle class adults and older teenagers with musical interests mainly in alternative rock that appeared in the 1990s...
chicks." Scott defeats him in a musical battle, his final attack obliterating Matthew and leaving behind a handful of coins. On the subway home, Scott and Ramona decide to become a couple, on the proviso that Scott agree to defeat her six other evil-exes. When Scott asks if Gideon is one of them, Ramona's head glows.
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Volume 2)
Vs. The World opens with a flashback to Scott Pilgrim as a transfer student to St. Joel's Catholic High School in Northern Ontario, seven years before the series begins. After getting into a short fight moments upon enrolling, Scott meets Lisa Miller who immediately befriends him. Scott and Lisa attempt to start a band, only to realize that they are missing a drummer. Meanwhile, Scott meets Kim in his geography class, noticing her ability to play drums. Lisa and Scott scheme to ask Kim to join the band, but when Scott shows up to school the following Monday, he finds out that Kim has been kidnapped by students from the rival Benvie Tech High School. Scott defeats the students and Kim's kidnapper, Simon Lee, and rescues Kim. Kim joins Scott and Lisa's band Sonic & KnucklesSonic & Knuckles
Sonic & Knuckles is a 1994 platform video game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis. It was developed in the United States at Sega Technical Institute by members of Sonic Team, and was published by Sega worldwide on October 18, 1994.As well as working as a standalone...
, and dates Scott up until they break up when he tells her he has to move to Toronto.
In the present, Scott and Wallace ride the bus together, and Wallace tells him that actor and professional skateboarder Lucas Lee, Ramona's second evil ex-boyfriend, is filming a new movie in Toronto. Wallace also tells him to break up with Knives, or he will tell Ramona about her. Scott goes to meet Knives and awkwardly breaks it off, but is cheered by thoughts of Ramona who spends the night with him while he watches several of Lucas Lee's films to "train". The next day, Scott shows up at the video store Kim works at to rent several of Lucas Lee's films to prepare for his next battle. While his friends make dinner, Knives spots Scott with Ramona.
Scott goes to meet Lucas at his filming location, Casa Loma
Casa Loma
Casa Loma is a Gothic Revival style house in midtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that is now a museum and landmark. It was originally a residence for financier Sir Henry Mill Pellatt. Casa Loma was constructed over a three-year period from 1911–1914. The architect of the mansion was E. J...
. Lucas immediately beats Scott up, after which they take a lunch break and Lucas tells Scott about how Ramona broke his heart, and how there is a "League of Ramona's Evil Ex-Boyfriends" who have organized themselves to come after Scott. Scott then defeats Lucas by goading him into skateboarding down a dangerous set of rails
Baldwin Steps
The Baldwin Steps are a public outdoor staircase located in Toronto, Canada dating from the 19th century. The Steps, which are constructed of stone and concrete, transcend a steep escarpment marking an ancient shoreline. The Steps are named after a former landowner of the area. They are named after...
, where he ends up going too fast and bursting into coins upon landing.
Infuriated with Ramona for stealing Scott from her, Knives gives herself a hipster makeover by dyeing her forelock and attacks Ramona at the Toronto Reference Library
Toronto Reference Library
The Toronto Reference Library is located at 789 Yonge Street, one block north of Bloor Street, in Toronto, Ontario. Formerly the Metropolitan Toronto Reference Library, the name was changed in 1998 when it was incorporated into the Toronto Public Library system..The 38,691 m² The Toronto Reference...
. After a short battle and various insults, Knives confirms that Scott was cheating on her by dating Ramona simultaneously and takes off. Meanwhile, Scott gets a call from Envy Adams, Scott's ex-girlfriend, who asks him to open for her band The Clash at Demonhead
Clash at Demonhead
Clash at Demonhead, known in Japan as , is a video game released by Vic Tokai for the Nintendo Entertainment System on January 27, 1989 in Japan and January 1990 in North America. The North American cover was illustrated by Lawrence Fletcher.-Gameplay:...
that weekend. Speaking with Envy reopens Scott's unresolved issues about their breakup and he becomes a mess. Nevertheless, Sex-Bob-omb show up to see Envy's band on Friday, only to discover that Knives is now dating Young Neil, Stephen Stills's roommate. The book ends with an epic opening by The Clash at Demonhead, where Ramona identifies the band's bassist as her third evil ex-boyfriend, Todd Ingram.
Scott Pilgrim & the Infinite Sadness (Volume 3)
The Infinite Sadness continues the night that The Clash at Demonhead performs. After the venue clears out, Envy invites Scott, Ramona, Kim Pine, Stephen, Julie, Knives, and Young Neil backstage with them to "chat". Knives, who idolizes Envy, blurts out that she also dated Scott, and has the highlights punched out of her hair by The Clash at Demonhead's drummer, Lynette Guycott. Knives, humiliated, leaves with Young Neil. Disgusted by Envy's new personality, Scott blames Todd for changing her and tries to attack him, but is stopped by Todd's psychic 'vegan' powers.The story then unfolds with a series of flashbacks detailing the relationship between Scott and Envy, then known as Natalie V. Adams, a mousy girl who gradually bloomed into a confident, musical talent, finally adopting the name "Envy". She broke up with Scott once their band started to get noticed, and Scott's devastation resulted in him and Wallace becoming friends.
The next day, Scott and Todd engage in an unsuccessful challenge at Honest Ed's
Honest Ed's
Honest Ed's is a landmark discount store located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is named for its proprietor, Ed Mirvish, who opened the store in 1948 and oversaw its operations for almost sixty years, until his death in 2007.-Location:...
department store, where neither comes out the winner. They agree to fight again the following night. Ramona convinces Scott to ditch the challenge and they return to Ramona's apartment. After an unsuccessful make-out session, Ramona begins to fill Scott in about her relationship with Todd. In a flashback to their college years, Todd proves his love to Ramona by using his newly-gained vegan powers to blow a crater in the moon. Meanwhile, Todd is secretly cheating on his vegan diet (by eating gelato
Gelato
Gelato is the italian word for ice cream and sorbet. Italians use the word gelato to mean a sweet treat that is served frozen. Indeed, gelato, just like ice cream, is made with Milk, cream, various sugars, flavoring including fresh fruit and nut purees....
) as well as cheating on Envy with Lynette.
Later, that evening, before opening for Envy's band, Ramona and Envy get into an argument and begin to fight, Ramona armed with a giant mallet. As Envy starts to get the upper hand, Knives attacks her for the sake of Scott's happiness. Before Sex Bob-omb can perform, Scott sees Envy about to kill Ramona and Knives, and jumps from the stage to hit her "weak point
Erogenous zone
An erogenous zone is an area of the human body that has heightened sensitivity, the stimulation of which may result in the production of erotic sensations or sexual excitement.People have erogenous zones all over their bodies, but which areas are more sensitive than others vary...
"—the back of her knees. Envy then discovers Todd cheating on her with Lynette, but after confronting him, Todd unapologetically strikes her with his powers, shocking everyone. Todd and Scott then proceed to have a bass battle, and Scott is aided by the powers of Crash and the Boys (the opening band for the evening). Todd almost wins the battle until the Vegan Police show up and strip him of his powers for violating his vegan diet. Scott headbutts the powerless Todd, who is reduced to a pile of coins, and receives an extra life
1-up
1-up , pronounced "one up", is a term in console video gaming that commonly refers to an item that gives the player an extra life, to complete the game. In certain games, it is possible to receive multiple extra lives at once...
in the process. Finally, Sex Bob-omb gets to play, and Scott spots a strange character (Gideon) from the stage. The volume ends with Envy moving back home.
The Infinite Sadness also features extras, such as guest comics from Josh Lesnick, Alex Ahad, Andy Helms, John Allison
John Allison (artist)
John Allison is the writer and artist of the webcomics Bobbins , Scary Go Round and Bad Machinery . John described Scary Go Round as "a comic that I've been making since 2002. It started off as a comic about barmaids Tessa and Rachel, then it became more about Shelley Winters and her bizarre...
, and David McGuire
David McGuire
David McGuire is a Scottish footballer who currently plays for junior club Lanark United. His previous senior clubs include Airdrie United.-Career:...
, as well as a map of the major characters illustrating their relations to each other. The title is a reference to the album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is the third album by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins, released October 24, 1995 on Virgin Records. Produced by frontman Billy Corgan with Flood and Alan Moulder, the twenty-eight-track album was released as a two-disc CD and triple LP...
by The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins are an American alternative rock band that formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1988. Formed by Billy Corgan frontman and James Iha , the band has included Jimmy Chamberlin , D'arcy Wretzky , and currently includes Jeff Schroeder Mike Byrne , and Nicole Fiorentino The Smashing...
.
Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together (Volume 4)
After a summer break at The BeachesThe Beaches
The Beaches is a neighbourhood and popular tourist destination located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located on the east side of the "Old" City of Toronto. The original boundaries of the neighbourhood are from Fallingbrook Avenue on the east to Kingston Road on the north, to Woodbine Avenue...
for Julie's birthday, Kim moves into an apartment with her friends, Hollie and Joseph. Stephen notices Joseph has a home recording studio, and asks him to help Sex Bob-omb record an album. As Scott goes to the Dufferin Mall
Dufferin Mall
Dufferin Mall is a shopping mall and office complex in Toronto, Canada. It is located on the west side of Dufferin Street, between Sylvan Avenue and Croatia Street , south of the intersection of Bloor Street West, on the site of a former race track, in the Dufferin Grove...
to escape a heat wave, he sees Lisa Miller, later re-acquainting her with Kim and introducing her to Ramona and the others. Meanwhile, at Knives's house, Knives and her friend Tamara notice that the picture of Scott on Knives's shrine is mysteriously slashed.
Annoyed with running into his daft subspace dreams in the middle of the day, Ramona recommends that Scott get a job. Kim brings him to The Happy Avocado, a vegetarian restaurant where Stephen works, where he gets a job as a dishwasher. Shortly afterward, Scott and Kim are attacked by a samurai, who slices a streetcar in half and chases them until they escape via a subspace portal. The next day, Scott and Wallace venture to the financial district to meet with their landlord, Peter, who tells them that they must re-sign the lease or leave by August 27. Wallace recommends that Scott move in with Ramona. As Scott contemplates this, he briefly encounters a female "half-ninja", who unsuccessfully attacks him and disappears. The following afternoon, Scott spots the same girl talking to Ramona at the restaurant where he works. She is revealed to be Roxie Richter, Ramona's fourth evil ex. Not keen on fighting girls or people with swords, Scott hides in Ramona's bag while she heads into a subspace portal and fights Roxie. After nearly killing Ramona, Roxie leaves. Afterward, Ramona tells Scott that he can move in with her temporarily. Later on, though, things go downhill when Ramona suspects Scott might be attracted to Lisa and kicks him out.
After walking in on Wallace having sex with someone in their apartment and being informed that he was fired from his job during the fight, Scott goes to Lisa's house to spend the night. Lisa recalls their high school friendship, asking whether Scott had any feelings for her then and if they should have an affair now. After waking up from a dream infiltrated by Roxie in an attempt to kill him, Scott cannot remember the previous night, but learns from Lisa that nothing happened between them and that he confessed that he loved Ramona. Scott gets his job back and goes to the Second Cup, where he finds Knives working there. He is suddenly attacked by the samurai, revealed to be Knives's father who was not keen on Knives dating a white boy. Scott escapes via another subspace portal and ends up in Ramona's mind, where she is a slave to a shadowy figure. Ramona kicks Scott out of her head, telling him to forget what he saw, but before he can explain his true feelings, he sees that Roxie spent the night at Ramona's and his head begins to glow. Ramona tells him to walk it off and as he does, Scott encounters his dark self and rejects it, rushing back to Ramona to find her being attacked by Mr. Chau. Scott lures him away and gets him to fight against Roxie. When Scott realizes that he has been cowardly, he plucks up the courage to confess his love for Ramona, earning the Power of Love sword, which emerges from his chest. Scott uses this to defeat Roxie, Ninja Gaiden-style, who warns him about "the twins" before dying. Scott then apologizes to Mr. Chau, who leaves having earned respect for Scott, before Scott finally moves in with Ramona. After the group gives Lisa a farewell meal, Ramona finally tells Scott her age, which is 24.
The back of Gets it Together features guest art from Steve Manale
Steve Manale
Steve Manale is a Canadian comic artist and illustrator. He is occasionally credited as Steven Charles Manale.- Superslackers :Manale is the creator of the web comic . The comic is described by Manale as "mostly about a group of kids who tease and torment each other all in the name of fun. They're...
, Michael Comeau, Philip Bond
Philip Bond
Philip J. Bond is a British comic book artist, who first came to prominence in the late 1980s on Deadline magazine, and later through a number of collaborations with British writers for the DC Comics imprint Vertigo....
, and Zander Cannon
Zander Cannon
Alexander "Zander" Cannon is an American comics writer and artist, known for his work on books such as Top 10 and Smax.-Early life:Cannon was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He graduated from Grinnell College in 1995 with a B.A...
as well as a back cover illustrated by pixel artist Miguel Sternberg.
Scott Pilgrim vs. the Universe (Volume 5)
After Scott turns 24, the gang attends a Mexican Day of the Dead themed party thrown by Julie where Ramona spots her next two evil ex-boyfriends, the twins Kyle and Ken Katayanagi. Scott approaches them and prepares to fight, but instead is forced to fight their robot, Robot-01. He defeats the robot and "wins the party." Meanwhile, Knives talks to Stephen, who has permanently broken up with Julie and who reiterates that Scott cheated on her with Ramona. She wonders if Ramona knows about it. November continues to show the deteriorating status of Scott and Ramona's relationship, with Ramona starting to appear bored and Scott stumbling onto signs that she may still be interested in Gideon. She at one point tells Scott that she doesn't like his band, which hasn't done any gigs since they started "recording," which distresses Scott (even Wallace doesn't like his band) and leaves him unable to sleep. Later, Sex Bob-omb prepares for a show at Sneaky Dee's, even though they haven't rehearsed in months due to Stephen's persistent but fruitless recording with Joseph. Their performance, which was doomed to fail anyway, is interrupted by another one of the twins' robots, which Scott defeats, breaking his bass in the process. During this time, Ramona encounters Knives in the bathroom, who tells her that Scott cheated on them at the same time. On the way home, Scott admits that he forgot his keys and Ramona refuses to let him in for the night. He ends up staying with Wallace, who has since moved in with his boyfriend Mobile, and Wallace gives him photos he has found of Gideon Graves, all of which are blurry or indistinct.After spending the next night at Kim's, Scott arranges a setup so that he can casually bump into Kim and Ramona while they get coffee. During the conversation, Kim brings attention to Ramona's head glowing, of which she herself was unaware, although it disappears before she can see for herself. They later all attend another of Julie's parties that night where Scott is forced to fight yet another robot. Kim approaches Ramona on the balcony, and takes a picture with her camera phone
Camera phone
A camera phone is a mobile phone which is able to capture still photographs . Since early in the 21st century the majority of mobile phones in use are camera phones....
of Ramona's head, which is yet again glowing. Kim and Ramona proceed to get drunk, and after defeating the robot, Scott joins them. Later, Kim takes the subway home, but is kidnapped by the twins. After some initial intimacy, Ramona confronts Scott about cheating on Knives with her and tells him he is just another evil ex-boyfriend waiting to happen, which worries Scott into thinking they might break up. While Ramona takes a shower in the early morning, Scott receives word of Kim's kidnapping, and rushes to a construction site to face the twins, despite being disadvantaged due to his hangover. During the fight, the twins explain that Ramona cheated on both of them at the same time, and imply Scott is fighting for the wrong girl. As he begins to lose the fight, Kim lies and says that Ramona text messaged her to give Scott the encouragement to defeat the twins simultaneously.
Scott rushes back to the apartment. Ramona, now with her hair cut and dyed again, tells Scott that she is a bad person and that she "had a good time." Her head begins to glow brighter and brighter until she disappears. Scott tries to look for her, but instead lets her cat out and accidentally locks himself out of her apartment. Over the next few days, Scott bed-hops while trying to get Ramona's cat to come back and constantly mistaking people for Gideon. Kim moves back home to the north, accepting Scott's apology for his behavior. After moving into a new apartment, Scott reads a note Ramona left behind addressed to Gideon, telling him she would not come back to him. While Scott wonders what this means, he receives a call from Gideon, asking when it would be convenient to die.
The end of Scott Pilgrim vs. The Universe features a section called "Creating Scott Pilgrim for fun and profit." The section includes drawings and comments from Bryan Lee O'Malley detailing the development of the series, including a playlist for the fifth book.
Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour (Volume 6)
Four months after Ramona's disappearance, Scott has been wasting his life playing video games, to the chagrin of his friends. At a party, he is shocked to learn that Knives will be leaving for college soon, and later runs into Envy, who is beginning to promote her much anticipated solo album. Later talking over coffee, Envy expresses concern for Scott and points out their breakup was a result of an argument which Scott apparently started, though he cannot remember. Gideon, who is revealed to be dating Envy, appears during their conversation, but Scott ends up fleeing.In order to reinvigorate Scott to confront Gideon, Wallace sends him on a "wilderness sabbatical" to Kim's home up north. While walking in the woods, Scott kisses Kim and sparks fly between the two. But Kim pushes Scott away in part because she doesn't want to be a "safe" alternative to Ramona and in part because she knows that they can never be together as long as Scott still has feelings for Ramona. Kim also tells Scott of the errors in his repressed memory surrounding their breakup. Scott began dating Kim after beating up Simon Lee, a wimpy kid who was dating her at the time, not a suave villain as Scott remembered. Likewise, Kim only learned that Scott would be leaving for Toronto from Lisa—Scott never told her in person that they would have to break up. Upon this revelation, Scott's head starts to glow and the NegaScott emerges. Scott becomes determined to defeat him so he can forget his relationship with Ramona and move on, but Kim reminds him he cannot keep running away from his mistakes. During the fight, Scott remembers Ramona and merges with NegaScott, fully remembering and accepting responsibility for his poor actions in his previous relationships. After receiving one last good luck kiss from Kim, Scott heads back to Toronto to earn Ramona back.
Scott arrives at the newly-opened club, the Chaos Theatre, owned by Gideon, where Envy is making her solo debut. As Envy starts her performance, Gideon attacks Scott, who is enraged to learn that Ramona is not with him. When Scott refuses to join the League of Evil Exes, Gideon steals his Power of Love sword and kills him with it. Scott awakens in a desert, where he encounters Ramona, who apologizes and attempts to explain why she left, though the reader is not privy to what she says. They reconcile, but Ramona reminds Scott that he is dead. However, he returns to life thanks to the extra life he obtained from Todd Ingram, and Ramona bursts out of his chest to confront Gideon. Gideon reveals several cryogenic capsules inside the club filled with former girlfriends, wanting Ramona to join them (despite that Gideon kept pushing her away during their time, a fact which he can't remember, either). He fights them and explains that he formed the League of Evil Exes following a drunken post on Craigslist
Craigslist
Craigslist is a centralized network of online communities featuring free online classified advertisements, with sections devoted to jobs, housing, personals, for sale, services, community, gigs, résumés, and discussion forums....
after his breakup with Ramona.
Ramona tries to use the glow to escape into subspace, but Gideon stabs her. He explains that the Glow is an emotional weapon which seals people inside their own heads, consumed by self-loathing and personal demons. After learning from Ramona that Gideon literally has a way of getting inside her head, Scott jumps into Ramona's subspace bag and arrives in her head, where he finds and confronts Gideon. Scott's actions encourage Ramona to fully overcome his influence and oust him from her head. Ramona retrieves the Power of Love sword, healing her wounds, but breaks her bag which unleashes a torrent of junk into the real world. When Scott sees Gideon snap at Envy, he comes to understand that he has been no better than Gideon in terms of his past relationships. This realization earns him the Power of Understanding sword. As they fight him, Gideon reveals he had been watching the two via the subspace highway in Scott's head, altering some of his memories in the process. Whilst Gideon tries to turn Scott and Ramona against one another, they defeat him, causing him to explode into seven million, seven hundred and seventy-seven thousand, seven hundred and seventy-seven dollars in coins, which rain painfully on the watching crowd.
Scott and Envy reach closure and Gideon's former girlfriends are unfrozen (and they have no idea of what just happened). Ramona reveals that her disappearance was merely an unsuccessful wilderness sabbatical to find herself while at her dad's cabin. She decides to give her relationship with Scott another shot. In the closing pages, Scott is working with Stephen as co-chef, Stephen reveals that he is gay and in a relationship with Joseph, Scott and Kim start an awful new band, and Knives heads off to college. The last pages show Scott meeting up with Ramona as they affirm their desire to face the challenges of a relationship and walk hand in hand into a subspace door together.
On June 3, 2010, O'Malley announced that he had hidden the word "hipster" on Ramona's t-shirt in one panel to mark the day he finished drawing the series. This panel is on page 161 in a flashback involving Ramona and Gideon.
Publications
The main graphic novel series is:| # | Title | ISBN | Release date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | ISBN 1-932664-49-1 | November 14, 2007 | The format of the series' spine art is changed (original Oni Press print). |
| 5 | Scott Pilgrim vs. The Universe | ISBN 1-934964-10-7 | February 4, 2009 | The first printing of Volume 5 features a shiny cover. |
| 6 | Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour | ISBN 1-934964-38-7 | July 20, 2010 |
Other appearances:
- Comics Festival (40-page anthology including a one-page Scott Pilgrim comic; released on Free Comic Book DayFree Comic Book DayFree Comic Book Day is an annual promotional effort by the North American comic book industry to help bring new readers into independent comic book stores. Retailer Joe Field of in Concord, CA brainstormed the event in his "Big Picture" column in the August 2001 issue of Comics & Games Retailer...
2005) - PENGPENGPENG! is a one-shot 72 page sports action comic written and drawn by Corey Lewis, published in 2005 by Oni Press.-Publication history:Like much of Lewis's work, it abounds with subtextual martial arts and video game references. It is the follow-up to Lewis's breakthrough work, the first volume of...
(72-page one-shot comic book by Corey LewisCorey LewisCorey Sutherland Lewis is an American comic book creator. He is primarily known as the creator of Sharknife, published by Oni Press. Other works include PENG for Oni, and providing back-up comic strips for the Darkstalkers and Street Fighter comics for UDON...
where Scott Pilgrim appears in one panel; released in 2005) - Free Scott Pilgrim #1 FCBDFree Comic Book DayFree Comic Book Day is an annual promotional effort by the North American comic book industry to help bring new readers into independent comic book stores. Retailer Joe Field of in Concord, CA brainstormed the event in his "Big Picture" column in the August 2001 issue of Comics & Games Retailer...
2006 Edition (32-page comic book featuring an 17-page original Scott Pilgrim story; released on Free Comic Book DayFree Comic Book DayFree Comic Book Day is an annual promotional effort by the North American comic book industry to help bring new readers into independent comic book stores. Retailer Joe Field of in Concord, CA brainstormed the event in his "Big Picture" column in the August 2001 issue of Comics & Games Retailer...
2006) This story is available for free online at the Scott Pilgrim Website - Comics Festival 2007! (40-page anthology including a half-page Scott Pilgrim comic and a 4-page Wonderful World of Kim Pine comic; released on Free Comic Book DayFree Comic Book DayFree Comic Book Day is an annual promotional effort by the North American comic book industry to help bring new readers into independent comic book stores. Retailer Joe Field of in Concord, CA brainstormed the event in his "Big Picture" column in the August 2001 issue of Comics & Games Retailer...
2007) - Scott Pilgrim: Full Colour Odds & Ends 2008 (collects Free Scott Pilgrim #1 - newly coloured by Dean Trippe, Wonderful World of Kim Pine four-page story, Now Magazine Best of Toronto two-page strip in black-and-white, the Comics Fest 07 sushi strip, and various watercolours, pin-ups, and advertisements)
All of these ancillary stories are available to read on the Scott Pilgrim Website. A collector's box containing all six volumes and a fold-in poster was released in North America on November 3, 2010.
Critical reception
Publishers WeeklyPublishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...
ranked the third volume, Scott Pilgrim & The Infinite Sadness, as one of the best comic books of 2006 in a critics' poll.
Scott Pilgrim was ranked 85th on Wizard magazine's 2008 list of the "200 Greatest Comic Characters of All Time".
In 2007, O'Malley was interviewed by the AV Club for the fourth volume. Written by Jason Heller, the article states that Gets It Together is "his best to date." The article goes on to praise O'Malley's consistent bold stylistic choices, saying that he "has raised the bar, art-wise: His deceptively basic style is suddenly deeper, richer, and more mature, while his eye for dynamics and graphic economy has gotten even keener."
In 2011 Scott Pilgrim was ranked 69th in the Top 100 Comic books heroes.
Japanese comics author Kentaro Takekuma
Kentaro Takekuma
is a manga artist.He is one of the authors of Even a Monkey Can Draw Manga. He is also the story writer of Super Mario Adventures.-External links:*...
said in an interview that the structure and style of Scott Pilgrim initially did not match the structure and style of Japanese comics, but when he read the battle scenes "it feels very much like a Japanese manga, especially in how you structured the panels. It develops into a very strange, neither American nor Japanese atmosphere." Comics author Koji Aihara
Koji Aihara
is a manga artist. He grew up reading the works of Osamu Tezuka.Aihara made his debut with Hachigatsu no Nureta Pantsu in 1983, which ran in Weekly Manga Action Magazine. He is one of the authors of Even a Monkey Can Draw Manga, a satiric look at the manga industry. Aihara's other best-known works...
added that "I did feel the inspiration from Japanese manga, but it did not strike me as a ripoff of manga style, but a very unique way of expression, I found it a very interesting work. I appreciated you using your own style of expression. Also, I thought your use of solid blacks was very skilled and attractive."
Awards
In 2005, O'Malley won the Doug Wright Award for Best Emerging Talent for the first volume of Scott Pilgrim and was nominated for three Harvey Awards (Best New Talent, Best Cartoonist and Best Graphic Album of Original Work).In 2006, O'Malley was awarded Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Cartoonist (Writer/Artist) in the Joe Shuster Awards
Joe Shuster Awards
The Joe Shuster Awards are given out annually for outstanding achievements in the creation of comic books, graphic novels and webcomics by Canadians, there are additional awards for Retailers and Publishers. The full name is the Joe Shuster Canadian Comic Book Creator Awards.The Joe Shuster Awards...
. He was previously nominated in the same category in 2005.
O'Malley was nominated for a 2006 Eisner Award
Eisner Award
The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, and sometimes referred to as the Oscar Awards of the Comics Industry, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books. The Eisner Awards were first conferred in 1988, created in response to the...
in the category Best Writer/Artist—Humor, for Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, but lost to Kyle Baker
Kyle Baker
Kyle John Baker is an American cartoonist, comic book writer-artist, and animator known for his graphic novels and for a 2000s revival of the series Plastic Man....
. O'Malley and Scott Pilgrim were also nominated for two 2006 Eagle Awards
Eagle Awards
The Eagle Award is a series of awards for comic book titles and creators. They are awarded by UK fan voting for work produced during the previous year. Named after the UK's Eagle comic, the awards were set up by Mike Conroy, Nick Landau, Colin Campbell, Phil Clarke and Richard Burton, and launched...
, and nominated for a second Wright Award (for Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World).
In 2007, O'Malley won the Harvey Award
Harvey Award
The Harvey Awards, named for writer-artist Harvey Kurtzman and founded by Gary Groth, President of the publisher Fantagraphics, are given for achievement in comic books. The Harveys were created as part of a successor to the Kirby Awards which were discontinued after 1987.The Harvey Awards are...
. The series was also awarded a spot in Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
's 2007 A-List.
In 2010, O'Malley won his first Eisner Award
Eisner Award
The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, and sometimes referred to as the Oscar Awards of the Comics Industry, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books. The Eisner Awards were first conferred in 1988, created in response to the...
in the "Best Humor Publication" category for Scott Pilgrim Vs. The Universe.
Film
The film Scott Pilgrim vs. the World was released on August 13, 2010. It is based on all six volumes of the graphic novel series, despite the different ending due to the sixth volume having been released after the film finished shooting. The film is directed by Edgar WrightEdgar Wright
Edgar Howard Wright is an English film and television director and writer. He is most famous for his work with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost on the films Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, the TV series Spaced, and for directing the film Scott Pilgrim vs...
and stars Michael Cera
Michael Cera
Michael Austin Cera is a Canadian actor best known for his roles in Arrested Development, Youth in Revolt, Superbad, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and Juno. Cera received the 2008 Canadian Comedy Award for best male performance for his work in Superbad.-Early...
and Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Mary Elizabeth Winstead is an American actress. She is best known for her scream queen roles in the horror films Final Destination 3, Black Christmas, Death Proof, and The Thing...
as Scott and Ramona, respectively.
The film was a critical success, but did not fare as well commercially. Despite the lack of advertising the film was released on DVD and Blu-ray and became popular. The DVD includes extras such as bloopers and outtakes, deleted scenes and trailers. On the 2-disc edition, the 2nd disc includes soundtracks, animation (when Scott dates Kim), the film in the making and sound in the making.
Scott Pilgrim vs. The Animation
At the 2010 San Diego Comic-ConComic-Con
Comic-Con, Comic Con or ComiCon may refer to any of the following Comic book conventions, none of them affiliated to any other:*San Diego Comic-Con International, annual fan convention in San Diego held since 1970, also known as Comic-Con or San Diego Comic-Con*Dallas Comic Con, annual fan...
, Alison Pill
Alison Pill
Alison Courtney Pill is a Canadian actress best known from her roles in Milk, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and Midnight in Paris.-Life and career:...
(who plays Kim Pine in the movie), revealed that her character's past relationship with Scott will be explored in other media. "There will be a little something-something that will air on Adult Swim
Adult Swim
Adult Swim is an adult-oriented Cable network that shares channel space with Cartoon Network from 9:00 pm until 6:00 am ET/PT in the United States, and broadcasts in countries such as Australia and New Zealand...
," she said.
Creator Bryan Lee O'Malley elaborated by stating "It's gonna be like a series of short animations (to promote the movie). One of them will be the Volume 2 high school stuff with Kim and Lisa Miller. I don't know how long it will be but the rough they showed me was like 5 minutes. The stars of the movie will do the voices for the cartoons." Michael Cera
Michael Cera
Michael Austin Cera is a Canadian actor best known for his roles in Arrested Development, Youth in Revolt, Superbad, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and Juno. Cera received the 2008 Canadian Comedy Award for best male performance for his work in Superbad.-Early...
and Alison Pill
Alison Pill
Alison Courtney Pill is a Canadian actress best known from her roles in Milk, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and Midnight in Paris.-Life and career:...
reprise their roles of Scott Pilgrim and Kim Pine from the movie, whilst Mae Whitman
Mae Whitman
Mae Margaret Whitman is an American television, movie and voice actress. She is known for her role as Ann Veal in the TV series Arrested Development, her role as Amber on the TV series Parenthood, her role as Roxy Richter in Scott Pilgrim vs...
and Jason Schwartzman
Jason Schwartzman
Jason Francesco Schwartzman is an American actor and musician. He is perhaps best known for his roles in the Hollywood films Rushmore, Spun, I Heart Huckabees, Shopgirl, Marie Antoinette, The Darjeeling Limited, Funny People, and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World...
, who play Roxanne Richter and Gideon Graves in the movie, provide voices for Lisa Miller and Simon Lee respectively. The animated short, entitled Scott Pilgrim vs. the Animation, was produced by Titmouse Inc.
Chris Prynoski
Chris Prynoski born November 1, 1971, is an American animator, director, and producer.Prynoski was born in Trenton, New Jersey and grew up in Bordentown, New Jersey. He graduated from the School of Visual Arts in 1994. He then spent several years working in the industry in New York, mostly on his...
and aired on Adult Swim on August 12, 2010, later being released on their website.
The short is based on the flashback from the second graphic novel, elaborating on Scott's adventures in high school. The animation features music by Wavves
Wavves
Wavves is an American surf pop/noise punk band based out of San Diego, California.-History:Wavves started in 2008 as the recording project of Nathan Williams. Wavves released several 7"s as well as a cassette leading up to the first two releases 'Wavves' and 'Wavvves'...
, though it is replaced with the movie's soundtrack in the version included on the DVD/Bluray Disc of the film.
Video game
A video game based on the series, also titled Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, was announced during San Diego Comic Con 2009 and was developed by Ubisoft MontrealUbisoft Montreal
Ubisoft Montreal is a Canadian video game developer owned by French publisher Ubisoft.Ubisoft's North American studio is located in Montreal, Quebec...
, released alongside the film. The game is a four-player side-scroller influenced by 8-bit
8-bit
The first widely adopted 8-bit microprocessor was the Intel 8080, being used in many hobbyist computers of the late 1970s and early 1980s, often running the CP/M operating system. The Zilog Z80 and the Motorola 6800 were also used in similar computers...
and 16-bit
16-bit
-16-bit architecture:The HP BPC, introduced in 1975, was the world's first 16-bit microprocessor. Prominent 16-bit processors include the PDP-11, Intel 8086, Intel 80286 and the WDC 65C816. The Intel 8088 was program-compatible with the Intel 8086, and was 16-bit in that its registers were 16...
video games, with players able to play as Scott Pilgrim, Ramona Flowers, Kim Pine and Stephen Stills (Knives Chau was added later as a downloadable character). If you complete the game with Scott, Ramona, Stephen Stills, and Kim, you unlock NegaScott. Mr. Chau, Knives Chau's father, is also an unlockable assist character. The game features music by chiptune
Chiptune
A chiptune, also known as chip music, is synthesized electronic music often produced with the sound chips of vintage computers and video game consoles, as well as with other methods such as emulation. In the early 1980s, personal computers became cheaper and more accessible than they had previously...
punk band Anamanaguchi
Anamanaguchi
Anamanaguchi is a chiptune indie rock band from New York City that "makes loud, fast music with a hacked NES from 1985." The band has four members: lead songwriter Peter Berkman, bassist James DeVito, guitarist Ary Warnaar and drummer Luke Silas. Akin to other chiptune artists, Anamanaguchi creates...
and visuals by Paul Robertson, who is well known for producing stylized sprite-based animations.
The game was released on PlayStation Network on August 10, 2010 and Xbox Live Arcade
Xbox Live Arcade
Xbox Live Arcade is a type of video game download distribution available primarily in a section of the Xbox Live Marketplace, Microsoft's digital distribution network for the Xbox 360, that focuses on smaller downloadable games from both major publishers and independent game developers...
on August 25, 2010.
Mobile comic
A mobile adaptation of the comic book was produced by HarperCollinsHarperCollins
HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
and Robot Comics
Robot Comics
Robot Comics is an independent publisher of mobile comics, founded in 2009 and based in Barcelona, Spain. It has published original mobile comics and adaptions for Android, iPhone, iPod touch, Amazon Kindle and Nintendo DSi, many of them under a Creative Commons license.-Titles:Their titles...
. The app uses movement, sound and vibration to create an original reading experience and includes extra material hidden in the scenes of the comic. It is available for iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
, iPod touch
IPod touch
The iPod Touch is a portable media player, personal digital assistant, handheld game console, and Wi-Fi mobile device designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The iPod Touch adds the multi-touch graphical user interface to the iPod line...
, iPad
IPad
The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. The iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010 by Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs. Its size and...
and Android.
External links
- Bryan Lee O'Malley's website
- ScottPilgrim.com
- Scott Pilgrim vs. The World The Game at UbisoftUbisoftUbisoft Entertainment S.A. is a major French video game publisher and developer, with headquarters in Montreuil, France. The company has a worldwide presence with 25 studios in 17 countries and subsidiaries in 26 countries....