Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life: Volume 1

For me, reading this book was like somebody turning the light on as I walked into a surprise birthday party. I was suddenly surrounded by people I cared about, who shared my anxieties, but were showing me how absurd and fun it could all be. Don't get me wrong - Bryan Lee O'Malley's graphic novel is not a sedate reassurance of your place in the world - it's a joyous whoop and holler that encourages you to just let go and enjoy yourself.

Scott Pilgrim himself is 23, "in between jobs", one year out of a bad break-up and a bass player in an amateur band. He's just started dating a high-schooler, when someone else catches his eye - a new girl in town, an Amazon delivery girl called Ramona Flowers. Sound fairly normal? Turns out he's obsessed with Ramona because she's been using subspace highways through his mind to speed up delivery times, and he'll have to fight each of her seven evil ex-boyfriends if he wants to date her. But that's okay, because Scott is the best fighter in the province, and more than capable of taking on demon girls and fireballs with the power of group singing and air juggles.

And this is where the heart of Bryan Lee O'Malley's wonderful achievement lies - in a world full of the bizarre where just about anything can happen, packed with references to comics and computer games, and clues for future instalments, there is always believability. This is helped enormously by the dialogue, which is brilliantly written - genuinely witty and laugh-out-loud funny, while still perfectly reflecting how people actually talk. These aren't just speech bubbles - they're conversations. It reminds me a lot of Channel 4's Spaced, where the wackiness never stopped you rooting for the brilliant, relatable characters, and as such it's no coincidence that the director of Spaced and the fantastic Shaun of the Dead, Edgar Wright, is attached to a film conversion of this comic.

This is a book that anyone can enjoy - those who want to identify with how it feels to be growing older while still treasuring your childhood, nerds who want to spot all the references, anyone who wants to know how to rock (don't worry - there's handy tablature so you can accompany Scott and his band!), and mostly, people who just want to enjoy a really good book, one that's warm, witty and inclusive, not afraid to be daft, and never fails to be fun. All in all, I can't recommend this book highly enough, and I can't wait for the next volumes.


Scott Pilgrim's Awesome Little Comic   August 2, 2010
Josh Mutter
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I wasn't all that sure what to expect from this comic, but I am glad to say that it is awesome! Great story, but one that doesn't take itself too seriously and yet manages to convey strong emotion, great humor, surprisingly good art, it is pretty much perfect... A little on the short side mind. It packs a lot in to a 2 hour-ish read. I'd suggest getting all the books in one go and reading a new one each day. Looking forward to the movie and game, but I'm not sure how they're gonna fit all 6 books into 1 movie... Anyway, just buy these books now. :)

P.S. As for the character of Scott himself, Ramona says it best in Volume 2: He's lame, but I like him.


Now don't get me wrong...   October 23, 2009
G. Anderson (Glasgow)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I really like Scott Pilgrim, but even I can see that there are some pretty flawed elements to the storytelling, but those same flaws are exactly why it appeals to someone like me and a lot of other readers. The story is absolutely dripping with geekcore in-jokes which might be lost on even some veteran pop culture junkies. The dialogue is witty, ranging from dry to outrageous, spinning off into apropos of nothing wherever, but there are times conversation just seems to happen because O'Malley had an extra page to fill. You'll probably get nerd points for buying the complete volume set (Vol. 6 is coming later) but some people might fall for the story because secretly we wish our lives were like this to some degree, rather than them genuinely thinking the story is great.


Also, Lisa Miller is also way better for Scott than Ramona.


Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life   May 12, 2010
A. Noden
2 out of 3 found this review helpful

Even though I'm not usually a fan of the graphic novel, or comic books for that matter, I found a lot to like in Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life. It's funny, has tons of witty dialogue, and very distinctive artwork by Brian Lee O'Malley, an excellent combination which makes for a great book. While I have not yet read later books in the series, Precious Little Life is perfectly good as a standalone volume, but is also very addictive, and leaves you wanting more.


Scott vs Your Memory of Being 23   May 24, 2009
Richard Hammond (St. Albans, UK)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful

My girlfriend has started saying I'd look good in a cardigan. I am 38. I wouldn't look good in a cardigan, and maybe she says that I would because she wishes her boyfriend looked good in a cardigan? She texted earlier to tell me she's bought me a bright-green T-shirt from Uniqlo. I hope it's one of the gaming ones? I bought one from the same campaign the other day - it was from the sister Japan Now collection. It says `Time Bokan' on the front and I liked the logo. The label however, explained that Time Bokan is a cult anime from the early '70s. See, Scott Pilgrim, the eponymous hero of the Scott Pilgrim comic would not only have liked the logo - he would have actually seen the anime. He would know the plots and understand where the series then led onto and what modern influences the show might be having.

Scott's a geek but he's the enigmatic sort who knows how to be engaging, attractive and bang on the pulse at the same time as pretty much not actually doing anything at all. No job, no prospects but he doesn't care and doesn't let the weight of finding the next dollar hang heavy on his shoulders. What he does care about is Ramona Flowers, frankly - he'd be mental if he didn't. His gay room-mate and his girl best mate could both be just about forgiven for not wanting to jump on Ramona's time-bending bones but Scott has little choice but to fall for her. Not least because she's using his mind as a Blackwall Tunnel to speed-up her roller-skate powered deliveries for her employers amazon.ca.

To win Ramona's long-term affections Scott must defeat her seven evil ex-boyfriends in a series of boss-battles. Each win gains him a pile of gold coins and sometimes bonus items such as an upgraded skateboard. The mix of; gaming iconography, an imaginative story-line, and the domestic trials of just starting out in life; with funny, snappy dialogue; and a joyous art-style works brilliantly. It's charming, affectionate and at times touching and sweet too.

So far there are five of the planned six books published. I can't wait for the sixth and final instalment - though it turns out I'll bloody well have to as writer and artist Bryan Lee O'Malley isn't delivering that until 2010.

Now, here's the thing - I only found this fantastic comic after reading that work had just begun on a film version. Eh? A film version? But we've not had the final book yet so how can they have a film now? Oh right, it's been written by some other bloke. Okay. So it'll just rollercoast through the real story? Fine - that's Hollywood I guess. I mean, okay - plenty of sacred comic-book tales get pillaged years after the fact but the chance that Scott Pilgrim might suffer the same fate before it's even finished?

Spaced's Edgar Wright is directing and so far the movie looks hopelessley miss-cast as well as having been written arse-about-face. Primarily, the key characters of Scott and Ramona are almost perversely wrong. I know that sounds like fanboy bleating, and perhaps it is a bit but Scott is like the love-child of Alex James, Bill Murray, Ellen Page and Tori Amos. That's a proper night-out is that. Instead they've gone for the pleseantly bumbling Juno-inpregnator Michael Sera and some sparkly brunette starlet for Ramona. Ramona should be perfectly flawed not flawlessley perfect.

Oh and neither, incidentally, is Scott Pilgrim a young Tim Bisley - right now, the kids worshipping in the videogames archives, watching art-house movies, fighting giant robots and hidden ninja to an underground soundtrack-geek heroes-are the cool ones. Wheras Spaced celebrated the marginality of the late 1990s geek. The geeks have gone on from there to inherit the world and Scott's group of alternative buddies are now as mainstream as jocks and cheerleaders.

And these glimpses into their lives are as precious as the pretends heart-beats in the characters themselves.