Say Howdy To Pilgrim!
After wowing critics and fans alike with his debut graphic novel, LOST AT SEA, Bryan Lee O’Malley is back at the drawing board in preparation for the release of his latest creation, SCOTT PILGRIM, VOLUME 1: SCOTT PILGRIM’S PRECIOUS LITTLE LIFE. Scheduled to arrive in stores this July, SCOTT PILGRIM follows the title character through Toronto and the subspace freeway in his own head as he practices with his rock band, dates a high school girl, goes to parties, and tries to woo the literal girl of his dreams. Along the way he gets a helping hand from the other dudes in the band, his rockstar sister, and his roommate Wallace, a veritable encyclopedia of obscure facts and videogame special moves. Standing in the middle of his road to bliss are seven people each with a special relationship to his ideal woman and a fantastic power and/or fighting style. While the new series might seem far off from the subdued and touching emotion of his first book, SCOTT PILGRIM isn’t so much a departure for O’Malley as it is a showcase for another side of this multifaceted creator.
“Bryan has always had the ability to go back and forth between heart-filled drama and off-the-wall comedy,” commented editor James Lucas Jones. “Fans who have followed his online comics over the years will notice the same type of humor and energy in SCOTT that can be found in some of his earliest work. That said, SCOTT PILGRIM is not in any way a regression. Bryan’s taken the experience of LOST AT SEA and applied it to his craft and the result is a hip and funny tale that doesn’t sacrifice story for the ha ha.”
Scott Pilgrim’s just kind of fallen through life and he’s enjoying the breeze. He doesn’t have a job. He doesn’t go to school. He plays bass (badly) in the band Sex Bob-omb, plays videogames, and cooks. He gets by with odd jobs here and there to pay the bills. He shares a studio apartment with the fabulous Wallace Wells (don’t call him “Wally”) and is dating Knives Chau, the model Catholic high school girl. Life for Scott is, for lack of a better word, simple. Ramona V. Flowers spends her time skating through subspace making deliveries for Amazon-dot-C-A. The company’s best courier, Ramona is responsible for hand-delivering books, CDs, and movies to every Amazon customer in Toronto. A U.S. citizen, she may or may not have an ex-boyfriend named Gideon Graves who may or may not be seven feet tall and may or may not have the means to nuke the western seaboard. Ramona’s existence is, in a word, complex. Can these two crazy kids find happiness or is Scott just in for a new life of broken bones and smashed guitars at the hands of Ramona’s obsessive ex-beaus?
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“SCOTT PILGRIM is a really arty, brushy manga about dudes getting kicked, and people with amazing strength, and how girls are cute and yet troublesome, and it has numerous video game references!” added O’Malley. “I’m all over the map.”
“But it all works,” concluded Jones. “It doesn’t *feel* scattered or jumpy. If you zoom in, sure you can see the different elements at play, but one look at the big picture, at the book as a whole, and it’s obvious that Bryan knows what he’s doing. And even though a rock-n-roll-romantic-comedy-fight comic might sound unique on concept alone, it’s Bryan’s skillful storytelling and whimsical wit that makes SCOTT truly special.”
SCOTT PILGRIM, VOLUME 1: SCOTT PILGRIM’S PRECIOUS LITTLE LIFE arrives in stores July 28, 2004, retails for $11.95, and is suitable for teen readers on up. It has 160 pages of black-and-white story and art with a full color cover.
SCOTT PILGRIM, SCOTT PILGRIM’S PRECIOUS LITTLE LIFE ? & © 2004 Bryan O’Malley. Oni Press logo and icon are ? & © 2003 Oni Press, Inc. All rights reserved. Oni Press logo and icon artwork created by Dave Gibbons.
Published: May 7, 2004 10:32 am