Read This: Scott Pilgrim & the Infinite Sadness

The final pages of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World set Scott up for his fight with Todd Ingram, the third “evil ex” Scott needs to defeat before he can become Ramona’s girlfriend, and that battle takes up most of Scott Pilgrim & the Infinite Sadness. That’s not all there is to this book, though: Bryan Lee O’Malley breaks up the fighting into several distinct stages, but he also weaves in an extended flashback that charts Scott’s previous relationship—the one he’d been moping about back when the story began—and brings a new layer of emotional depth to our hero. This is the point at which that level of storytelling seems to engage O’Malley more and more; yes, he still brings the awesome fight scenes with the shonen manga layouts (including, as always, some fab double-page spreads), but the “real world” is asserting itself in ways that will prove significant as the story continues to progress.

During one of the “serious conversations” leading up to the big battle, there’s a major clue that Scott’s video-game universe may not be as “real” (within the context of the story) as it seems—which might be at odds with the urban fantasy elements of Ramona’s life that are clearly intended to be “real,” not to mention Todd Ingram’s vegan psychic powers (which make him the deadliest of Scott’s foes yet). But we’ll get back to that…

16 August 2010 | read this |