In 2004, a little book came out that managed to take the entire comic community by storm. Mixing Japanese manga style comics with a clear videogame/general nerd style, the book managed to capture readers with it’s playful dialogue, humorous characters, and epic love story all wrapped up in a simple premise: in order to truly posses the heart of the woman he loves, one man must fight against her seven evil ex-boyfriends.
Now, one year older (finally), Scott Pilgrim is ready to end his epic quest for the heart of Ramona Flowers.
Luckily for me, I was able to muster the energy, stay awake, and attend a midnight release of the final volume – Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour. It’s with that in mind that I bring to you my review, having just put down the book after immediately reading it cover to cover as soon as I got home.
As a note, there will be some very mild spoilers. I will not give away any of the best moments or anything like that, but it will be impossible for me to not share a little bit of what happens. Just keep that in mind. (If you don’t want your opinion swayed either way or to have any influence whatsoever, then hold off and just go get the book!)
All that aside, follow me behind the cut as I take a look at volume 6.
As our final tale opens, we see that quite some time has passed since we last saw our hero. Ramona’s departure has left Scott a rather broken man, with a new home and no direction. Sex Bob-Omb is dead, and his best friend has moved away. Instead he chooses to lay on his couch and play videogames all day, convinced that Ramona will come back to him. His former roommate Wallace insists that he go out and get laid, but Scott just can’t – despite Envy being back in town and Knives now being legal. When his sworn enemy enters into town, though, it’s up to Scott to finally figure out what he’s going to do about his life – and just how he’s going to get Ramona back.
To say a lot is riding on this tale is to pretty much put it lightly. We’ve all waited a good deal of time now to see the story come to a close, and in that time we’ve gotten rather close to Scott and his merry band of companions. Scott Pilgrim is a hero that we as the reader root for like no other, but we don’t want to see him just win. That would be too easy. And we most certainly wouldn’t want the story to just run straight through, now would we?
We all have high expectations for that – of that I have no doubt. For this reviewer personally, my expectations were relatively simple in the grand scheme of things: I wanted the book to be different from the movie (so that the trailer wouldn’t technically ruin anything), I wanted the book to keep it’s charm, and I wanted the book to pay off.
Well, I’m pleased to report that this is the case. First of all, for those of you who ended up as annoyed as I was that Gideon Graves was a central character of all the trailers and that the “final fight” was effectively ruined, I have good news for you – it’s all different. It had been said that the movie’s end will be different, and the pleasant thing here is that what the trailer has shown is different enough that the book is still it’s own fresh entity. +10 points for that alone.
As for the book keeping it’s charm and paying off, this is most assured. There are several points in the read when I was absolutely cracking up (which turned annoying for others who live with me given the hour), and I am pleased to report that O’Malley has not lost his touch for the sharp tongue of the character. I was almost afraid that having seen the movie trailer too much would dilute my personal read of the character, but picking up this book was like hanging out with an old friend that I haven’t seen or talked to that recently, and it’s just as good a time as it ever has been. Scott is run through his own little gauntlet here, and watching him go along the ride of his life from a depressed sod to the point where he truly “gets it,” it’s pretty redeeming.
Continued belowOf course, one thing that’s inherently different about this book from the others is it’s pace. While all Scott Pilgrim’s are a relatively quick and fun read, this one pushes it’s story much faster. The other books spent a lot of time developing the plot between Scott and Ramona as well as his setting before plunging him into battle. In many ways, you were buying the book not so much for the battle but rather for the story leading up to the final fight scene (as any good read should do, granted). The difference here is that (and this could be based on my heightened reading speed) the book plunges you into the tale much quicker. While Scott still needs time to recover from the events of the last book, the large majority of this book is his battle against Gideon.
Oh, and what a battle this is! This is really the crown jewel moment of O’Malley’s work in Scott Pilgrim. The setting is huge, the fighting is intense, and (as I mentioned before) this is where everything pays off. There are call backs to earlier volumes that long time fans of the series will appreciate (and those not as familiar will still get too, no worries), and all of it plays on what we already know about how things “work” in Scott Pilgrim’s universe. What’s great about it in here though is that O’Malley has certainly designed a rather extensive set piece in which to play the story. We get to see Scott Pilgrim in his biggest challenge yet, and I can only imagine what a challenge it was to design for O’Malley. We’ve got specific costumes in a large night club arena which include a dream landscape for Scott Pilgrim to battle in. To put it lightly? For a book of this size, it’s pretty epic.
It’s not a perfect comic, though. There’s really only one gripe that I have with the title, and that’s that one of the most important aspects is kind of glazed over a bit. For me, it took a re-read to get the idea that was being presented, and to be honest I’m still not entirely sure I do. For those that have stuck with Scott Pilgrim, I’m sure you know what I’m talking about: it’s most mysterious element, the Glow and Subspace. While not quite clear definitions have been given in earlier volumes, this book seeks to explain some of the elements that were never quite made clear. While it helps to illuminate Ramona’s personality quite perfectly, it also takes a bit of that handwavium sci-fi logic to go with. Like I said, it’s not a huge detracting element, but with what Gideon brings to the table in terms of revelation, I would have liked something a tad more clear.
Needless to say, the final volume of Scott Pilgrim manages to keep it’s head up. For those worried going into the book, I wouldn’t. The book has everything you’ve come to expect and love from the series, with copious amounts of ridiculous dialogue, great references (there’s one moment in the book that I don’t want to spoil, but I assume it is a Final Fantasy VII reference – and if it is, my hat is off to you, Bryan), and enough love to go around. It also has a very nice and fitting ending that I feel, in all honesty, I couldn’t have asked for more. I know some friends of mine had hoped that the ending would leave the book open for lots more, but I love the way O’Malley sent off his characters. It felt very fitting and appropriate.
I remember in a conversation with fellow MC writer David Harper about Harry Potter. He said that in reading the books, he had felt connected to this character as some kind of brother/friend/etc, and that the seventh book was a perfect way to say goodbye. That’s how I feel about Scott Pilgrim and his sixth book. If you don’t Level Up and get the Power of Love after finishing reading this, then I don’t know what to tell you, because clearly you’re doing something wrong. Scott Pilgrim got it.
