So, before I get into the review proper I need to get a couple of technicalities out of the way first.
Firstly, I read all six of the Scott Pilgrim comic books but I’m counting them as one ‘book’ for the purpose of this blog. Since we’re counting pages that’s largely irrelevant but it means you only get one review.
Second, I decided that the page count needed some adjustment. It would be flattering but a little unfair to count the pages as-is given the comic book form. So I added up all the pages and the time it took me to read and came up with a figure that maintains my approximate pages/hour count – which is 4 Scott Pilgrim pages=1 page from a regular book. Anyhow I’m happy with that and since the whole thing is arbitrary…
Scott Pilgrim tells the story of an early-20s slacker and his friends and their respective intertwined love-lives. As the story begins he’s just started dating a 17-year-old and you get the feeling this is because he enjoys the simplicity of just hanging out with someone who likes him.
He’s also in a band and they feature in the story too.
Of course if you’ve heard much about this, particularly the movie, then you’ve probably heard about is his new girlfriend’s “seven evil exes”. Oh when I say “new girlfriend” I mean the one he dumps his highschooler for not the 17year-old herself.
Oh and then there’s the fact that the story is told with the style and visual accompaniments of a video game.
There’s a lot to like here and I did. I think that when I was the same age as the characters I would have absolutely loved it. Anyway, I particularly like the way that despite some visual slickery and surreal story elements, the characterisation and relationships remain resolutely and realistically complicated. So it’s not in any way ‘dumbed down’ just because it uses relatively youthful pop culture references.
I found the pre-ending a little confusing (it’s better in the movie) but the ending ending was fine – hopeful, optimistic but not unrealistic.
8/10 – makes me wish I were young again (and in love/lust)