Source: Borrowed from library
Publisher: Oni Press
[Goodreads] [Book Depository]
Blurb:
Scott Pilgrim's life is totally sweet. He's 23 years old, he's in a rockband, he's "between jobs" and he's dating a cute high school girl. Nothing could possibly go wrong, unless a seriously mind-blowing, dangerously fashionable, rollerblading delivery girl named Ramona Flowers starts cruising through his dreams and sailing by him at parties. Will Scott's awesome life get turned upside-down? Will he have to face Ramona's seven evil ex-boyfriends in battle? The short answer is yes.
I didn't know much about the comics going into them but I had seen the movie a few times before and so knew the basic plot around the Scott Pilgrim story. I was hoping for more depth and side adventures than was portrayed in the film but unfortunately I didn't really like the comics as much as expected.
The Scott Pilgrim series tells the story of Scott, a lazy slacker twenty-something who lives with his roommate Wallace and plays in a band with a couple of his friends and is dating a high school girl who he doesn't really like. Then his boring monotonous life is turned upside down by the arrival of Ramona Flowers - the most a-typical manic pixie dream girl ever written.
Although I found the story to be mostly fun it was very fantastical and at times random. The plot was sometimes so random it was jarring for the reader and somewhat hard to understand at times if there was a difference between Scott's overly dramatic imaginings in his head and what was actually real and happening within the plot.
Scott's character was not really a very enjoyable one for me. I found him to be extremely selfish and uncaring towards his friends and Ramona and he was also incredibly over the top dramatic and annoying at times. Scott's lack of attention to anyone other than himself and Ramona was often made fun of especially towards the end of the series which was amusing.
Ramona's character felt almost very distant from the novel itself, although this maybe tied in with the whole manic-pixie-dream-girl vibe her character eludes. I would have enjoyed to have delved into her character more, had more interactions with her and if she had been more developed in the story.
Overall, I enjoyed the series but (unpopular opinion alert) I enjoyed the film more than the book series!
I think if I hadn't read the entire series back to back like I did then I would not have enjoyed it or even been that bothered to even finish the series to the end. I thought the art style was enjoyable however some of the characters were very "same-y" and were not as well differentiated as they could have been.
I know the series has an almost cult like following but unfortunately for me it just did not resonate with me in that way. I think the series could probably be more enjoyable for gamers and people who like gaming as there are many references to games and the story is written in a very game-story format of storytelling.
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