Scott Pilgrim Vol. 2: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World Color Edition Review
The beloved comic series returns, now in glorious color!
Created by Bryan Lee O’Malley
Published by Oni Press
Release Date 7 November 2012
$24.99 US
Warning! Plot Spoilers Throughout!
It almost seems cliché to sing the praises of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s slacker epic at this point, but I’m about to do it anyway. Scott Pilgrim is a glorious celebration of all things geek mixed with a dash of hip for good measure. For those unfamiliar, the Scott Pilgrim series follows the character Scott Pilgrim, a twenty three year old, bass guitar playing slacker who has quite literally just met the girl of his dreams, the beautiful Ramona Flowers. After making a fool of himself, Scott finally wins Ramona over, but if Scott wants to form a relationship with Ramona, he must first fight and defeat her seven evil exes.
After defeating Matthew Patel, the first evil ex, in Volume 1, Volume 2 revolves around Scott dealing with Lucas Lee, Ramona’s second evil ex-boyfriend. Lucas Lee is a big time skater turned big time movie star. He is also a sellout, and therefore evil (or did he sellout because he’s evil?). Either way, Lucas Lee proves to be more than Scott can handle—even after his rigorous training of playing Tony Hawk: Pro Skater. With some quick thinking, Scott manages to defeat Lee through what is essentially a deus ex machina. Even with this absurd victory, everything feels perfectly in line with the rest of the series; it’s wacky and fun, but still acceptable in the world that Bryan Lee O’Malley has created.
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World also spends a good chunk of time with Knives Chau, a high schooler Scott was dating before he met Ramona. Knives is still hopelessly in love and a total “Scottaholic.” Needless to say, she doesn’t handle Scott’s breakup with her in the healthiest of ways. After discovering Scott has a new girlfriend, Knives descends into a dark place that eventually leads to quite a confrontation with Ramona at the Toronto Reference Library. O’Malley manages to make Knives a tragic character while also playing up the humor of her current situation, showing yet another stroke of excellence in his indie epic.
The third act of the book establishes characters that will play major roles in Volume 3 and beyond. It turns out that Ramona is not the only one with evil exes as Scott’s ex-girlfriend, Envy Adams, arrives in town. Not much is revealed about her character. What we do know is she and Scott are not on the best of terms, and she is the lead singer in a much more successful rock band. The book then ends with an interesting twist regarding Ramona’s third evil ex: Todd Ingram.
Some of the artwork was cleaned up for the color edition of Volume 1, but there appear to be no major art changes beyond the addition of color. That being said, the color work in this book is absolutely stunning. Scott Pilgrim was an energetic book even in black and white, but the newly added color somehow manages to breath even more life into each panel.
For bonus extras, Volume 2 is a bit sparse compared to Volume 1. There is a short comic called “Monica Beetle” by O’Malley, along with early character sketches, and some comic comparisons to actual locations. While all of this is nice, I kind of wish there was something as awesome as the original pitch script that was included with Volume 1.
Overall, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is an amazing comic book that will appeal to a wide variety of people. If you’re a Scott Pilgrim fan, then chances are you have already picked this up, but if you are a newcomer, the color editions are definitely the best way to check out this series. Volume 3 can’t come soon enough.
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What do you think? Leave a comment.
Great review! Does the color edition add any value to the execution of the story (making you relate more to the events)? Should one invest in this when owning the original B&W copy?
The addition of color, as well as an improvement in paper quality, really just add another layer of polish to the book. In regards to the story, the color helps with creating the setting. For example, darker shades are used for night time, where the originals were just black and white.
As to whether or not it is worth double-dipping, I personally think it is worth it. I generally regard Scott Pilgrim to be one of the best graphic novels out there, and the added color only makes it better. Plus, the larger hardcover looks great on the bookshelf. Another idea is to give your B&W copies away to friends after buying the color editions. That way you can get a new addition to your collection share the series with your friends!
Congratulations on an excellent review! Compared to the others in this magazine, the level of professionalism in regard to grammar, spelling and punctuation, is very high. Maybe others aren’t, but I am distracted and annoyed by errors, and that affects my enjoyment of the article. Thank you and keep it up.
Thank you. I try to do my best to maintain that level of professionalism while writing. I’m glad to see my hard work appreciated!
I agree with Max that the color and the size of the book really added another dimension to the story. When I first read Scott Pilgrim, I always thought it would work so much better in color. Well O’Malley gave me my wish and it’s fantastic! Definitely worth the double dip. Fantastic review!
GREAT READ! I will be picking this one up next weekend!
Pretty colors *drool* 😛 ha ha looks like fun!
Cool review – I’ve started picking up these colour editions. They look absolutely great (and like I need any excuse to read Scott Pilgrim again!)
I have only seen the movie. And I wasn’t a huge fan of Ramona flowers. Does the comic do a better job in making her character more relatable/likeable? I guess her character isn’t really the point. The plot is pretty crazy and humorous… and I suppose that’s the bigger purpose.
I would imagine that her character isn’t any more likable in other mediums given what I have read here.