Scott Pilgrim Vol. 4: Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together

Posted by Adam on November 14, 2007

(Oni Press)

“Scott, if your life had a face, I would punch it in the balls. Seriously.”

As a goofy, oversensitive, slacker man-child from Toronto who hates real jobs and falls for girls who are way out of his league, I“m always a bit surprised at the success of Scott Pilgrim. That is to say, I“m surprised that people enjoy it as much as I do, considering that it seems tailor made to speak to me, and me alone. Literally, this is me reading Scott Pilgrim: “Oh, look, it“s the CityTV building! Oh, and Dundas Square! Oooh, Sneaky Dee“s! I hate that place, why would Scott hang out there? Hey, I think I“ve been to that Vegan restaurant…” etc. But I guess the zany spirit of fun and universality of the characters and situations speaks to just about everyone, as witnessed by the popularity of this comic, which gets better and better with every installment.

If there“s been any major potential stumbling block with this series, it“s been the character of Scott Pilgrim himself. I just described myself as feeling a certain kinship with him, and even I get a little annoyed at what a mess he is sometimes. I mean, the dude seems to have actual mental problems. He can“t even remember large chunks of his life, or that he“s met people “like four times already”, or that the web address to www.amazon.ca is www.amazon.ca. Obviously this is comedic exaggeration, but still, you can“t help wondering what his erstwhile, hair-changing ninja delivery-girl ladyfriend Ramona Flowers sees in him. This is obviously a common enough trope—the dumb geek with the amazing girlfriend—but Scott Pilgrim (the book) is smart enough to make explaining this relationship the central focus of the story. As the title states, Scott finally starts to make some baby-steps towards maturity in this one, and the results are strangely exhilarating. Or maybe not so strange, since you KNOW there“s going to be ninjas involved.

Volume 4 opens with a burst of colour, as Scott tries to work up the nerve to finally say “the L-word” to Ramona: “Lesbian”. No, wait, I mean “Love.” Unfortunately, his ability to do same is just the first of a series of challenges that threaten to shake up our emotionally arrested protagonist“s precious little life. The fact that he and best friend/gay roommate are about to be kicked out of their apartment, the re-appearance of an old high school not-flame, and the increasing pressure on Scott to get an actual job also conspire to force Scott to either grow up or make some changes. Then there“s the mysterious Asian man with a sword who“s trying to kill him…despite the fact that he“s apparently not one of Ramona“s evil ex-boyfriends.

We also learn more about the mysterious Ms. Flowers, including her previously unknown age and the reason why she“s been so vague about exactly how many ex-boyfriends Scott is going to have to do battle with. The answer involves the L-word.

Some people complain that writer/artist Brian Lee O“Malley“s art has a tendency to make the characters hard to distinguish from each other (as he frequently acknowledges), but I personally disagree. I never have more than a momentary confusion about this, even when he draws scenes of a dozen or so characters all seated around a table (as he does a few times in this volume). O“Malley“s art is deceptively simple, but he“s got a great eye for detail that helps keep things extremely clear. I do kind of wish this comic was in full colour all the way through, as it would better suit Scott“s hyperkinetic cartoon universe, but O“Malley“s solid linework never stops surprising me with its versatility.

Meanwhile, his writing is just getting better and better at capturing the intricacies of the character relationships, often revealing everything you need to know about a minor character with a few well-chosen panels. Well, OK, it helps that O“Malley also relies on snide narrative captions and bizarre pop-up stats boxes, one of the series“ trademark video game shoutouts. But what I find most impressive about O“Malley is his ability to capture dialogue between a group of close friends, living in this particular place, subculture, and time, who share the same wavelength. Their conversations often seem to be comprised entirely of non sequiturs, weird tangents, and in-jokes to which we (or even they) aren“t entirely privy, and yet you always understand them. Some of it, again, is exaggeration, but there“s a core of truthfulness there, and what makes this the best Scott Pilgrim volume yet is the way the underlying heart comes to the surface at the climax, when Scott finally does get it together. The boy earns it in this one.

Or maybe it“s just me. I“ve been there. Even if I didn“t literally have to pull a flaming sword from my chest.