You Should Be Reading: Scott Pilgrim

Welcome to the first edition of "You Should Be Reading", a semi-regular article about a series that I feel more people should follow. The first, of course, is Scott Pilgrim. Now, I had heard some about the series, but after seeing this, I knew I had to read it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9nS9iDsaj8

Holy tish that's awesome.

The brainchild of writer/artist Bryan Lee O'Malley, Scott Pilgrim tells the story of our titular character. Scott is an average-enough 23-year-old living in Toronto. He is between jobs, he plays bass (adequately) in the band Sex Bob-Omb, and is dating a high-school girl just to have some stability in his life. Everything changes when Scott meets the new girl in town, Ramona Flowers, an American delivery girl working for Amazon.ca. After some awkward moments, the two begin dating. That's when Scott learns about Ramona's baggage: Seven evil ex-boyfriends who will do anything to keep her from dating. Scott must defeat them in order to keep his love life (and actual life) in tact.

While the series starts off as the average life of a comedic character soon becomes action packed madness. Scott's interactions with the League of Ramona's Evil Exes are video-game inspired fight scenes, with unreal physics and powers and over-the-top energy. What's more, the characters take no issue with this happening. Everyone in this world knows how to fight and, fortunately for the reader, most disputes inevitably lead to violence. It's crazy, it's energetic, and it's a whole mess of fun.

The series is full of likeable and funny characters. Besides Scott and Ramona, there's Wallace Wells (Scott's very sarcastic and very gay roommate), Stephen Stills (Sex Bob-Omb's obsessive lead guitarist), Kim Pine (Sex Bob-Omb's bitter and apathetic drummer), Young Neil Nordegraf (Sex Bob-Omb's biggest fan), and Knives Chau (Scott's high-school girlfriend turned stalker). They all have a unique voice and all have their own comedic potential.

Ramona's Evil Exes are as varied and interesting as the main cast, each one with their own powers and abilities. From an Indian who can summon demon hipster chicks, to a skateboarder turned actor, to a rival bassist with vegan psychic powers. Each has their own backstory and each feeds into the plot somehow. And they are all great villains the fit the tone of the story perfectly.

Scott Pilgrim's first five volumes are on shelves now, with the sixth and final volume coming in July. If you're looking for a fun, crazy and thoroughly enjoyable series, I highly recommend these books.

Thanks for reading. I'll see you next time!