Scott Pilgrim Full-Colour Odds & Ends 2008
Bryan Lee O’Malley, writer/artist
Oni, July 2008
32 pages
I forget what I paid for it
Buy it at the Oni Press table at a convention
There’s really no reason a Scott Pilgrim fan shouldn’t get this. Colorful, fun, and well designed, it’s like a Scott Pilgrim T-shirt in comic book form. It consists of various (mostly) color SP comics, pin-ups, promotional pieces, and assorted ephemera–a good place to track down things like the Free Comic Book Day prequel to Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together, that awesome Super Mario Bros. 3 ad pastiche, the Kim Pine comic strip, and (reproduced at too small a size for my pervy tastes, to be perfectly frank) sexy colored sketches of Ramona and Kim in their bathing suits. O’Malley’s snappy dialogue and “video-game realism” are as on as ever, his paint palette is surprisingly gentle rather than poppy, and you know what? I’ve heard enough people say that SP Vol. 1 isn’t the greatest introduction to the series (which has gotten funnier, more ambitious, more insightful, and more delightfully complicated as it’s gone on) that I wonder if this colorful, less expensive, more immediately appealing book isn’t a better one. I recommend someone give it a try.
Tags: comics, comics reviews, Comics Time, reviews
This sounds awesome. While I know the series has its fair share of detractors, I can’t believe you’ve had people tell you that SP Vol 1 isn’t a great intro to the series. Yes, it has improved but that first volume really establishes O’Malley’s voice and approach to the series – if you don’t like Vol 1, I’d say it’s a safe bet you won’t find the other three volumes to your liking either. It may not have all the heart of the later volumes, and it’s much looser and sloppy, but it also has the infectious energy of someone really just putting it all out there. It’s kind of like watching someone else have so much fun doing something that you end up having a blast too.