Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 5: Scott Pilgrim vs The Universe [Paperback]

Bryan Lee O'Malley (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 18, 2009

Scott Pilgrim just turned 24, and things couldn't possibly be better! This means things are about to get infinitely worse. Suddenly, TWO of Ramona's evil ex-boyfriends are in town, and they're playing dirty. His band is in turmoil, and his own exes aren't making things any easier. And what's up with Ramona, anyway? She's been acting kinda weird ever since they moved in together. It's the SECOND LAST VOLUME of SCOTT PILGRIM: Scott's precious little life is coming back around to bite him in the butt, and it may not be pretty!

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. In the previous four volumes, our slacker hero got the band together, got a job and got the girl. Now he has to learn how to live with happily ever after and finds that there is no such thing. The previous four volumes of O'Malley's cult hit established the world of Pilgrim, a 24-year-old without any actual skills other than presumed awesomeness. To win the hand of the lovely Ramona Flowers, he must defeat her seven Evil Ex-Boyfriends in video-game style battles that incarnate millennial anxieties over finding love, holding a job and somehow managing to stay cool all at once. This time out, he's got to fight the handsome twins Kyle and Ken Katayanagi who are even more awesome than Scott himself. More importantly, now that he and Ramona are cohabiting, they face danger from the jealousies and insecurities of couplehood. O'Malley's cartooning has gotten better and better, and there are moments of comedy, high action and even poetry, as when Scott and a ball gown–clad Ramona flee an insufferable party in a daring escape. This penultimate chapter of the Scott Pilgrim saga is one of the strongest ones yet and should win new readers in droves, especially with a Pilgrim movie slated for the end of the year. (Feb.)
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From School Library Journal

Grade 10 Up–Scott and Ramona both carry emotional baggage from their previous relationships. Scott cheated on one or more of his ex-girlfriends, who have names like Envy and Knives. Ramona has several ex-boyfriends whom Scott has been fighting over the course of this series. This book is filled with characters in their 20s who look and act much younger. They're bored when they go to parties, so they sit around complaining. They're in a band but they spend more time arguing with each other than rehearsing or performing. There are several fantasy elements, as when Scott gets into fistfights with robots sent by Ramona's ex-boyfriends. Ramona also seems to be fantastic in an unexplained way, which promises to be explored in volume six. O'Malley's cartoon style is eye-catching, but the similarity of the androgynously attractive faces sometimes makes it difficult to tell one character from another. Readers who are not familiar with the earlier volumes may have trouble understanding these characters, their motivations, and the sudden appearance of robots in a (seemingly) reality-based story. But luckily for those readers, summaries of the previous installments as well as many sample pages are available on the scottpilgrim.com Web site. It's hard to empathize with a character who appears to be the designated hero, but who is also a slacker with poor communication skills. The main problem with Scott Pilgrim is that readers might choose to side with the universe instead.–Andrea Lipinski, New York Public Library END

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Product Details

• Paperback: 184 pages
• Publisher: Oni Press (February 18, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1934964107
• ISBN-13: 978-1934964101
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #17,136 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #34 in Books > Comics & Graphic Novels > Graphic Novels > Fantasy

More About the Author

Bryan Lee O'Malley was born in London, Ontario, Canada. He has lived in the north. He has lived in Toronto. He has lived in Nova Scotia. Now he lives in the United States.

He has drawn comics for himself and others since an early age. Comics became his lifelong vocation when he realized they were the only thing he kept doing while constantly quitting everything else (college, jobs, friends, being a nerd, not being a nerd, etc).

Visit Bryan's website at radiomaru.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best comic series of the decade, February 15, 2009

By 

Jerry Harmon (Portland,OR USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 5: Scott Pilgrim vs The Universe (Paperback)

The Scott Pilgrim books are in a class by themselves. There is so much to laugh at in each one but the surprising thing is how much there is that will move you. Even the most minor characters become like old friends when you read this incredible series.

Book 5 is the most serious one yet, dealing with Scott and Ramona settling into life together. My favorite character, Kim Pine, finally gets her chance to shine in this volume. Her actions in the final battle....wow Kim, just wow.

I don't want to give any details for fear of ruining the delight you will get reading it yourself, but there is a cliffhanger that will make you curse the year long wait until the final book that brings the series to a close.

I cannot recommend these books enough. If you are between the ages of 13-45 this is guaranteed to become one of your favorite books. Not to diss the older folks I'm almost 40 myself), all the pop culture references may be lost on those people who weren't raised with a video game console in their house. But there is enough heart in these books for anyone to get a lot of them.

But this book!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The penultimate showdown, July 17, 2010

By 

Johnny Heering "trivia buff" (Bethel, CT United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 5: Scott Pilgrim vs The Universe (Paperback)

Here we have what is said to be the second to last volume in the Scott Pilgrim series of graphic novels. Scott still has to defeat three more of Ramona's evil exes, and he faces off with two of them here (they are twins). Scott is marginally more mature now, but that doesn't make his actions any less funny. Looking forward to the conclusion!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another Great Entry, April 12, 2009

By 

Tristan A. Hayes (Southwestern, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 5: Scott Pilgrim vs The Universe (Paperback)

Scott Pilgrim vs the Universe is definitely one of the books that you can finish in an hour if youve been following Scott Pilgrim from the beginning. The books is as usual, filled with hilarious dialogue, an interesting action packed feature of Scott and robot fighting, and finally more evil ex-boyfriends.

If this was your first entry into the Scott Pilgrim universe then I would definitely, after reading this, urge you to go back to the first book. However, the author does a great job at providing a refreshing review of what happened in the previous books. All the characters arent included in the review but when they appear in the story a brief cutway or side discussion discusses their part.

To close away this one is a fast read. As I usually suggest for the books that are a fast read, you may want to reread it. The only flaw is that at times the characters are a bit hard to make out and you have to really follow them to see who exactly is speaking in scenes that may have just two or three of them. Fortunately Ramona is always easy to pick out because of her bag, Scott is too.

Also this one I like because of several of the scenes with Scott. The author did a great job with his design, mainly in the area of some of the panels with only a portrait of Scott. They are hard to describe but they are definitely memorable.

Definitely pick this up and as usual have fun rereading them all as we wait for the next one, since they all always end on two huge cliffhangers.