The Scott Pilgrim series covers many universal themes--love, loss, and redemption--and wraps them up in a fun, bubblegum story filled with action, wacky characters, surreal humor, and numerous pop culture references. Sound bizarre? Well, it is, but it's also very heartfelt; the story examines the life of Canadian protagonist Scott Pilgrim and the relationship he develops with Ramona Flowers, a cool American girl he meets at a local party. He quickly falls for her, but dating this girl carries one nasty stipulation--he must defeat her previous seven evil boyfriends, or "evil exes," in combat before they can truly be together. Over the course of the six volume series, Scott faces down these brutes much like one encounters a boss at the end of each level in a video game. In fact, the entire story plays out much like a video game (Super Mario references and all), albeit with better writing than what is often found in that medium.
No doubt, author Bryan Lee O'Malley's work here is an ingenious piece of fiction. Although his art is rough (especially in the early volumes), the high-level of emotion he is able to convey with his simple line work is incredible, making for characters that are far more endearing and expressive than they have any right to be. His depiction of the whimsical, almost magical world of Toronto is also sharp. In one sense, the city seems very mundane, with its denizens working dead-end jobs by day and simply hanging out at night. But then Scott will defeat an evil-ex, exploding him into a pile of coins, and then nonchalantly take a trip with Ramona Flowers through the sub-space highway, which is essentially an interdimensional warp zone that links to different areas of the city. (Again, Super Mario fans will understand.) Likewise, the humor is sharp, with zany but somehow believable characters and a worldview that often seems confused about what is truly real and what is fantasy, but doesn't try too hard to uncover the difference. It's both a peculiar and enchanting work all at the same time.
But for every piece of genius that soaks through O'Malley's masterpiece, there are some plot problems that cannot be altogether ignored. One such issue is with the character Knives Chau, a young girl whom Scott briefly dates before he meets and falls for Ramona. Scott ends the relationship not long after he and Ramona begin dating, but because he technically dated the two of them simultaneously for a short time, the story becomes determined to stigmatize him as a "cheater" for the rest of the series. The problem with this label is that it doesn't exactly fit--his time with Knives is a brief, virtually platonic relationship, and at the midpoint of the story, he even admits to Knives that he treated her poorly (to which she appears to forgive him). Nevertheless, the "Scott cheated on me" syndrome continues through the rest of the books until it is exploited to help create a larger conflict (much) later in the story. Furthermore, the final volume feels rushed and doesn't satisfactorily answer all the questions readers will have at this point in the tale, and it makes matters worse by introducing new elements to the plot that are not necessary nor make much sense, even by Scott Pilgrim standards. (Incidentally, most of these issues are resolved or at least mitigated in the movie adaptation, but that version has one or two of its own issues.) These are, for the most part, only small complaints, but they do remove a little of the magical luster that made the books so enchanting in the earlier volumes.
As for this particular collection, fans will be pleased with the display box, which features seemingly every character from the series gloriously emblazoned across it. A poster is also included and is a nice extra, but the real draw will be putting this fine box on a shelf somewhere for all to see. For those who don't already own the books, this set is probably the way to go.
Scott Pilgrim, despite a few minor stumbles, is still a unique, sometimes brilliant work crafted for a contemporary audience. One day, when future generations look back on this era and try to understand the mindset of the millennial culture, they will probably examine the Scott Pilgrim series for a clue.