Customer Reviews

Scott Pilgrims Precious Little Boxset

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"Scott Pilgrim vs. the World," the striking film version of the inspired series by Bryan Lee O'Malley, had a disappointing run this year in terms of box office. Even with surprising critical support, the film fell below expectations from a money making standpoint. Now, as we are enjoying the DVD release, I think the world of Scott Pilgrim is about to explode as new fans to the irreverent charm of Scott and company discover the delightfully skewed source material. And I thought, I'd recap the highlights as I've gone back to appreciate the six volumes anew.

Volume One: Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life. The 2004 introduction to Scott Pilgrim and his motley band of acquaintances sets the tone perfectly for all that is to follow. We meet the band and Scott's gay roommate, but it's Scott's love life that takes center stage (naturally)! His chaste courtship with the slightly obsessed Knives is hysterical--but everything changes when a bewitching Amazon delivery girl named Ramona literally invades his mind. Setting his heart on the mysterious Ramona, Scott soon discovers she has some pretty heavy baggage in the form of seven evil ex-boyfriends that need to be dispatched. A great start to an increasingly bizarre series!

Volume Two: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. The saga continued in 2005 with a chapter that provided numerous flashbacks developing some of Scott's formative relationships. His deepening affection for Ramona serves to unleash the warrior in Knives. Even as the couple deal with Knives' new aggression, Ramona's second evil ex (a movie star, no less!) drops by and must be dealt with. That's no problem, really, when appealing to his pride and machismo--and his demise barely even registers in comparison to Scott's ex Envy reappearing. This is the volume that perfects the blend of fighting and comedy.

Volume Three: Scott Pilgrim & The Infinite Sadness. In 2006, O'Malley released my favorite volume to date. As Scott's ex Envy (a successful rocker) is back, it provides a welcome romantic foil for Ramona. Their break-up was devastating to Scott and much of this chapter's humor is derived by exploiting the toxicity of relationships. But dealing with Envy is only part of the problem when it's discovered that Ramona's third ex is also in Envy's band (and dates her!) The overlapping of various bonds make this a delightfully complicated mess and the Vegan agenda has never been so diabolically wrought. Great, funny stuff!

Volume Four: Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together. In this episode released in 2007, it finally seems time for Scott and Ramona to settle into a more conventionally sane relationship! But as their happiness is peaking, Scott is being attacked on two fronts--by an older Asian man and a plump blonde--both with murder on their mind. Dense Scott may be the last to realize who Ramona's evil ex is in this edition, but his bewilderment is especially ingratiating! Some of the more fun confrontations are the backdrop to moments of happiness and moments of jealousy--just like a true pairing. I enjoyed to hints of domesticity provided in this action packed volume.

Volume Five: Scott Pilgrim vs. The Universe. (From 2009) As Scott gets closer to winning Ramona's heart, a new challenge presents itself. Ramona has dated twins and now their combined power, plus an adeptness of robotics, just might be too much for Scott to handle. When Scott's closest friend Kim is put in harm's way, though, he must rise to the challenge. This is a noteworthy chapter in that it develops some of Ramona's darkness and doubts. No true love runs a true course! But in a surprising twist, the couple may be over before they really had a chance. Volume Five is probably the most realistic in developing Scott and Ramona as a realistic couple--and, oh, there are some awesome parties too.

Volume Six: Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour. The concluding chapter wrapped up in 2010, with Scott finally facing the evil mastermind behind the whole series--Gideon. Bringing a newfound maturity to Scott, this chapter has him dealing with loss and self awareness. Helping to unravel his own life's drama, Kim, Envy and Ramona all figure prominently in Scott's development. The final contest has dramatic consequences and is played out exquisitely both in the real world as well as "subspace." A fitting send-off to a beloved dork, a nice combination of action, romance and comedy.

A note on this collection, be aware of pricing. On a good day, you can get the individual volumes around $4 each--so it may not be prudent to pay for a "set" price to get the six together. The books are definitely worth having, just look for the pricing scheme that makes the most sense.

As for the box set, it adds a nice slipcase to the previously released books (the books themselves do not have added content) as well as a cool poster. If you already have the books, however, it may not be worth a complete reinvestment for just a case and a poster. If you don't have the series, it's a handsome presentation--just be aware you can get the actual content much cheaper if you don't care about the cardboard case and poster. KGHarris 11/10.

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.

I have to admit, first and foremost, that I got into Scott Pilgrim on accident. I was dragged to go see the movie by friends and I ended up loving it so much I went to see the movie 5 more times, followed by viewing the Blu-Ray version about 37 times to this day. But this is not about the movie, this is about the boxset, which is damn good if you ask me.

I didn't expect much from it since I had preordered it first. I just thought I would get the 6 volumes and that's it. Boy was I surprised when I got the thing. It looked fantastic with the box, and I continually turned it around in pure awe from the sheer amount of characters and detail that was put into it. Well, as far as 8-bit detail goes anyway. Moving onto the contents of the box, they included what I wanted, the full 6 volumes of Scott Pilgrim in all their glory. As I took out each one, to see anyway, not read yet, I was again surprised with the poster. Pure amazingness on a sheet of paper was my first thought as I unfolded the poster.

I won't go into detail of the books as this is, again, about the boxset. I was quite happy with the price for all of them, and to get the box and poster was an awesome bonus. It did take a while for it to get to my place, but worth the wait.

To make the purchasing of the box set more epic, one should order it from Amazon.ca, NOT Amazon.com.

Of course, Amazon.ca can not guarantee that Ramona herself will personally deliver your order (wearing roller blades).

If you have no idea what I'm talking about then you're obviously unfamiliar with SP. So, what are you witing for? Dude, Go buy one of the books already. Or the whole set.

It's hard to think of a slacker more endearing than Scott Pilgrim -- he's funny, cool, unpretentious, and awkwardly romantic.

And you get to see all of that in "Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Boxset," which adds a rock'n'roll sci-fi twist to the usual boy-meets-girl story. Most of it ambles across the daily adventures of Scott's life as he falls in love, but Bryan Lee O'Malley carefully it into a tale of good vs. evil, enduring love, evil exes, subspace passages, and the struggle to overcome the past.

23-year-old Scott Pilgrim has everything: a cool rock band, a forgiving gay roommate, and a high school girlfriend (they just talk! Don't worry!). But lately his dreams have been full of a strange young woman on rollerblades, who usually announces that he IS dreaming -- and one day at the library, he actually sees her in the flesh.

Her name is Ramona Flowers, and while Scott's first attempts to talk to her bomb horribly, an order from amazon.ca brings her right to her door (and a date). But it turns out that to officially date Ramona, Scott must defeat her seven evil exes, the League Of Evil Ex-Boyfriends -- a guy with demon hipster chicks, a famous actor, a snotty vegan rocker, an insecure lesbian ninja, and a pair of Japanese twins using evil robots.

Along the way, Scott has some ex-girlfriend problems of his own, especially with the haughty musician Envy and the high-strung teenager Knives. And when Ramona vanishes, Scott is left to deal with the final and most dangerous boyfriend: Gideon! Can Ramona and Scott overcome their flaws and terrible pasts, or will Gideon end Scott Pilgrim's precious little life?

When you boil it down, the Scott Pilgrim series is really just a boy-meets-girl story. But "Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Boxset" establishes pretty quickly that Bryan Lee O'Malley has a rare talent for spicing up an ordinary story into a delightfully quirky, wacky little love story, and even adding a bittersweet quality in the first half of the last book. Subspace purses, ninjas, love dodecahedrons, love swords and rock concerts all come into play.

And O'Malley fills the story with amusing dialogue ("That must have caused my dad's brain to break in half, replaced by a purely mechanical engine of revenge!"), video-game-style level-ups ("Guts +2 Heart +3 Smarts +1 Will +1") and plenty of quirky characters (I wish I had a roommate like Wallace). He has an art style that makes me think of more rounded TV cartoon characters -- everybody looks rather childlike, with large dark eyes, round faces and cute hipster clothes.

As for Scott... what can you say about him? He's an even mix of of sweet, awkward boy and budding rock god, and even when he does questionable stuff you somehow can't blame him because he's so earnestly sweet and nice. And his love for Ramona is just so adorable. Ramona herself takes a little warming up to, but she's a fun butt-kicking hipster chick who can hold her own, but is afraid of being hurt again.

And there's a wide-ranging cast of supporting characters -- the evil boy (and girl) friends, the roommate with the wicked sense of humor, the fragile yet volatile teenager Knives Chau (and her scary dad), blunt Kim, nasty Julie, and the grumpy and unshaven Stephen Stills.

Be sure to get "Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Boxset" instead of purchasing the graphic novels one by one -- these delightful, quirky little books are addictive. Like a handful of cinnamon candies.

This was a present for my son's birthday. He loved the books; couldn't believe he got the "whole" set and a poster too.

This superb set of novels has literally been the life blood of me for the past few weeks. I cannot, as hard as I try, tear myself away from these incredible works of art. The story makes so much sense and I completely understand every pop culture reference that is made. It takes a special kind of genius to create something this wonderful and it is my desire that these editions be taught in our public and private school sectors.

Got this boxset as a gift for Christmas this year. The movie turned me on to the books, and I just had to have them. What a great gift!! I devoured the books in a day and have re-read them several times each! Love the poster that came in the set as well. The only negative thing that I have to say about the set is that the books are in black and white. Graphic Novels have so much more power when they are in color!

Most excellent. The box is a bit flimsy, but the poster is awesome and the books are - you don't need me to plug the books.

I do have a major gripe, though. The poster comes *folded* inside, so it has annoying creases all over it and may have been damaged entirely. It's annoying.

Still, awesome collector's edition.

I can honestly say that this was the more interesting comic reads I've had in a while, though I can tell that it would not be for everyone. If you love in-jokes tied to the comic/video game/movie/music culture (read: Geek), then this will entertain you as it tells its story and molds its characters.