Scott Pilgrim by Bryan Lee O’Malley is a new (relatively) comic book series that has been adapted into a movie (starring Michael Cera who must play all alternative teen boys in movies). The series has 6 books which were released yearly starting in 2004 (except for skipping 2008) and the final volume was just released this month. The format and art is influenced by Manga, but the series is all Canadian. But, who is Scott Pilgrim?

Scott Pilgrim is a young 20 something slacker who lives with a gay roommate, plays in a local band and is dating a 17 year old high school girl named Knives Chau. Scott’s also been seeing a strange woman in his dreams. When he meets her at a party, he is now obsessed with her. He finds out her name is Ramona Flowers and that she’s a delivery girl for Amazon in Canada. He orders stuff from Amazon as a way to introduce himself. It turns out that she uses subspace portals in dreams to move between locations faster. As Scott and Ramona start falling into a relationship, Scott is presented with two issues. First he needs to break up with Knives (who is now more in love with him) and second he needs to fight Ramona’s seven evil ex’s in order to be her boyfriend.

The story is populated with Scott and Ramona’s friends and ex’s and is your normal slacker romantic comedy with huge martial arts fighting scenes. Through the series we get to know both Scott and Ramona’s previous lives and watch as Knives tries to stay relevant in Scott’s life. Their friends go through the usual life changes and activities. The relationship between Scott and Ramona is front and center. The book is a great combination of relationship and action. It’s funny and has a great cast with interesting scenarios. Highly recommended.