Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Book Club: Volume 3

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CHRISTINE: Vol. 3 had some of my favorite scenes/quotes of the series, including Todd’s “Tell it to the cleaning lady on Monday” bit, “She punched the highlights out of your hair” and “DRAMATIC MUSIC IS PLAYING RIGHT NOW.” This volume also introduces some new genres by opening and closing with rockumentary-style montages and including Envy’s crayon-drawn fairy tale sequence.

O’Malley pushes the limits of inclusion, making the series an ever-growing mix of genres and styles. At the same time, he’s hyperexclusive when it comes to introducing some characters or important details about characters. I don’t find Stacey to be a particularly interesting character, let alone an interesting younger sister, but when I first read Vol. 3, I thought, “when do we get to meet Scott’s younger brother, Lawrence?”

In Vol. 2, Lawrence lets Lisa Miller into the Pilgrim residence. Later, Mrs. Pilgrim later calls him to the dinner table, but we don’t get to meet him. Too engaged in other plotlines, I wasn’t hungry for any more details about Lawrence. In Vol. 3, it is revealed that Lawrence also welcomed Wallace Wells into his home and Scott borrowed his younger brother’s bass guitar indefinitely. O’Malley seems to make a point of mentioning Lawrence and an equal and opposite point of not showing Lawrence. What a tease!

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Why, if at all, is it important that Scott have a younger brother? Why is his face held back until Vol. 5, and will he have a more significant role in Vol. 6 the way Gideon, who is mentioned many times but hardly seen, presumably will? I kind of hope he is Gideon’s right-hand man and we’ll think Lawrence is such a bad guy, but he’ll turn out to have a heart of gold. Scott Pilgrim : Lawrence Pilgrim :: Megaman : Protoman?

Lucas Lee hints at Ramona’s duplicity in Vol. 2: “There’s a lot of things that Ramona doesn’t mention, Pilgrim.” Envy Adams fleshes out the mystery a bit more, “I hear what they’re saying about you, Ramona. Building up your own legend a bit?”

I literally gasped when I read this. I guess it shouldn’t be too surprising that a ninja delivery girl, about whom everything is unknown, has a potentially fudged past. Ramona has lied about her relationship history. She claimed, “I didn’t even string [Lucas Lee] along or cheat on him with any cocky pretty boys.” Actually, she did. What else has she lied about? Or what has she lied about by way of omission? Also, she’s an American—in Canada. If that doesn’t raise a red flag, I don’t know what does.

I wish the fatter vegan police offer wore a Subway (sandwich shop) t-shirt as suggested by O’Malley’s friend on one of the back pages. Subway shirts are boss. No they’re not.

MIKE: On characters in this volume, why do we meet so many friends of friends and roommates, etc.? Is it just so O’Malley doesn’t have to draw so many stick figures in the crowded club scenes? He makes a point to quickly introduce these people with captions, but doesn’t make the same effort in flashback sequences and other sudden scene transitions. I guess I’ve been enjoying being spoonfed plot and symbolism by pop culture for too long. Maybe I’ll go watch Primer again and concentrate on something.

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LEV: OK, so I’m the asshole Scott Pilgrim n00b. Not only had I never read him before, I HAVEN’T EVEN READ VOLS 1 and 2.

That’s in case you’re wondering why my ‘take’ is so ‘fresh.’

Whatever, I just had a baby.

Anyway, obvs this book is fucking hilarious, even to me, who doesn’t know the backstory. Though I do know the premise, having dutifully studied ALL the movie trailers. A few notes:

— I have no idea what happened at Honest Ed’s. This sequence reminded me of the feeling I get when people in anime start sweating and biting their lips and going NGGGGGGGG!!! and you have no idea why.

— There’s no point in trying to list all the brilliant moments. Like Scott getting Todd’s name wrong. (“Dude is — Todd Rundgren psychic! Vegan psychic!”) And Scott going through a whole scene where he talks Knives out of her crush on him, then her exit line is: “I TOTALLY LOVE YOU” (w/ big smile and peace sign!).

And probably my single favorite moment, when Todd says: “The de-veganizing ray! I can dodge this!” Then in the next panel he is totally getting rayed. “But he couldn’t.”

Plus anytime anybody ever says “chode,” it’s funny.

— I think it’s interesting that the characters are free to refer to the fact that they’re in a comic book, but somehow it doesn’t create that annoying sense of “”””””post-modern”””””” thin-ness. You care just as much.

Annoying n00b devil’s advocate things:

— Everybody looks the same. Seriously, I can’t even tell Scott and Ramona apart half the time.

— Scott and Ramona. I know this is just because I’m coming in in the middle, but it’s kinda hard to tell why they like each other. Or even if they do. Where’s the tension?

— What’s the deal with all the flashbacks and such being presented without any signposting that they’re flashbacks? Maybe I’m too old for this fluid/intercutting storytelling style.

DOUGLAS: There actually is a visual cue: in flashbacks, the gutters between panels are black!

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