Scott Pilgrim Vs The Universe (Vol. 5)
I will be the first to say that I was late to ride the Scott Pilgrim Fan Bus, and like many others, I was instantly hooked upon finishing the first volume. The joy of starting late is that I was able to continue reading the next three volumes. Then, I had to wait, and wait, and wait for volume 5. Lewis Black said it best when indicated that, "Anticipation is better than the act." Anticipation for what you want is always better than what you get. That too is true in the case of Scott Pilgrim vs. The Universe.
If you also liked, the previous four volumes, then you will like this book. Actually, in retrospect, no you probably won't. In fact, your fanboy or girl head will probably explode when you make the startling discover that Bryan Lee O'Malley has not only grown as a storyteller, writer, artist, but that he has taken this "rich with nerd reference love story" with amazing premise and added depth. In fact, the nerd and music references are minimum, and the over the top fighting, lacking. If you came to this book expecting more of the same, then allow me to break your heart and kill your anticipation. What you will get is character and story depth. If you break the book into three acts, you'd actually find that Mr. Pilgrim is in fact, not the main character of the story until the third act. Instead, you will follow Kim (1st act), Romona (2nd act) and last and certainly not least, Scott (3rd act... couldn't help myself).
But the real question here is, "Is the book good?" Yes, in fact it is fantastic! Mr. O'Malley masterfully and quietly destroys everything that he has been working towards. Why you ask? Because a good story is one that makes the reader hate change, to hate having to work for the happy ending. A good story leaves you looking up at your wall, thinking about how the story was supposed to go. How it was supposed to continue on with no surprises just new jokes and new villains. It was supposed to be the next step before the final boss fight. All good things must come to an end. How else can we appreciate the ending? You have to tear the character down before you can bring them back up again. If you're getting on the Scott Pilgrim bus late, fear not, there's still plenty of anticipation for the next volume. For my money though, number five has been the best thus far.
Story - 8.5
Art - 8.0
Overall - 8.3
