Chris was also the forerunner in trying to get me to pick up and read Scott Pilgrim, a series of indie graphic novels. Oddly enough, despite having a ton of friends here in town that read comics, only people outside of this area have been recommending it to me. So I picked up volume 1, and I liked it, but I couldn't put my finger on why. I just finished volume 2 and it's becoming easier to pinpoint where the book's likability stems from.
For anyone who hasn't heard of it I'll describe it to you the same way it's always described to me: Scott Pilgrim is a 23 year old guy who falls for a hipster chick named Ramona, but he quickly finds out that he has to fight her seven evil ex-boyfriends if he wants to continue to date her.
Most of the book is very down-to-earth stuff like Scott getting to know Ramona, dealing with his own ex's, and hanging out with his band mates. The characters are well developed if a little too plentiful (sometimes to the point of confusion since they are all the same basic character model with different clothes and hair) and there is light humor throughout. Where the book gets its hook is that all these seemingly ordinary details are contrasted when a character is forced into a fight. Every character has insane, somewhat supernatural fighting abilities like characters in a video game. And that's exactly the point, to be like a video game. When defeated, the "bosses" even drop collectible items that hover in mid air. So imagine the normal life of a group of 20-somethings only they have to fight bosses on a regular basis to progress in their everyday lives.
I'm only through with volume 2, but I imagine that when I go to pick up volume 3 I'll get the same reply that I've gotten from every other store clerk: "Scott Pilgrim is awesome!" It's not as though I'm spearheading a trend or anything as the first book was released in 2004, and I don't guess I'm trying to recruit more readers, I just needed to write down and thus organize my thoughts about just why I felt so compelled to keep reading. But if you do choose to pick it up you can be one of the cool kids who says "Yeah, I read that" when the movie comes out and most people have no idea what's going on.
Oh, wow, man. I'm glad you know about this too.
ReplyDeleteI've only read volume 1, but I like Scott Pilgrim a lot, and have wanted to continue the series. I also feel like I dropped the ball a bit by never mentioning it to you. Some comic book person I've turned out to be.
And congrats on the Ernie downloads.
Yeah, way to go!
ReplyDeleteThe main thing I was suggesting with that comment was that I figured it must be a regional thing that hadn't hit WV yet (not uncommon, but not as bad as it used to be since the internet came along.)
Also I was just struck because people would recommend it to me just on the basis of suspecting I was a nerd without knowing if I'm even into comics.
I know, I know, a nerd who isn't into comics is pretty rare. I guess the flat-out science and math nerd seemes to have died off in the 90's when personal computers became something that everyone used, not just guys with pocket protectors.
Very cool, thanks for the heads up on this, it looks very interesting indeed!
ReplyDeleteI also constantly suffer the stereotype that if I'm a nerd, I must be interested in comics. Just cartoons for me, pal.
ReplyDeleteSomeday, we'll overcome this.