Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life Volume 1

by Bryan Lee O' Malley

Paperback, 2010

Status

Available

Description

Scott Pilgrim's life is fantastic. He's 23 years old, in a rock band, between jobs, and dating a cute high school girl. Everything's awesome until a seriously mind-blowing delivery girl named Ramona Flowers enters his life.

Media reviews

This is the purest expression of American manga out there today, because instead of concentrating on look or subject matter or style, it captures what makes manga so attractive: a creator telling a story that matters to him in a unique way, one where anything can happen but the focus is on emotion.
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Energy and ideas permeate the book along with an easy-going sense of humor.
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User reviews

LibraryThing member DarkFaerieTales
The Review:

I saw Scott Pilgrim vs. The World a couple nights ago, and it’s probably one of the best movies I’ll see in 2010. It’s based on the indie comic of the same name, which I’ve yet to read, but surely will now that I’ve seen the movie. Scott Pilgrim, played brilliantly by Michael
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Cera, is a member of the band Sex Bob-omb. Scott is getting over a bad breakup when he meets the girl of his dreams. The problem is Scott is already spoken for. Well, that and to get the girl of his dreams he must defeat her 7 super powered exes. What ensues is part Hong-Kong action movie, part cartoon, part video game, seizure inducing, indie comedy love story. Suffice to say, this movie, like Mr. Pilgrim himself, rocks hard.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is a visually stunning movie, topped off by incandescent flashes of comedic genius and some of the best fight choreography this side of The Matrix. I suppose, if we were lame, we could just call it an action-comedy, but trying to hang such a ‘meh’ label onto such a genre defying movie is like trying to put a pair of skinny, hipster jeans onto a Bob-omb. I suspect that there is a very high correlation of people for whom the words “up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, select, start” make perfect sense and those who will also love Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.

While it works as a hilarious indie comedy, this movie also serves as a love letter to us somewhat nerdy children of the 80s and 90s, who spent hours hardly blinking in front of game consoles. Scott Pilgrim is filled with gaming pop culture references. And after scraping the bottom of a Donkey Kong sized barrel, that is the only criticism I have with Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. Its mile a minute pop culture references might make it a tad inaccessible to the generations that came of age before the rise of Japanese gaming consoles. So if your parents didn’t own a television, forbade you from playing videogames (and you weren’t able to sneak over to friends’ houses to get your pop culture fix), then a substantial part of the movie might go right over your head. But for those of us who wished that power up filled bricks floated in the sky and that enemies exploded into coins when defeated, then Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is a pilgrimage well worth today’s inflated movie prices.

FTC Advisory: I purchased my own tickets.
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LibraryThing member alimcc
In the first installment of Bryan Lee O'Malley's "Scott Pilgrim" graphic novel series, Scott meets the girl of his dreams, but her exes may put a damper on his plans for their future...

Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life introduces the reader to Scott Pilgrim, a nerdy, "hipster" band member with a
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quick wit and troubles in the romance department. After having a dream of a beautiful girl and later spotting her, Scott is convinced she is "the one," despite the fact that he is currently dating Knives Chau, a catholic school girl. Over the course of the first book, Scott and Ramona begin a relationship, only for Scott to discover he must defeat her 7 evil exes before they can be together in peace. On top of it all, he has friends, Knives, and his band to deal with.

O'Malley quickly and effectively builds a world where a guy like Scott Pilgrim could believably have ninja-like reflexes and extreme fighting skills. O'Malley's novel is heavily influenced by my generation's love of video games (there are several homages to the original Nintendo-like games, such as Scott's adversaries exploding into coins when defeated) and the nerd/hipster cultures. Plot points like Knives being a teenage catholic school girl are played for laughs, rather than the traditional I'm-a-sexy-manga-girl-in-a-super-short-skirt characterization. Although the world may be fantastic, the idea that a couple must deal with their pasts before moving forward is at the forefront of these books, and it's this heart that makes them more than just goofy fun. I would recommend these graphic novels for any high school library without hesitation. (Grades 9-12).
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LibraryThing member dk_phoenix
So, I was standing in the bookstore at the graphic novel shelf, perusing the X-Men trade paperbacks (checking out some of David/tapestry100's recommendations, actually), when out of the blue, a 30-something Asian man thrusts a book in front of me (he had an adorable little girl with him, I assume
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his daughter... very cute!) and says "You should read this, it's really good."

I looked at him, then at the book, and saw that it was the first Scott Pilgrim graphic novel. I recognized that this man had been browsing the manga shelf a moment earlier, so it wasn't as weird as it could have been. Rather, I said "Oh! Yes, I'd love to. I've heard it's excellent."

He said: "The movie's coming out soon, but the book is great, you should try it." To which I replied: "Okay, I will! I've been looking forward to the movie, but I'll read this, thanks for the recommendation!" And then as randomly and quickly as he'd thrust the book at me, he disappeared. The whole conversation couldn't have taken more than 20 seconds. Maybe 15 seconds.

Anyway, it was true -- I'm looking forward to the movie, and I just learned about the graphic novels a few weeks ago and was curious about them. So, having a few hours to kill in the store, I sat down and read the first Scott Pilgrim book, as promised to the random customer.

It was really entertaining! Mind you, I found it a bit slow to start... and there was an extraneous character that I'm not really sure what the point was... but as there are currently 6 books in the series, I'm sure that gets straightened out somewhere along the line. It wasn't remarkable in terms of artwork or characters, but some elements of the storytelling were unique, and I did literally laugh out loud in the middle of the bookstore at a few things.

All told, I enjoyed it! I hope to read the rest of the series in the near future, but I'd rather purchase them than read them in the bookstore -- they ARE set in Toronto, after all! I'm all for supporting Canadian content in popular literature, or should I say, pop culture (with the movie releasing soon).
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LibraryThing member htomren
This book is awesome!
LibraryThing member ChelseaSaysRawr
A real great graphic novel, one worth the 5 star rating I gave it.

People just judging the book by its cover might not pick it up to read, but trust me when I say that its very entertaining. By flipping to a random page the chances are that a person would come across a funny and interesting event or
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image that makes you want to read the whole thing just to understand what’s going on.

The book is pretty much ‘random’ glued to a skeleton plot where Scott must defeat Ramona’s seven evil boyfriends before he can date her. The story starts out pretty normal, a bunch of friends just hanging out and then all of a sudden during Scott’s second meeting with Ramona things start to take a very unrealistic twist. Examples of these very strange occurrences are where Ramona’s first ex-boyfriend has fire powers, a girl is able to travel through a subspace highway that happen to be in Scotts head and her roller blades have the ability to melt ice. I found myself laughing every few pages! Now some people might complain about this aspect of the novel. But that’s what this book is all about, random, geeky and strange events.

And yet the character themselves are completely believable. Well besides the random powers that pop out of the blue near the end of the book. Most of them are around the age of 20, and boy do they sure act their age. They joke around, fight and just generally live like young adults. It’s easy for people in this age range to connect with the characters and understand how and why they act the way they do.

The story is paced and written wonderfully, you do have to make sure you are looking at the images though because sometimes the characters are doing something different then what they are talking about. And example would be on Scott and Ramona’s first date, Ramona falls off a swing as Scott is desperately trying to explain that he is not gay or where Scott slips down a sloop as Ramona is questioning him on where he grew up.

The only thing that I dislike is that the book is rated 13+. It clearly isn’t meant for 13 year olds considering that there is sex in this and later volumes, it should have gained a higher rating. Aside from that a lot of 16 and older audiences will love this graphic novel.
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LibraryThing member taramatchi
What a fun little book! I can't help but love Scott Pilgrim and his friends. It mixes up a bit of teen angst with gaming nuances to create a fantastic journey to win a girl's heart.
Right after I finished I looked at my husband and told him that he has to read this book!
LibraryThing member drewandlori
Lots of fun. I'll really have to find copies of the rest of the series.

It's the story of Scott Pilgrim, a Toronto slacker and bass player for a "kind of crappy" rock band, and his quest to win the heart of his dream girl, Ramona, by defeating her seven exes in batle. This volume sets up the
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premise and covers the battle against Evil Boyfriend #1.
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LibraryThing member BenjaminHahn
A fun quick read about being a loser. Well, almost a loser. I guess Scott Pilgrim can play bass and fight pretty well, but other than that he only excels at being unmotivated. My favorite things about this book are the little extras thrown into the drawings: label boxes, song lyrics, guitar chords
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to the crappy song they're practicing. Also, I like the Toronto setting. Beyond reading the rest of these, my only goal is getting my inlaws to watch the movie becuase that should be as much fun as watching the movie itself.
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LibraryThing member SwitchKnitter
I hated this book. Hated it. It was too cutesy and had no depth. (Yes, I know it was fluff, but even fluff has to have characters I give a shit about.) And that's my review. Scott Pilgrim sucks. Finis.
LibraryThing member mtrudell
Scott Pilgrim, 23 years old, rating: awesome, is dating a high-schooler... untill he meets the mysterious Ramona Flowers, the girl of his dreams (literally). Unfortunately, Ramona doesn't come without baggage - including seven evil exes who Scott must defeat if he wants to date her.

This is the
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first of six books following not only Scott's battles with the exes, but also his struggles with roommates, friends, break-ups and playing in his (kind of crappy) band Sex Bob-Omb. This graphic novel is uniquely Canadian, and while it is a bit slow to start, it is the beginning of a strange and wonderful series. It provides quirky characters, striking black and white visuals and a strange, eight-bit-videogame atmosphere mixed with a little bit of angst and a lot of gaming and anime references.
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LibraryThing member dingleberries11
This book [actually the entire series] is awesome. Epically awesome. Entirely awesome.
If this book had a life, I would kiss its face. If you got that reference, then you probably have already had the great pleasure of reading this book. But if you haven't, here is a light summary and/or list of
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things that I think are important:

1) Scott Pilgrim is awesome [in a slightly pathetic way]
2) Scott Pilgrim sucks at dealing with girls
3) Scott Pilgrim has a fantastic cool gay roommate/best friend, Wallace Wells [my favorite character]
4) Scott Pilgrim plays bass in a band... it is questionable whether they rock... or just suck
5) Scott Pilgrim [the books] made me wish that I had played more video games in my life
6) Scott Pilgrim, due to a series of events, now has to battle and win against Ramona Flowers' evil exes [they formed a league]

There you have it. NOW GO READ!
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LibraryThing member Lindsayg
I'm in love with this series, and I'm already bummed that there's only one more on the way. Scott Pilgrim is a twenty something slacker living in Toronto, mooching off his roommate, and playing bass for the band "Sex Bob-Omb". The story begins with Scott pursuing the adorable seventeen-year-old
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Knives Chau. While their relationship is limited to talking and hand-holding, Scott loves bragging that he's "dating a schoolgirl." He doesn't realize that Knives is really falling for him, and loses interest when he meets Ramona Flowers, a new girl in town who has been skateboarding through his dreams for weeks. They meet, and Ramona explains that she sometimes uses subspace portals in her job as a delivery-person for Amazon, one of which runs through Scott's brain, hence the dreams. Scott takes this in stride, and is more interested than ever, but he discovers that in order to be with Ramona he must defeat her seven evil exes. The storyline has an obvious video game theme (lots of in-jokes and cultural references. I burst out laughing when Ramona has to fight Knives and responds to her taunts with "How appropriate, you fight like a cow" a direct quote from "Monkey Island" one of my all-time favorite games) but it's just folded in with the story. I love how the fantasy elements are blended in with a "no big deal" feeling about them. I'm psyched about the series, and can't wait for the final installment.
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LibraryThing member twiglet12
Excellent start; funny and weird with brilliant artwork.
LibraryThing member jenniferthomp75
Fun, quick read. Definitely interested in reading the remaining volumes. I particularly love Wallace, Scott's roommate.
LibraryThing member flemmily
Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life balances artwork and story nicely. The illustrations are interesting as art, but also enhance the story in a fascinating non-verbal manner. O'Malley is a master at creating expression in his characters eyes, which generates a great deal of subtext and increases
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their three dimensionality. He writes a dynamic that is both alienated and naive, both trendy pop culture and nerdy classic. The ending is as raucous as it is hilarious, an overt nod to Street Fighter video games.
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LibraryThing member callmecayce
I loved the movie, but wasn't sure how I'd like the graphic novel it was based on. Turns out I shouldn't've worried. This first volume was great and I can't wait to get my hands on the rest of them. Fun, funny and clever -- just like the movie.
LibraryThing member dst
I quite like the story (sympa, as the French would say) and I really like the storytelling – a real fresh, natural but not naturalistic Westernized manga feel. Biggest complaint would be that the story doesn't really get anywhere in the first volume, but I guess that comes with the manga
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influences.

Also at least in my book the pages were too tightly cropped, sometimes clipping out the text in speech balloons.
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LibraryThing member arsmith
OOOhhhh! I love Scott Pilgrim! Seriously. This collection is great, and the first is the best. Very entertaining and smartly written. Pilgrim fights ninjas, has a gay roommate, and gets the cute girls.
LibraryThing member shannonkearns
first in the series. totally loved it. funny and quirky. love the fully realized gay characters.
LibraryThing member lizzybeans11
I LOVED the movie and couldn't wait to read the graphic novels. BLM is a great artist. His dialogue is sometimes strained or awkward but it's quickly forgiven. I loved a lot of the back-story for the secondary characters that you didn't get to see much of in the film. I have to admit I was at times
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impatient to complete each installment and felt the plot dragged occasionally, but I know that was mostly my own feeling because I knew the film better - a sort of parallel universe version, if you will.

I wish I could write a better review about the books themselves but in my mind I can't separate the cannon story from the film because I hearted it so much! I highly recommend these to anyone who feels the same.
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LibraryThing member zzshupinga
ARC provided by NetGalley

Since most people that read this edition of Scott Pilgrim will already be familiar with the story, I’m going to review what color does for the story and a bit about the added bonus features.

In some ways I’m a traditionalist and I don’t really like the trend of
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coloring black and white comics as it does take a bit away from how the story was originally presented. In the case of Scott Pilgrim, the black and white at times felt perfect for the story as it give it a magnaesque vibe to it that fit well with the storyline. But...at the same time as the series and characters progressed the black and white felt limiting, as we talked about the changes in Ramona’s hair color and the fight scenes that shaped the characters. So I am glad to have a chance to read the colorized version of the novel as it brings an added vibrancy and depth to Bryan’s work. The colors help make the character come to life and it feels like a good animated Saturday morning cartoon, like Animaniacs, which works well with the story. In particular the color enhances the band and battle scenes, making a good black and white drawing, suddenly feel animated. My favorite scenes in color--Scott’s battle sequence with matthew Patel and the demon girls. The color just brings so much to that scene, shadows and highlights that just make things pop. So despite my unease the color really does help create a more vibrant story.

This volume also includes some bonus content that reveals the life of Scott Pilgrim, before he became Scott Pilgrim. Bryan shares with us some of his influences, such as the title of a band's song, friends and family that the characters and story were based upon, and how he sold the idea to Oni to create this series of graphic novels. In addition, Bryan shares some more personal reflections such as the feelings of the rather low key release date (due to the publishing of the book being pushed back) as well his ideas and depictions of how the characters evolved as he drew them (always one of my favorite things to see.)

In short if you’re a fan of Scott Pilgrim then you’ll definitely want to add this book to your collection. And if you aren’t a fan of Scott Pilgrim or never read it before, give this book a try in its new colorized version. You won’t regret it. 5 out of 5 stars
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LibraryThing member wilsonknut
How can one describe Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life? Hipster-absurdist-arcade-kung-fu-musical? Whatever you want to call it, the book exudes coolness, and it’s not the pretentious brand of hipster coolness. It’s a goofy, kind of stupid and fun coolness.

Scott, 23-years-old, announces
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that he is dating a high school girl, Knives. He’s in a band and doesn’t have a job. He epitomizes the laid-back slacker mentality. His friends give him grief about the relationship, but before things get hot and heavy with Knives, Scott falls for Ramona, a rollerblading delivery girl. As the story progresses, the absurdity increases.

Both girls show up at the band’s show, which causes problems. The real problem, however, is that Ramona’s ex-boyfriend also shows up. He’s able to summon some kind of demon-girl fighters, and an arcade style kung-fu battle, partially set to a musical, breaks out. The premise for the rest of the series is established. Scott will have to fight Ramona’s seven ex-boyfriends if he truly loves her.

The story is a take on the classic medieval epic, but Bryan Lee O’Malley fills it with tributes to manga, retro arcade games, music, sit-coms, and slacker attitude. There is humor throughout. It’s a perfect mix of realism and absurdity. It’s just fun.
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LibraryThing member Krista23
The slacker, band member of the group Sex Bomb and his adventures with girls, well particularly one girl has been redone in color format. I'm going to be honest here, I am a complete outsider. I have never seen the movie, read the comics or heard of this comic until the movie came out. It was a
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book vlogger on youtube that actually turned me onto looking into the series because of her enjoyment of it.

Scott has announced to his friends and sister that he's dating a 17 year old girl. (he is 23) and they think he's crazy, but overall (except his sister) are pretty supportive and love Knives enthusiasm at the band practices. The one thing I found amazingly surprising about Scott's character is that out of all the qualities that he doesn't have. His ability to listen and pay attention to what his girlfriend is saying was a good clue for me that maybe I might root for him. When he sees Ramona Flowers it's insta-love and he becomes obsessed with dating her. But when he finally gets a chance, that's when we learn that she has some baggage. And Scott has to fight for her if he wants to stay with her. (also an admirable trait)

I am a fan of the colored edition, bright and vibrant colors. I felt that I got just enough to know who each of the characters were. My favorite character was Knives, even though she's young I loved her energy.

It's a fun, very light read that was like brain candy. There is some fun added to the pages in which the band plays and it shows the music so you could play along, if you wished.

There are some additional pages in the end that gives an extra touch to the characters and who they are. It's all very silly, fun and most importantly, entertaining.
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LibraryThing member punkeymonkey529
i loved this comic! i will say i saw the movie first, but i had hear a little about Scott Pilgrim before hand, but mainly through the movie, and i instantly knew i had to read the comics. well and at first i thought Scott Pilgrim was a real person, and thinking ok who is this Scott Pilgrim fellow?
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after reading the fist volume and seeing the movie i wish he was real. this book is filled with so much humor, and fun. highly recommend to everyone!
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LibraryThing member flouncyninja
After loving the movie so much and wanting to read the books, I finally dived in. These are perfect little books to carry around with you and read while waiting for doctors' appointments or when you're getting your oil changed. With that said, most of these characters aren't the most likable people
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I've ever read about, but the art is fun and the incorporation of video game, movie and comic references are great for a geeky person like me to hunt for.

Scott Pilgrim himself is kind of a whiny douche and even after reading all seven books, I don't get the appeal of Ramona, but Wallace Wells and Kim Pines make up for them by being sarcastic and entertaining. Even Knives Chau and Young Neil kept me happily entertained.

Overall, I would recommend. It's a very quick read and generally entertaining, not to mention it fills in some holes that the movie lacked explanation for.
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Original publication date

2004

ISBN

0010

Barcode

10
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