“The question on everyone’s mind, will Bryan Lee O’Malley’s follow-up to ‘Scott Pilgrim’ be a case of sophomore slump?
Short answer, No. Because this is his THIRD work. So if anything, it’s a Junior Slump. How’s that for a comic book nerd correction? Although when people talk Sophomore Slump in music, they’re quite often talking about a third effort, but the first work was small, indie, and somehow considered almost outside of canon. So really, the question holds up.
Scott Pilgrim holds a special, unassailable place in my heart. It’s one of the few comics where I can claim to be an O.G. I turned friends onto it after I read the first volume. Way before color, way before the movie. Now, I don’t claim that status to say that I’m a bigger fan than anyone else. Getting to something first has a lot more to do with right place, right time. Especially in the early 2000’s because a lot of what I read was dependent on what was in stock at the local Borders. All I’m saying is that it’s something I’ve loved deeply and for a long time.
Art: The art is better. I have no complaints about Scott Pilgrim’s art, but you can tell, especially when it comes to buildings, that O’Malley worked his ass off. The result is some real Chris Ware shit.
Script: Good jokes, good dialogue. Not AS fun, but good comic book dialogue.
Story: This, to me, is probably the weakest point. Not that the story is bad. It has a real strength to it in that we’ve all had the thought, “If I could get a do-over on this one thing…” However, I felt a bit like the story, rather than sticking to the root of the emotion there, kind of branched off into mystical fable land, and the ultimate realization is lost in a sea of spirits and geists. The true kernel of the story is definitely that you have to make a decision sometimes, and then instead of revising that decision you have to move forward and make others. However, the book ends with a weird mystical battle on some astral plane or something. So I think, to an extent, the power of the story was diminished when it only addresses the fantasy version of the problem as opposed to the actual problem.
Would I Read This If Scott Pilgrim Never Existed?
Yes. I would. It’s good comics. It’s more forgettable than Scott Pilgrim, but it’s solid graphic storytelling nonetheless, and fans of comics that might have a more mystical, fantasy flavor to them might dig this one more than I did.”