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I have been waiting to write about the latest installment of Scott Pilgrim, “Scott Pilgrim vs. the Universe” for a while, but have been putting it off. As a big fan, Its been hard for me to sort out what I think about the book. In four previous volumes, I had read about Scott battling the evil ex-boyfriends of love interest Ramona Flowers. In each book, creator Bryan Lee O’Malley hit the perfect marriage of video game logic and slice-of-life storytelling, simultaneously provided a fun read and vividly capturing 20-something life. With my first read through, something felt different with volume 5. After a lot of head scratching, it dawned on me: “Scott Pilgrim vs. the Universe” replaces fun for maturity!

Volume Four of the series, “Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together” created a lot of buzz with its storyline capturing Scott growing up. From Scott’s employment status to owning up to his past mistakes, his really matured as a character and that volume was filled with spirit of how awesome that growth is. In volume five, however, Pilgrim learns that being a grown up isn’t all leveling up and victory dances. His life begins to show that not everything is as easily fixed as punching the right guy in the face. Even more, making all the right moves may still not be enough to make things turn out. With his maturity, he comes face to face with the fact that he can’t control everything, and that is a tough pill for anyone to swallow.

The tone of Volume Five matches these sobering realities. Many of the action sequences happen in the background, with O’Malley focusing on the interplay between Scott’s friends instead. In fact, there seems to be an air of pointlessness that surrounds the fist-a-cuffs. When Scottaholic Knives Chau comes to blows with romantic lead Ramona Flowers, it is the words they exchange that are the focus of the scene rather than the kicks and punches they trade. The thrill of these scenes is gone, taking a back seat to O’Malley’s insightful non-violent character interactions.

In the end, these choices make “Scott Pilgrim vs the Universe” the most heartbreaking volume of the series! Scott has reached adulthood and it sucks. Luckily for us, O’Malley uses this situation to craft a killer story. While past volumes have display a good understanding of characters, they also hit you with a freight train of charm that made them impossible to not like. In volume five, however, O’Malley let the charm take a backseat to the characters. Make no mistake, this new formula doesn’t toss out all the fun and video game-like moments. Instead, it just places them second to letting the relationships of Scott, Ramona, and all their friends decide what unfolds. While the results of these interactions can hit like a ton of bricks, they also make this volume the most powerful yet!

-Nick

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