With the final volume of Scott Pilgrim complete and the movie release right around the corner, I’m sure there are going to be some new comic readers looking for something like Bryan Lee O’Malley’s comic/video game/indie rock mash-up. I’m not sure if any comic has ever been as masterful as Scott Pilgrim at exploiting a certain generation of geek culture, but a few have come close. Here are my Top 10 graphic novels to read after Scott Pilgrim.

10. Tekkon Kenkreet

This stylized manga follows Black and White, two homeless boys who protect the streets of Treasure Town from a deadly megacorporation. Like Scott Pilgrim, the protagonists have an almost video game-esque fighting style that leaps off the pages. The manga was also adapted into an animated film in 2006.

9. Hopeless Savages Greatest Hits

This Eisner Award-nominated series actually has illustrations from Scott Pilgrim creator Bryan Lee O’Malley. Another Oni Press collection, Hopeless Savages recounts the adventures of the first family of punk, Dirk Hopeless and Nikki Savage, and their relocation to the suburbs to raise their kids Rat, Arsenal, Twitch and Zero. The Greatest Hits collection will be released in October of 2010.

8. Buddy Does Seattle

Anytime I have an opportunity to recommend Peter Bagge’s ground-breaking comic “Hate” I’m keen on doing so. It is my favorite comic of all time. Here Buddy Bradley actually out-slackers Scott Pilgrim, but it is treated as a depressingly ironic allegory on twenty-something life (though it’s done in good humor), and not a celebration of pop culture nostalgia.

Laced in pop culture reference, the popular web-comic PVP is perfect for fans of the video game references in Scott Pilgrim. Riffing on everything from RPGs to tech humor, the comic is set in the fitting location of a fictional video game magazine office. Honorable Mention: fellow web-comic Penny Arcade.

6. Unlikely or How I Lost My Virginity

Really any of the Jeffrey Brown books from his girlfriend trilogy (Clumsy, Unlikely, Any Easy Intimacy) are perfect fits for fans of Scott Pilgrim’s agonizing relationship with Ramona Flowers. However, as the sub-title implies, the tale of how Jeffrey Brown lost his virginity is arguably the definitive statement on the naiveté of youthful relationships. Suggested for mature readers.

Come back tomorrow for the top 5!

-Jon

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