Scott Pilgrim & The Infinite Sadness Vol. 3 Hardcover
by Bryan Lee O’Malley
Welcome back to more Scott Pilgrim, folks. Yes, volume 2 had parts largely adapted for the movie, but here is where things start to take off. Volume 3: The Infinite Sadness (I wonder what that’s a reference to) looks deeply in what is arguably Scott’s most complex fight. Unlike Ramona’s other evil exes, to Scott Todd is his current flame’s ex AND his ex’s current flame (got that). And, things play out very differently than they do in the movie. What’s most interesting about The Infinite Sadness is just what an impact Envy had in Scott’s life and how she actually played a significant role in getting Scott involved in Sex Bob-omb. As you would expect, everything is gloriously brought to life with Brian Lee O’Malley’s sharp witty writing and inhuman pacing speed.
There is also much more character development as we learn about Todd, his relationship with Ramona and why he went to Vegan Academy in the first place, we see Ramona actually fighting Envy (in a role reversal she has to fight Scott’s evil ex if she wants to keep dating HIM), and we see Scott get a much more heartfelt almost-closure with Envy.
Also, I would like to go out on a limb and bring to everyone’s attention the references to Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira (my favorite Manga of all time), not just with the “About to E-X-P-L-O-D-E” reference but with Todd punching a hole in the moon and Ramona explaining that it was followed with 30 pages of explosions and tidal waves. Touche, Mr. O’Malley. It’s details like these that elevate the series to another status.
As for the bonus features for Infinite Sadness, this time they’ve truly outdone themselves. The art and coloring looks, hands down, better than ever (some stuff has been completely recomposited). Yes, the character design sketches and rough layouts are here, but there is also the Free Scott Pilgrim book which fills in the gap of fights that was missing between book 3 and 4, and a story The Wonderful World of Kim Pine which explains why she was moving in book 4. And if that weren’t enough, there’s a deleted scene missing from the backstage face-off (all cleaned up and colored for this edition). There is even a unique joke in this book about Ramona’s hair that O’ Malley notes for us “This was funnier in black and white.”
We dare you not to keep on reading.
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