Is the Color Edition of ‘Scott Pilgrim’ Worth Buying?
Author/Illustrator: Bryan Lee O’Malley
Publisher: Oni Press
Plot: 23 year old Canadian slacker and bass player Scott Pilgrim is dating a high schooler. He’s also haunted by visions of a pink haired girl on rollerblades who keeps turning up in his dreams. When he finds the mysterious Ramona Flowers in real life he begins a relationship that will challenge him at every turn – especially as her Seven Evil Exes are out to get him.
Review: At this stage anyone who calls themselves a geek will be well versed with the Scott Pilgrim canon. If you haven’t bought, read and treasured the comics you would’ve at least seen the awesome film adaptation by director Edgar Wright. Due to this assumed familiarity with the material we’re going to skip the actual ‘review’ part of this review (you already know that the ‘Scott Pilgrim’ series is awesome) to answer the burning question – is it worth buying another, more expensive version of the comic for the benefit of it being coloured in?
Short answer: sweet baby Jesus, yes.
Taken with a crappy camera, but the difference is clear.
To elaborate. This is more than a simple colouring in project for O’Malley. He has redrawn many of the original images or made adjustments to make the artwork more consistent with the changes made to the characters over the course of the six volumes. The printing is of a much higher quality that the previously published softcover editions, with a thicker and slightly more glossy paper. The images are looking much sharper – it looks as though it’s been rescanned instead of simply being enlarged.
Colour-wise the book is looking fantastic. Even purists would have trouble arguing in favour of the originals. Not only is the colour scheme rich and vibrant but the touches of shade add an extra dimension to the characters. The world of ‘Scott Pilgrim’ has never looked this good. Extra details and the care given to this new edition will allow readers familiar with the work to appreciate it all over again.
You know you want it.
There are going to be two main types of people looking to buy this puppy. There will be those who haven’t bought a ‘Scott Pilgrim’ book before and have come to their senses and will buy it. It is well worth the extra cash to get this enhanced version. The other camp are people whose paperback copies have been thumbed through so many times that they’re afraid that opening it again will cause the strained binding to finally give up. Take the time to pick up these copies as replacements. They’re sturdier and look awfully pretty.
Also, has Ramona always been standing behind Scott at the beginning of Julie’s party? I didn’t notice her without the pink hair…
This is like upgrading your VHS copy of the comics to Blu-Ray. A highly recommended purchase.
“Also, has Ramona always been standing behind Scott at the beginning of Julie’s party? I didn’t notice her without the pink hair…”
That. That in itself tipped me towards getting these. I’ve got the first few books, but it sounds like getting the rest (when I can afford to) in colour sounds like a good idea. And that comment about Ramona…it just makes it seem like getting the colour editions would be like getting the extended addition of a film.
Thanks for enlightening me! (And for reminding me I really, really need to get the rest of this series.)
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