Smells like Urban spirit

Bryan Lee O'Malley's series on youth icon Scott Pilgrim is a wild ride through edgy urbanism, and is dubbed as one of the best things to happen to printed comics this millennium

Scott Pilgrim could be your average Canadian twenty-something -- he's a slacker, plays bass guitar for an Art Rock band and wears his charm on his sleeve. Add endless ex-girlfriends.



For the Indian graphic novel /comic book reader fed on Amar Chitra Katha, Panchatantra and Indrajal Comics until the '90s when Manga and Co. heralded the foreign invasion, Scott Pilgrim comes as a refreshing re-look at new-age Western urbaneness, in this post-Archie Comics era. Tip: Don't get swayed by its below-average movie avataar.

Creator Bryan Lee O'Malley has effortlessly injected an uber-cool vibe into his protagonist Scott Pilgrim without having to try too hard. With a rock band that goes by the name Sex Bob-omb and girlfriends like the very adult 17 year-old Knives Chau, he has his pulse on the coolness quotient. Rest assured, the reader can expect an edgy unexpectedness throughout the three titles, recently out in the Indian market.

The reader is introduced to Scott Pilgrim, a 23 year-old living in downtown Toronto and who's "in between jobs". The usual suspects across the series include his openly gay roommate, Wallace Wells and band mate buddies Stephen Stills (guitar) and Kim Pine (drums). Like most of his ilk, he's saddled with all kinds of girl problems - from the teenaged Canadian-Chinese Knives to the American flower delivery girl, Ramona Flowers (!). To add a superhero-like flavour to proceedings, Scott must defeat seven of Ramona's evil exes to date her. The plot gets murkier as Scott battles his band of demented ex-girlfriends who keep cropping around every bend.

O'Malley's liberal use of the urban dictionary, full of geek speak, with whole sentences that are inspired by either hyperbolic internet smack-talk like "If your life had a face I would punch it" to video game lingo is bound to find instant gratification with India's teenaged junta. The rest too might follow, we think.

Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life, Scott Pilgrim vs The World, Scott Pilgrim and the Infinite Sadness, 4th Estate, Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, Rs 570 (approximately). Available at leading bookstores