Bookends with Mattea Roach28:47Bryan Lee O’Malley: 20 years of Scott Pilgrim
Bryan talks to Mattea concerning the legacy of the hit comedian e-book sequence, the inspiration behind a few of his most iconic characters, and his nostalgia for Toronto within the early aughts.
When Bryan Lee O’Malley got here up with the phrase “seven evil exes” he knew he was onto one thing attention-grabbing.
On the time, the Canadian cartoonist was in his 20s and residing in Toronto, hoping to make one thing out of his comics.
Little did he know, his wacky concept would stem into the cult traditional Scott Pilgrim’s Treasured Little Life — which became 5 extra comics volumes, a movie starring Michael Cera, a online game and a TV adaptation.
To mark the twentieth anniversary of the sequence, Oni Press launched a black and white hardcover boxset of the unique six novels. (Superfan Promotions)
“I by no means thought I may carry my little finger and alter the world in this type of method,” mentioned O’Malley on Bookends with Mattea Roach, marking 20 years since Scott Pilgrim was first printed.
“I am on this tour and assembly individuals every single day, multi-generational followers at this level, mother and father and youngsters, [who are] getting one thing out of this factor I made.”
The Scott Pilgrim sequence is about an unemployed 23-year-old Torontonian, the titular character, who’s going by means of a breakup. However when he falls for the enigmatic Ramona Flowers, he should face off in opposition to her seven evil exes with a view to proceed their relationship.
“I discovered that almost all of those teen romances finish with the man getting the woman,” O’Malley mentioned. The impetus for this sequence was ranging from the “comfortable ending” and determining the way to preserve the woman, he mentioned.
A web page from the inside of Scott Pilgrim’s Treasured Little Life. (Superfan Promotions)
Whereas O’Malley, like his character, was additionally experiencing a foul breakup and residing in Toronto on the time he created Scott Pilgrim, he noticed Scott as his antithesis.
“I am a quiet, considerate, delicate man and Scott Pilgrim is that this brash idiot,” mentioned O’Malley.
“I wished to have a personality that may do all of the issues that I might by no means do or that may suppose issues I might by no means suppose.”
Regardless of Scott being unsavoury at instances, O’Malley “feels charitable” towards him, as a result of he nonetheless is drawn from items of himself and his associates — and the teachings they realized about life and relationships throughout their early 20s.
“I simply threw every part that I noticed into the e-book after which used it as a playground, a bizarre little digital actuality,” he mentioned.
Toronto within the pages
This actuality blends the ridiculousness of the specter of seven evil exes, action-packed combating scenes and a “mundane” slice-of-life depiction of Toronto within the early 2000s.
“There’s something magical about Toronto and likewise one thing boring about it,” mentioned O’Malley, who included real-life iconic landmarks in his illustration of the town — from the Toronto Reference Library to Casa Loma.
An inside web page from Scott Pilgrim and the Infinite Unhappiness (Vol. 3) by which the characters are working round in Trustworthy Ed’s. (Superfan Promotions)
Wanting again on the sequence 20 years later, a few of these landmarks now not exist, making the pages a time capsule for that period of Toronto. One such spot is Trustworthy Ed’s, a reduced division retailer within the Annex neighbourhood that closed in 2016 after being bought to a developer.
With its loud exterior — an enormous, light-up signal — and its chaotic inside, Trustworthy Ed’s was an optimum spot for a battle scene within the sequence.
Within the third quantity of the comics, Scott and one of many evil exes run into the shop whereas they’re dueling and by accident blow it up.
“I simply thought it was such a novel, unusual factor,” mentioned O’Malley. “After which the inside of the shop actually gave me a headache immediately and was simply sort of a nightmare. But it surely was enjoyable, it was like occurring a carnival experience or one thing.”
The draw of comics
However whereas elements of Toronto life have modified because the sequence first got here out, the broad enchantment of the characters has remained. A one-season animated Netflix present Scott Pilgrim Takes Off was launched in 2023. It wasn’t renewed for a second season, however it stored O’Malley entrenched on the planet of Scott Pilgrim.
“It is a lot larger than me, and out of doors of me at this level, that I do really feel somewhat little bit of duty to sort of preserve it alive indirectly and preserve it sort of rising and altering,” mentioned O’Malley. “I wish to revisit it in some kind and preserve increasing it.”
An inside web page from Scott Pilgrim Will get It Collectively (Vol. 4). (Superfan Promotions)
O’Malley can be recognized for his different comics together with Snotgirl and Seconds, and has felt linked to the comics medium since he was a toddler, rising up in London, Ont., and studying Peanuts and Calvin and Hobbes.
“Comics simply sort of grew to become a language that made sense to me,” mentioned O’Malley. “So finally, in my teenagers, manga and anime began to make inroads over right here for the primary time, actually, and simply sort of lit my thoughts on hearth.”
Although comics are sometimes learn for his or her epic battle scenes, O’Malley appreciated how they provide house for extra existential questions on determining who you need to be and the inevitability of dying.
“I wished to have one thing that might have pathos and comedy and punching and kicking and all that stuff,” he mentioned.
“There’s one thing concerning the drawings the place it is so private. It simply seems like my mind is leaping on the web page.”
This interview was produced by Bridget Raymundo.
