Note: This is my review of the third Scott Pilgrim book from 2006. This one still remains my favorite Scott Pilgrim book. It’s common of any series to say that you have to give it a couple of volumes to get into it and I think this volume is where Bryan Lee O’Malley really discovered the heart and soul of Scott Pilgrim. This is the volume where I saw so much of my own past wrapped up in Scott, Ramona and Envy Adams, Scott’s high-school girlfriend who comes back into his life.
This is one of those reviews where I can remember writing it. Back in 2006, my in-laws internet connection was still dial up so, on weekends when I would be up there, I’d disappear on Saturday mornings to go to Panera to write. That Panera, not too far from where I went to college, seems as much a part of the Scott Pilgrim experience to me as any other place.
This review was originally written for Pop Syndicate but seems to be lost in their archives right now.
When The Infinite Sadness opens, Scott Pilgrim and ex-girlfriend Envy Adams are surrounded by people. The two have arranged a meeting for their bands to discuss Scott’s little local band, Sex Bob-omb, opening for Envy’s hugely popular band. Really, Scott just wants closure on their old relationship and Envy wants to see Scott squirm for a bit. You see, Scott has to fight his current girlfriend Ramona’s seven evil ex-boyfriends, one of who just happens to be Envy’s bassist. Since this is the third Scott Pilgrim book, you may have an idea of the rest of the story by now. Scott and the bassist fight in a number of oddly kinetic and video-gamish battles until Scott finally wins. Scott and Ramona flirt endlessly while Ramona avoids telling much about her past. Other characters come in and go out of the story and the audience gets to laugh at the whole thing. Lots of laughs, some chuckles and we get to feel good. Everyone’s happy.
Following these type of events were fun in the first two volumes, helping to establish the logic and video game realism of Scott Pilgrim’s world. Those books established the rules for Scott’s world as well as the rules for the audience and what they needed to bring to the books. Now, with that out of the way, O’Malley is able to introduce a new element into the book; real emotion. After introductions and first impressions, O’Malley is able to give a more characters much deserved screen-time including Scott’s band-mate Kim, roommate Wallace and even Envy, who’s not quite as in control as she and everyone thinks she is. With this additional focus, the supporting characters become real characters and not simply props in Scott Pilgrim’s story.
Envy is the exact opposite of Scott and maybe that’s why they were together for a while. Scott live’s for the moment, accepting life as it goes along. Evil ex-boyfriends? No problem. Gay roommate and only one mattress? That’s cool. A girl using his head for a subspace shortcut on her delivery routes? Sounds good. Envy imposes her will on the reality around her. She plays games with people, casually tosses
off hurtful remarks to people she’s forgotten she actually knows yet remains blind to everything happening around her. She’s successful and Scott’s afraid to grow up a bit. People getting haircuts throw Scott’s life into a tizzy. Envy is the anti-Scott, devastating the last year and a half of his life after she broke up with him. While Ramona’s evil ex-boyfriends remain caricatures and cartoons, O’Malley builds up an ultimately fragile character in Envy. The rock idol of millions, in the end, Scott’s the only one there to try and support her.
You can see her transformation physically throughout the book. In the opening, while she’s dressed the same as the others and fits in, she exudes a confidence and cockiness, belittling everyone at every chance she gets. As the book goes on, she begins to look more and more like a rock star to the point where we’re told her appearance cost $50 million. She’s not like everyone else. She’s “special.” And then her world crumbles around her. By the end, she’s wearing Scott’s old sweatshirt, standing out in the rain. For as famous as she’s become, she’s really not too different from Scott. She only has a better wardrobe.
Wallace, Scott’s gay roommate, is turning out to get the coolest character in this book. Someday, I’d love to see O’Malley doing a book just about Wallace. In the first two books, we thought that Scott was lynching off of his roommate. In their two room apartment (hey, the bathroom counts as a room, doesn’t it?) everything is Wallace’s; the mattress they share, the couch, the tv, the food. Everything. In The Infinite Sadness, O’Malley delves into their relationship a bit more, including how Wallace and Scott met. Their friendship may not be totally as one-way as we originally thought. Scott gets almost everything he needs; food and shelter. Wallace gets a friend. He wiggled his way into Scott’s life, showing up to play video games and for Pilgrim family dinners. Scott and Wallace’s friendship is real. They both have something to give to it and something to take from it.
Don’t worry. For as much character development that the Infinite Sadness contains, it also has all of the outrageous and fun action of the first two books. Before the book can become too serious with Scott’s love life or Envy’s backstabbing, O’Malley remembers that this is as much a humor book as anything else, including a magical purse that contains a giant hammer that makes Thor’s magical hammer seem like a small paperweight. The best odd idea included is the band, The Boys and Crash, who have practiced so hard and intensely that they no longer need instruments. “Hard work and willpower alone” are all that’s needed to make music. Brilliant.
Scott Pilgrim and the Infinite Sadness Volume 3
Written and Drawn by: Bryan Lee O’Malley