Cartoonist, OGN of the Year

Scott Pilgrim, Vol 4: Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together
the ghettoManga Cartoonist of the Year Award for 2008 goes to Bryan Lee O'Malley writer/artist of the OGN series Scott Pilgrim. Part four of the series Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together was voted the 2008 OGN of the Year.
Explaining the appeal of Scott Pilgrim is not difficult. it's a book about a twenty-something slacker who falls in Luh... Luh... who really likes this delivery girl Ramona who just so happens to take short cuts through Scott's dreams (there's a really good subspace portal that passes through there...). the problem is he can only date Ramona if he agrees to vanquish Ramona's Seven Evil Ex-boyfriends, but that's okay, 'cause Scott also happens to have MAD fightin' skills!
as you may have noticed, Scott Pilgrim is filled with hijinx, action, and small to medium doses of mushy stuff! in Gets It Together, Scott and Ramona wrestle with the L word (no, not lesbian!), Scott's band gets a chance to record, and Scott is stalked by a mysterious swordsman... good times! OH! and Scott faces off with another of Ramona's Evil Exes who's a little different than the others. the events of this volume force Scott to grow up (a little... he ACTUALLY gets a JOB!), preparing for his eventual meeting with Gideon, the evilest Ex of them all in part 6!

O'Malley takes advantage of the OGN format (popularized by the mass importing of manga) as well as anyone i've ever read. the pacing and storytelling in Scott Pilgrim would be very, very difficult to pull off in any other format. O'malley's art is deceptively cartoony, like a cross between Schulz's Peanuts, Waterson's Calvin and Hobbes and your favorite fighting video game. O'Malley combines humor, action and adolescent sweetheart drama as well as anyone since Stan Lee and Romita on classic Amazing Spiderman. peep this CBR interview with Bryan Lee O'Malley for more, but really, just buy the books. the 200 plus page joints are available for ten bucks apiece on Amazon, and well worth the look!

peace.
-ghettoManga.com

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