It doesn’t matter how many kerplows, superpowers or evil villains you stuff into a graphic novel—if it doesn’t have a sense of humanity and a strong heart, who cares? Former Haligonian O’Malley’s series, which is going to balloon to phenomenon status with the launch of the film on August 13, may contain the requisite hipster references, manga-styled characters and video game references, but ultimately this is a real-life story about relationships and all the shitty insecurities that come with them. In the final book, Scott Pilgrim faces off against Ramona Flowers’s seventh ex, Gideon Gordon Graves, in a crazy long game battle that competes emotionally with real-life break-ups. But underlying the gut-slashing, Pilgrim learns that the biggest risk isn’t found at the end of a sword. Love is a lot scarier.
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This article appears in Jul 29 – Aug 4, 2010.