Review by Woodrow Phoenix
Bryan Lee O’Malley’s videogame, anime and shojo fight-comic-inspired series Scott Pilgrim was six digest sized black and white volumes published between 2004 and 2010. The series won an Eisner Award, two Harvey Awards, a Doug Wright Award, a Joe Shuster Award and “Best of” accolades from magazines like Entertainment Weekly and Publisher’s Weekly. A film adaptation of the series titled Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and a video game adaptation, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game, were both released in 2010. A full colour version of the series was published between 2012 and 2015. Things were quiet for a few years until in 2023 an eight-part animated TV series Scott Pilgrim Takes Off was screened on Netflix.
In 2024 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the debut of this seemingly unkillable series there are now two box sets. This features the original black and white versions of the comics, and an accompanying package features the colour versions, both packaged in deluxe, clamshell collector’s boxes designed to look like Sony Playstation packaging. Even the ‘ONI’ of Oni Press is given the SONY logo treatment, which is very pleasing for type nerds.
What you will find inside after flipping open the clamshell lid is seven books, six of which are Scott Pilgrim Volumes 1–6, and an envelope of extras. Each book is a hardcover with sewn binding, featuring covers with new art by O’Malley. The drawings on these covers are the same as on the colour box set versions, but feature different text and graphics, and a different colour palette, with mostly flat colours. The spines are all a uniform white, unlike the colour versions which have a different colour for each volume.
The seventh book is another hardcover, Scott Pilgrim Collected Extras. These are all the additional pages, sketches, stories etc that were part of the 2012-2015 books, gathered into one volume. This book is identical in both boxes, with full colour interior content. The envelope contains three sheets of stickers, two posters, a prismatic card version of the cover to Volume Six with Ramona’s glowing head, and a parody leaflet of Playstation instructions on how to read these books – “Quick Start Guide: Thank you for your purchase. This guide will help with initial setup so you can quickly begin creating memories with your SCOTT PILGRIM™ 20TH ANNIVERSARY BOX SET.”
The original books were digest-size softcovers, so these reprintings are deluxe with their larger size, thicker paper and sewn hardcover bindings. There is a nostalgic purity to the black and white art that differs from the energy of the colour versions, but both boxes are equally desirable. If you were a fan of this series you already know which version you prefer.
