Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Scott Pilgrim, Poutine, Fat Cramer, and other great Canadian things...

I Scott Pilgrim! Anybody else read this funny indie rock/kung fu/video game referencin' Canadian manga? I didn't start reading it until after I checked it out 'Free Scott Pilgrim' on Free Comicbook Day. It's kinda goofy and funny and cute and stuff. I'm not into manga at all (an occasional anime usually only) but this stuff is really funny and I recommend it.

I went out and pulled the first two volumes when I saw Free Scott Pilgrim. They are even funnier to me living in Toronto. All the places starting from the pizza and coffee chains are real. I've gone up that bloody hill they go up and down to visit friends and I think I've imagined that library scene for years during bored moments of research there.

I've never really gotten the appeal of manga either but this thing is different. Every character reminds me of someone I know. O'Malley is the same age as I am so I get all his references too.

I'm looking forward to V3 maybe next week. In typical S.P. fashion I missed the book launch party with the author last week. I hear Honest Ed's is in it *snicker* I cant wait.

There's a movie planned, too, mentioned in this Toronto Star profile (picked up from Chris Butcher's great blog comics.212 ).

One of my comic book confessions is that I really didn't get Scott Pilgrim after reading #1 & 2. Not that it was a bad read by any means, but I'm the opposite of Tamper Lad - the characters didn't remind me of anyone I know, I'm pretty sure I didn't get any of the references and it's a long time since I lived in Toronto. Of all the characters in the book, I'd have to say I liked Scott the least. Hah! Still, I'd recommend it highly to anyone less out of touch with contemporary pop culture, which is probably everybody else here.

All I can say, not having read the comics, is that it'd have to be something damned special to be mentioned in the same sentence as our Cramer!

Just a reminder for anyone who might care. I know I might be the only one.


Scott Pilgrim returns this Wednesday in Volume 4 of his manga-sized series Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together.

What do you have to lose? Its only $10 for over 200 pages of fun. If you grew up in the 80s or 90s playing on your nintendo or have ever dreamed of having your own garage band, I guarantee it will amuse you for an hour or two.

She's LW's Ann Murray!

While I would like to add my voice to the chorus of those singing Fat Cramer's praises, on the Scott Pilgrim front... not so much.


I saw the movie trailer and thought, wow... what a cool looking concept, a world where things are just matter-of-factly played out in video game fashion. I was actually pretty excited about checking out the flick.

In preparation I started working my way through the digests. I'm up to #3 and, not only do I think I'm done, but I think I'm actually put off the movie, as well.

Perhaps it's my lack of Canadian credentials, or perhaps I'm about 10-15 years out of the target demographic, but, man, I just don't get the love for this book.

The art... OK, I get the manga inspiration and it does work for the content, but I feel like I'm missing a lot of visual cues (why do these character's eyes narrow to pinpoints; why does this character have "glow lines" coming from her head). The "funny" is there occasionally, but not enough to keep me going, and the dialog so often strays in to the faux-realistic "I... uh... did you... what, now...?" territory, that I feel like I'm reading an issue of "Powers".

The last post of this thread is from a few years back, so... anyone still with this series and... what am I missing?

I find it criminal that NBC did three separate segments on poutine during the two weeks of the Vancouver Olympics. Of course, Fat Cramer remains, our favorite.

As for Scott Pilgrim, I was at the midnight launch for the sixth and final volume last night.

I estimate there were close to 2000 people there, (playing indie video games, having drinks while listening to the movie soundtrack or live bands, talking art and movies, buying books and merchandise). When there are 100 registered for the costume contest and you take their ratio to non-dressed up people a good estimate of total crowd is reached.

I agree age is probably an issue. To really get Scott Pilgrim you have to be of an age to have experienced the late 80s early 90s era of video games as a youth. I'd say 35-40 is the age dividing limit where where most people would get it. The author is just over 31. Every set piece in the comic references either video games, manga or indie rock (mostly more recent stuff and much of it Canadian).

But it is a special pop culture/comic phenomenon. Can you name a comic published the Big Two that can attract 2000 fans to line up for a midnight signing and book launch. Poor Bryan Lee O'Malley would have done well to finish signing before 3 am last night.

The crowd is different than other comic crowds too: it has a whole spectrum of ages from 16 to 40; is at least half female; has a decidedly different fashion sense than stereotypical "comic book guys". These fans are not comic book nerds but the "tech bohemian geeks", that Apple hits in their marketing. The love for the series is obvious when you consider "tech bohemians" control the social networks and generate the editorial content that drive opinion on the internet.

All in all, the crowds and Internet chatter around Scott Pilgrim launch shows just how far Marvel/DC are from where pop-culture is. Under no circumstances could I see something like "Infinite Crisis" cracking the Google or Twitter trending topics list like "Scott Pilgrim" has with the release of its recent volumes.

As a postscript: There was buzz on the net recently when the Scott Pilgrim movie was said to have been screened for Shigeru Miyamoto. The screening was to get his permission to include a musical interlude in the movie score. If don't know who Miyamoto is, Google his name you'll see why he is our generation's Stan Lee, Walt Disney, and Jack Warner. He's said to have liked it.

Shigeru Miyamoto is awesome. I don't mention him much because, obviously, I can't spell his name unless I copy & paste it.

I agree with Tamper's comparison and yes, I know it's a big comparison. He created Donkey Kong, Mario and Legend of Zelda. That's like creating Superman, Batman and Spider-Man for video games.

I'm not familiar with Scott Pilgrim but I think the movie looks pretty groovy. I've never been a big fan of manga but I'll see if the movie can convince me to check out the source material (same way I got into Harry Potter, via the third movie).

Fat Cramer space-rawks like no one's business.

Hey, we're SUPPOSED to be talking about how AWESOME Fat Cramer is! And poutine's out because I gave up carbs again. So Fat Cramer, hooray!

So... I'm big enough to admit when I'm wrong. Although I didn't enjoy the books, I kept thinking, "...but that trailer looked so cool..." so I did check out the movie and...

Wow! I just enjoyed the hell out of that film. It's a rare flick that keeps me as thoroughly entertained as "Scott Pilgrim". Endearing character work, laugh out loud humor, and some of the most innovative visual storytelling that I've seen in a long time.

I don't know exactly what made the difference for me in presentation (perhaps the material needs the dynamism of live action to better capture the pace for me) but whatever it was, I heartily recommend this film.

(And wish happy birthday to FC!)

So I just read the whole Scott Pilgrim in one sitting. I'm ambivelenat towards it. At 38, I'm slightly above the age range, but I got the references. I found Scott a funny character as a likable loser who is so self absorbed he misses most of what goes on around him (He's like a Canadian Kung-Fu Seinfeld), and I've known lots of similar slackers in real life. I was disappointed though that O'Malley cheats him out of either a serious comeuppance or growth at the end. Yes he get's his sword of compassion/understanding at the end, but it seems like a contrived bit where Scott blinks and is suddenly got it together, everyone's cool with him and he and Ramona get a happy ending. That just seemed Karmically wrong somehow, but that may be a ethos change from my generation to the Millenial crowd. Going to try and get the movie in soon, since I'm invested now.