Not long ago, Bryan Lee O'Malley must have decided he wasn't making enough money off of the Scott Pilgrim franchise anymore, and decided that he would be putting out new color editions of all 6 volumes. I made this post to talk about some of the differences with the new editions and help everyone decide if it's worth the double dip or not.
For those who don't already know, this awesome series focuses on a boy (Scott Pilgrim), who is getting over a horrible breakup by dating a high school girl, even though he's 23 (because it's "safe"). At a party, he literally encounters the girl in his dreams, Ramona Flowers and knows he has to meet her. As they talk and eventually begin to date, Scott is attacked by an ex-boyfriend of Ramona's, and has to fight for his life. It's then that Scott finds out that in order to continue to date Ramona, he has to defeat all seven of her evil ex's, all while making a billion geek/indie rock references. Is the plot absurd? Absolutely. And that's just what we love about it.
Now let's go into the actual differences of these new editions. The new volumes are put out in very nice hardcovers, which detract from the manga-like feel the originals put out. For a comic like this, I think I actually prefer it (though I still like the original look too, I admit). The black and white feel of the original versions were fun for what they were, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't feel very limiting, especially by the 4th volume, where we got a few color pages as a bit of a tease in the beginning. The mentions of Ramona's hair color constantly changing was another irksome factor when you couldn't actually see it. It's also worth mentioning that the pages are larger (now 6"x9"). As you can see in the picture below, the touch up job is very top notch.
There's more to this new edition than just the color palette however. We also get some nice extras like an afterword from Bryan Lee O'Malley, mentions of influences, the history of how the book came to be, and other interesting little tid bits that take us into some of the author's own personality, something I wish we'd see more of in projects such as this.
Summing it up, this is the deluxe version we always kind of dreamed about for this series, and I'll be happy to pick up each release as it comes out (though there will be a serious gap in the time each comes out. We'll be getting about 2 of these a year...). Not only do I think it's worth reading a second time, but at the same time, I don't even feel it should replace the original volumes, as those had a distinct feel themselves. If you had to go with one or other however, I'd say this this is a no-brainer. The only other question left is if you want the regular cover, or the more expensive "Evil Edition" cover for almost double the price. That's right, for $40.00 retail price, you can get the same thing with a variant cover as seen below.
Personally, I think the price is a bit steep for my tastes, nice looking cover or not. I do think it's a fun idea to have alternate covers with all of the evil ex's on them however, so I won't knock anyone for trying to get both here. And don't get me started on the collector's edition (pictured below). You already missed your chance to get it, and even if you had the chance, you probably still wouldn't have paid the $100 asking price. While it has some nice extra stuff (art prints, digital copy with signed card, gold coin, etc.), that is quite insane. Maybe I'm just not hardcore enough...
With all those conundrums aside, I give this my highest recommendation. It's one of those comics that just about everyone is reading/has read these days, and everyone should get the chance to at some point to see what all the fuss is about. This is a must read.
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