This summer marked the release of the Scott Pilgrim 20th Anniversary Box Set from Oni Press. The new edition of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s early aughts-defining comics comes with hardcovers of all six books, a seventh hardcover loaded with extras, an envelope of stickers and posters, and sharp packaging that evokes thoughts of the old classic PS2 box.
It’s a lot. And given the heavy influence and rich legacy of these comics, we thought it all merits a discussion. As such, The Beat’s Zack Quaintance and Samantha Puc recently made time to pour through the Scott Pilgrim 20th Anniversary Box Set (full disclosure: our sets were sent to us courtesy of Oni Press).
This new edition features design by Patrick Crotty, production by Troy Look and Angie Knowles, and editorial by Sierra Hahn. We looked at the version that was colored by Nathan Fairbairn, rather than the original black-and-white, which has a different but similar new box set. You can find our discussion, along with some photos of the new box set, below…enjoy!
The Scott Pilgrim 20th Anniversary Box Set
ZACK QUAINTANCE: Hi Sam! So glad we were able to find time to talk about this new Scott Pilgrim 20th Anniversary Box Set. I wanted to start our discussion by asking you what it was like when the box set showed up at your door, and what was your initial reaction to it as a physical item?
SAMANTHA PUC: Hey Zack! I’m glad we were able to make this time! I was genuinely surprised to receive the Scott Pilgrim 20th Anniversary Box Set, especially in color, but so stoked to open the box and explore. It’s such a beautiful box and the newly-remastered editions of the comics are gorgeous. I also appreciated the extras, like the posters and art print. I’ve yet to find a home for the stickers, but per the instructions, I’m trying not to be precious about where I put them. What was your reaction to the set?
ZACK: I think my exact thought was ‘what a gorgeous little cinder block of comics’ when I took it out of the box. There are many box sets, I think, that just kind of settle for a unified image on the spines and maybe a slip case. But this one really seems to go a bit further in making itself a comics art artifact. So much so that my second thought was, ‘Okay, where is the absolute perfect place in my house for this thing to live!’
I must admit though, I AM defying the sticker instructions and being very precious about them, at least so far. I feel like I’ve been handling all the material in that little envelope as if it were extremely fragile. Have you explored the extras much at all from your set and if so what is your general take on all that material?
SAMANTHA: Yes and no. I’m not sure where I want to put the poster and print, only that I want to frame them before placing them anywhere in my apartment, so that will take a minute. The paper quality on the posters is lovely, and I appreciate that there’s both a Sex Bob-omb gig poster and a poster for the Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life book release party.
I wish there were holographic prints of all of the comics volume covers, if I’m honest, but this one of Ramona, Gideon, and Scott catches the light really well. It encapsulates the overall vibe of the series beautifully. I guess my overall take is, “I love these! More, please!” Have you explored the extras yet?
ZACK: I sure have, and that is basically my exact take as well. There’s almost too much cool stuff. I could Scott Pilgrim-up my entire workspace and still have some stickers left over. I think for my part I may just frame the concert poster, and put it up in my apartment. Seems like a fun conversation starter. But yeah, I think they did a great job with everything in that little envelope.
There’s also a full hardcover volume of really cool extra material included with this box set. It reminds me — and perhaps this is appropriate to the era it was published — of those deluxe DVD box sets from way back when, with commentary, deleted scenes, pitch documents, and reproductions of other material. I really enjoyed paging through that after I’d revisited the comics proper. Have you had a chance to check that book out yet, and if so, did you enjoy it as much as I did?
SAMANTHA: I still have tons of “deluxe” DVD box sets because I love hearing commentary from the filmmakers and performers. The extra tidbits of behind-the-scenes information are so delightful, and when production companies include Easter eggs and other hidden gems (like on The Lord of the Rings Extended Edition box sets), it scratches my brain in the best way to track them down and uncover all of the secrets.
I also read the Collected Extras after re-reading Scott Pilgrim and enjoyed getting to see the character sketches and commentary essays. I’m working my way through this volume much slower than I did the comics themselves because a lot of the information is new to me or feels worthy of a bit more study because I haven’t seen it before, if that makes sense. Did anything in Extras stand out to you in particular?
ZACK: There’s so much cool stuff in there. I’ve been paging through it sporadically almost like a Scott Pilgrim coffee table book, just browsing a few pages here and there. I absolutely loved the character designs, as well as some of the old promo material, the screenprints and faux concert posters, etc. I feel like the extras for this are especially interesting, because Scott Pilgrim is almost its own culture unto itself, or it felt like it at the time it was coming out. I think that’s what I mean — I don’t know, is there a better way to say that?
SAMANTHA: I get what you’re saying. It certainly feels like an encapsulation of the era and the subculture from which it hails. I felt like I was right back in college going to basement shows and drinking bad coffee to make it through exams as I re-read the series and then explored the extras. Scott Pilgrim has also had such a huge presence in the comics scene since it came out, which is evident in how beautiful these box sets are. Oni Press really pulled out all the stops on this one, you know?
ZACK: Absolutely. They certainly did. It’s a big investment at $250, but if you’re a comics art collector or just someone with a deep abiding love for all things Scott Pilgrim, I think it’s well worth that. I think this kind of lends itself to the other subject we want to talk about today — which is now that Scott Pilgrim is turning 20, what is this story’s legacy within comics? But really I’m curious to hear any of your thoughts after re-reading these books. I know I have a few to share…
SAMANTHA: You know me, Zack. I always have a million thoughts, especially regarding how comics have aged. I’ll start by saying that I’ve loved Scott Pilgrim for years and I’ve loved the adaptations as well. That said, I’ve always had issues with certain aspects of it; namely, the undercurrent of homophobia that runs through a lot of interactions with Wallace and Scott, the rampant anti-fatness, the biphobia (Roxie and Kim deserve better!), and the transphobic comment when Envy kicks Todd between the legs. All of it makes me wince because it’s so unnecessary to the overall story, and it’s especially hard to swallow in the current sociopolitical climate in the U.S. What are your thoughts?
ZACK: I’m with you on all that. There were definitely a lot of moments during my re-read where I kind of cringed at the way the characters treated each other. There’s sort of a mean dynamic that runs between them, and leads to unnecessary comments. It definitely dates it to that time period, I think. As you noted, in the current climate, some of it is pretty tough to re-read.
One thing I was struck by was Scott’s character almost seems more familiar to me now? I tried to think of a better way to say this, but I kind of have to ask…is Scott Pilgrim one of the first examples of a certain type of guy (there’s a crude nomenclature for this…) who thinks he’s nice but has a pattern of hurting his friends and partners?
SAMANTHA: Oh, yes, absolutely. Scott Pilgrim would be a contestant on F-Boy Island hosted by Nikki Glaser and all of the women would see through his Nice Guy persona immediately. I mean, he starts the book dating a high schooler, then cheats on her with Ramona, then doesn’t admit to either of them that he was dishonest. He’s not a good person! I understand that he has some sort of… trauma? I guess? That’s separated him from the majority of his memories, but that isn’t an excuse to treat people like crap.
ZACK: YES! I think the recent anime-styled revival did a good job playing with that idea, and kind of taking Scott out of the story to some extent so it could get some justice for the other characters, which was fun. But yeah, that all stood out to me massively on this re-read.
On a perhaps happier note, I was also struck by how these comics still feel a bit bold in the way they use the medium, with everything from incorporating the video game touches to some stuff that’s as granular as lettering choices that slowly get smaller, or block out asides in parentheticals. I feel like a lot of that has found its way into comics in the intervening years, but these comics still feel innovative and creatively free to me all this time later. Did you feel that way as well?
SAMANTHA: I loved the pop culture references, like framing Gideon as Marvel’s Purple Man and the Sailor Moon line (“I’ll punish you!”). This series is very tuned in to the context of how it came to be and where it sits in the lexicon, and it’s also very metatextual, which I enjoy. It does feel groundbreaking for the time, not necessarily because of the design or lettering choices, but because of how many readers embraced those innovations and then how many creatives adapted them to their own styles and storytelling goals. I don’t really ascribe to the assertion from some diehard fans that Scott Pilgrim saved comics, but I agree that it’s super dynamic and, at the time, offered a really fresh take on what comics were and what they could do.
As you were re-reading, did anything come into clearer focus than the first time you read the series? Or did you notice anything different?
ZACK: That’s a great question. I was thinking about this, and this re-read maybe made me realize these comics were where I first started to clock veganism as a viable dietary choice? I’m sure I just read past this way back when, but there’s like a full-page spread in here with a recipe explaining how to make a vegan dinner. I don’t think I can recall anywhere else in mass media circa 2005 that was doing deep dives into that. Granted, it’s followed by a guy using vegan powers to go to the moon or whatever, but I still found that spread’s inclusion fascinating (I’m also from the Midwest, where people were trying to wrap their heads around avocado in 2005…).
Another thing that was really interesting for me re-reading was how my relationship to these comics has been changed by the movie. I feel like this is a classic example of source material and an adaptation that sort of add to each other. Did you think about the movie at all while reading?
SAMANTHA: Oh, constantly. I kept thinking about how much more redeemable the characters seem in the movie versus the comics, and how Bryan Lee O’Malley really leans into the idea that just because these characters are the protagonists, it doesn’t necessarily mean you have to root for them. Like, do Scott and Ramona get a happy ending? Yes. But is it the stereotypical version of what we consider to be a happy ending? Absolutely not. And I think that’s really fun.
I also thought a lot about how the comics themselves held so much cultural weight before the movie, and then Scott Pilgrim just skyrocketed even further into cultural consciousness. I’ve read so many critiques and watched so many video essays about the movie and its flaws, especially in comparison to the animated series. Honestly, I think it’s hard not to hold all of these things together when you engage with any one of them because they’re so closely linked, which isn’t always the case with adaptations.
I don’t know if that actually answered your question or if I just rambled for two paragraphs…
ZACK: It absolutely answers my question, and I think you’re right about all of that. When you take it as a whole, you can make the case that these comics running throughout most of the ‘00s and then the movie punctuating and elevating them in 2010, earns Scott Pilgrim a place as one of the defining stories for people who came of age in that decade. That’s where I kind of landed on it after this re-read, anyway, nodding along as I did to things I remembered like video stores, indie rock music being cultural currency, video games and anime bashing their way into the mainstream, etc. Hell, even being able to scrape by while working as a barista or dishwasher in a major city feels a little quaint now, but I digress…anything else on your mind about all things Scott Pilgrim before we wrap up our chat?
SAMANTHA: It made me crave a less economically-unstable era and a world without COVID, but that’s the case anytime I read anything published pre-2020, if I’m honest. I think I’d also just like to note that the enduring power of this series is absolutely rooted in how it defined the early aughts, but I think it’s also rooted in a deep-seated need for people (myself included) to both love and critique super problematic media. Do you feel similarly?
ZACK: I sure do. There’s a lot to be learned in these conversations. I’m glad we’re able to both appreciate these comics and learn from them. And as someone getting older, I’d also be dishonest if I downplayed the draw of nostalgia for those simpler times you described. All told, I had a pretty powerful and wide-ranging experience re-reading these comics.
SAMANTHA: Ditto. And I appreciate Oni sending me this box so I could have the opportunity to re-engage with the series at this level. I also appreciate you chatting with me about it!
ZACK: This was a blast! See you all rollerblading through sub-space soon!
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