Synthesizer Patel, one of the biggest Scott Pilgrim apologists on the planet, says this volume sucks and he will not be defending Himumu.
He's not going to defend me? Defend me from what? I think it sucks, he thinks it sucks, none of the other Scott Pilgrim fans have read it yet, and this thread is full of anti-Scott Pilgrim trolling and since *I* think it sucks I don't really care about the trolling.
I liked it.
How and why? I thought the first half was solid. The whole CASUAL SEX thing was cute and funny. And then...well...
None of us ever plan on reading it. Go ahead and spoil away.
The problem with the second half is that everything is deus ex machina mixed with cheesy writing. Past volumes aren't Watchmen-quality, but they have a certain charm. They're cheesy, but they're fun cheesy, kinda like a crappy c-budget horror movie. It knows its faults, and it didn't take itself seriously. Like fighting a vegan guy who has super vegan powers. It was quirky without being cringe-worthy.
But in this volume, the author finally takes various aspects that didn't make the past volumes great (the crappy romance sub-plot, for one) and makes it the main focus. I expected this, and expressed my wariness on countless occasions but my predictions came true. It wasn't just nerd humor, it was now nerd humor with a romance story that was flat out distinguished mentally-challenged.
But I think the biggest problem I have with the book, and the ending in general, is the development of the main character. He starts out as a depressed guy whose heart is broken, and it's funny because he's distinguished mentally-challenged and just wants casual sex, but eventually he just turns back into the same person he was before. Scott Pilgrim infuses nerd humor so much I think, because it's a story about growing up. It's about this 24 year old loser whose life is going nowhere, the romance sub-plot never really was the reason I remotely liked the story. In the end, Scott is still the same. He hasn't really "grown up" despite the fact that everyone around him has, and the ending lacks any sense of fulfillment. He got the girl, but who cares? He's still working in a burger joint and playing in a shitty band.