As a beloved comic series scott pilgrim By the age of 20, they press Collaborate with series creators Brian Lee O’Malleyand Eisner Award-winning artist Patrick Crottycreating a new set of this series. You can find The Beat’s review of it here. The Beat asked O’Malley some questions, which you can read below.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
Jared Bird: Thank you so much for your time. To celebrate the 20th anniversary scott pilgrim series, Oni Press is releasing a brand new box set that contains the entire series in hardcover format along with tons of exciting extras. What’s it like to celebrate your 20th anniversary? scott pilgrim?
Brian Lee O’Malley: It’s a lot more work than I thought. I don’t really think about it that way, but personally I’ve been working on it all year. It’s really rewarding. I knew I should try to do something about it, so last year when we were finishing the show (Scott Pilgrim takes off!) I started working on it in November and I’ve been working on the 20th anniversary stuff ever since. The first few months were mostly working on the boxes, with some things having to be done very early in order to be manufactured in time. We had a lot of little things to put together, which was really fun.
Bird: Did you expect that? scott pilgrim Still popular twenty years later?
O’Malley: No, of course not! I didn’t expect it to be popular at all. I thought it would stay in a small circle, but it keeps getting bigger. Especially Edgarlet’s movie (Scott Pilgrim vs The World) and how it spreads around the world. I’m always overwhelmed by it. It spreads everywhere like an out-of-control raging virus.
Bird: Some kind of Lovecraftian monster expanding infinitely.
O’Malley: Honestly, yes! I think I’ve had nightmares like this.
BIRD: What is your favorite thing to put in a set?
O’Malley: It was so much fun to put together. I really enjoyed putting this seventh volume together, it’s full of background stuff from the other books and other extras. Combining them into a whole was more fun than I expected. I also love this silly little card that gives instructions on how to read a book. That’s mainly Patrick Crottyidea because he designed the box and did an incredible job.
Bird: I wanted to ask you if you could shed some light on your ongoing relationship with Oni Press and how they’ve treated you as your publisher over the last twenty years or so.
O’Malley: It’s interesting because they did change a few years ago and there was a company reference that I didn’t really pay attention to. Basically, it’s like a brand new publisher now. I’m still finding my feet, but so far so good. I guess I have no complaints! We still work together.
BIRD: Through recent shows, many new fans have been watching the series for the first time. What do you hope they get out of it?
O’Malley: I think there is a tendency nowadays to reduce everything to its simplest explanation. One sentence, one tweet. something like this scott pilgrim Irreducible to some extent. If you read it and really absorb its intricacies, you really will get a lot more out of it than reading a synopsis. I hope this is more than the sum of its parts.
Bird: That’s a great way to sum it up. when i first read scott pilgrimI’ve seen the movie, but what attracted me to the comic was that it shed more light on the characters’ backstories and what they were doing while Scott was on his adventures. There’s a whole subplot about Scott’s ex-girlfriend. It blew my mind and I loved how filling it was.
O’Malley: I like that. That’s why I love doing these things, exploring a larger network of people and making them all count.
BIRD: If you had to recommend another one of your works to fans scott pilgrimwhat could it be?
O’Malley: It’s natural seconds. This is the book I just finished scott pilgrim To sum up, it was already ten years ago. This mainly depends on your age. I made another comic called snot girlwhich is a very different thing I did in collaboration with artist Leslie Hung. I don’t have that many other jobs. I’m working on the next thing, which will ultimately be what I tell my fans scott pilgrim read.
Bird: That’s exciting to hear! What do you think makes people come back? scott pilgrimeven after so long?
O’Malley: I don’t know, it’s hard to say. It’s kind of like a generation at this point, which is interesting. I’m hearing from so many young fans now, which is certainly not what I expected a few years ago. I didn’t expect people who weren’t even born yet to like Scott Pilgrim, and they did, which is unreal. As for the return, I hope it’s more than just nostalgia. Hopefully it becomes part of people’s lives in some way. I know this is very important to people, which is why I wanted to commemorate this with the 20th anniversary edition.
Bird: Fair enough. To put any worries aside, I was still alive when the series started.
O’Malley: Ha ha! You do look young.
Bird: If you had to give yourself some advice, when you’re first starting out lost at seawhat would you say?
O’Malley: That’s the same thing I say when I do something secondsthat is, don’t make your own mistakes again. If I said anything to my younger self, it would disrupt the flow of time! I think not knowing is a superpower. I was able to put my head down and get on with it. If I knew it would be popular, I probably would never have done it because I would be afraid of the reaction. I’ve seen all kinds of reactions and people have all kinds of different attitudes. That’s not my intention. Like I said, if a small group of my friends think it’s funny or whatever, that’s enough for me. If I had to tell my younger self one thing, it would be to buckle up and have a good ride wherever you go.
Bird: Have a nice day.
