The Comic was Better Than the Movie

At the climax of recent comic book adaptation, Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World, Scott’s one true love Ramona discovers that Scott was still dating 17-year-old Knives Chau when they first met. Her first assumption is that he cheated on her with Knives, but the truth is much worse, he cheated on Knives with her. Scott betrayed the trust of a vulnerable schoolgirl who loved him and his only excuse is that Ramona wasn’t the one wronged. In the comics almost the exact scene occurs but the tone is far different, whereas the film has this as a hasty interlude amongst the lighting-fast action the comic portrays a moment of quiet revelation. Scott has accepted what he did and looks back on it with deep regret and while this is thrust upon Ramona onscreen, on page she spends pages trying to come to terms with it.

What makes this scene all the better in the comics is the role it plays in the series as a whole. When Ramona comes to the conclusion that Scott is a bad person he offers the consolation that he’s trying to change, he’s trying to make the relationship work. But as we’ve seen Ramona is no paragon of virtue herself and if Scott’s going to change, she’ll have to change as well. The only problem; nothing changes Ramona, she’s the girl in charge, always the dumper, never the dumpee, the world can’t change her if she changes first. Ramona handles her problems by bringing them on her terms* and if it’s a choice between changing for Scott or changing for herself she’s going with the latter. It’s the reason she dumps Scott and the obstacle she must overcome in the final volume.

This is why the statement: “The comic was better than the movie”, is so fitting for Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World, which is excellent in its own right but comparatively shallow. While a film forces you through the events at 24 frames a second the comic allows for a broader context. You can read volume six and events from volume five will make sense, something which was once a funny joke will be given deeper meaning. It is ironic that a means of storytelling so concerned with its visuals should be the one with the greatest depth.

The difference in quality between the two mediums is by no means restricted to Scott Pilgrim, arguably one of the most controversial adaptation was of Alan Moore’s Watchmen. The project languished in limbo for year and eventually fell into development hell before some young punk gave it a go. And while Zack Snyder arguably accomplished the dramatic visuals of the graphic novel there was no way he, or any other filmmaker, could capture the complex web of characters and historical context that made Watchmen Moore’s masterpiece. Having read the comic a good 6 billion times I’m still finding new revelations, new visual details included in each page.

It’s an issue which is relevant to an era where the romantic comedy is perhaps the shallowest genre of movies around. While Ramona’s inner turmoil is side-stepped (Scott hits the film’s equivalent of a reset button) Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World is one of the few romantic comedies (c’mon what else is it?) that allows for a little character growth. While it may simply be that Scott gets a life, his journey is miles ahead of anything that JLo, Sandra Bullock or Katherine Heigl can offer. It is an outrage that cinema today can take so many lessons from contemporary comic book, yet choose to remain ignorant.
The League Hath Spoken!


*For those of you who read the comics its the reason the cat's called Gideon.