Scott Pilgrim vs. the Universe

In the previous four volumes, our slacker hero got the band together, got a job and got the girl. Now he has to learn how to live with “happily ever after” and finds that there is no such thing. The previous four volumes of O’Malley’s cult hit established the world of Pilgrim, a 24-year-old without any actual skills other than presumed awesomeness. To win the hand of the lovely Ramona Flowers, he must defeat her seven “Evil Ex-Boyfriends” in video-game style battles that incarnate millennial anxieties over finding love, holding a job and somehow managing to stay cool all at once. This time out, he’s got to fight the handsome twins Kyle and Ken Katayanagi who are even more awesome than Scott himself. More importantly, now that he and Ramona are cohabiting, they face danger from the jealousies and insecurities of couplehood. O’Malley’s cartooning has gotten better and better, and there are moments of comedy, high action and even poetry, as when Scott and a ball gown–clad Ramona flee an insufferable party in a daring escape. This penultimate chapter of the Scott Pilgrim saga is one of the strongest ones yet and should win new readers in droves, especially with a Pilgrim movie slated for the end of the year. (Feb.)