Final Scott Pilgrim volume: every bit as funny, but with a bunch of good emotional stuff and a satisfying wrapup

After a long, long, long wait, Scott Pilgrim Volume 6: Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour, the concluding volume in Bryan Lee O'Malley's hilarious, ultra-geeky, manga-inflected, game-obsessed comic about a slacker who can only have his dream girl after fighting her seven evil exes, has finally come out.

I snuck out of the office today and got my copy at Forbidden Planet in London, where they were flying off the shelves. I've been sneaking peeks at it all day, and having just put the baby to bed, I was able to finish it.

Wow.

Finest Hour is everything you'd hope for in a concluding volume: more geeky, more funny, but with enormous heart and a really lovely emotional center that is brought out without being schmaltzy or obvious. Every loose end is tied up, closure occurs, things aren't perfect, but they are eminently satisfying.

If you've been waiting for the series to run its course before starting it, go. And if you've read books 1-5 and have been waiting on tenterhooks to find out how it ends, run.

Scott Pilgrim Volume 6: Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour

• [Avram / Moderator]

  And if, like me, you’ve been reading these one at a time as they’ve come out over the past six years, give the earlier books a re-read before starting book 6. I had forgotten a whole bunch of stuff from books 3 and 4, and I’m glad I refreshed my memory.

  Of course, if you’re like me, you started re-reading in anticipation of the new book, and then went out and picked up a copy at midnight on Monday, and have already finished it.

• [Anonymous]

  I wonder how inspired by FLCL he was.

• [Anonymous]

  uuum….

  Scrote Pilgrim?

  That sword looks like a scrotum.

• [Anonymous]

  Does anyone else agree that the positioning of that sword pommel makes it look like his testicles are hanging out?

• [Anonymous]

  One thing I got from Volume 6 was that Scott’s friends are all self-centered dicks.

• [maxoid]

  The sword-balls thing is totally intentional, guys. Completely there on purpose. Just saying.

  And yes, it was all the excellentness that i’d anticipated.

• [Znaps]

  It says a lot about me that I can’t see the words “I will punish you!” without thinking “In the name of the moon!”

  Pseudo-demi-spoilers?

• [Anonymous]

  Suggestive cover is suggestive.

  • [Antinous / Moderator]

    Suggestive cover is suggestive.

    Oh, that’s just bollocks.

    • [jrtom]

      *snort*

• [jacord]

  Did he replace the pommel with a set of Truck Nutz?

• [robbiemacg]

  Totally satisfying!
  SP6 nicely caps the series. A sweet, nerdy, bildungsroman.

• [jfrancis]

  I like those color combinations

• [lolbrandon]

  Mine’s in the mail from Amazon (kinda fitting considering the whole delivery girl subplot). I’m really looking forward to it!

• [Chuk]

  I agree, great wrap-up. Loved some of the new art bits, too.