Scott Pilgrim

We’re taking a break from teen angst this week to move on to twenty-something slackerdom. Scott Pilgrim is in his early twenties, plays in a band and likes video games – so far, so average. Then Scott falls in love with rollerblading delivery girl Ramona Flowers and he is faced with previously unimaginable challenges. Her seven evil exes to be precise.

The Scott Pilgrim series by Bryan Lee O’Malley consists of six volumes full of epic battles, band competitions, hipster jokes, relationship woes and a lot of growing up deftly portrayed in a manga-influenced style of illustration. The cast of characters from Scott’s roommate Wallace Wells, to his band mates Kim and Steven and the many curious inhabitants of Toronto are sharp and funny, while the story is laced with classic video game and pop culture references.

Made into a film by Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead) and starring Michael Cera, check out the comics if you want more background on the story and the characters or just want to experience the original Scott Pilgrim adventure.

The Sandman

The Lord of Dreams learns that one must change or die, and makes his decision.

Arguably THE classic comic series, The Sandman by Neil Gaiman is a must-read for all comic, fantasy and horror fans. The series revolves around Dream of the Endless, the anthropomorphic personification of dreams. One of seven siblings representing elemental forces he is occasionally joined by Destiny, Death, Destruction, Despair, Desire and Delirium.

The story begins in the first collection of stories Preludes and Nocturnes with Dream imprisoned by an occultist who seeks immortality. Dream eventually escapes this prison and sets out to revenge himself on his captors and begin the long process of rebuilding the Dreaming which has suffered in his absence. Liberally sprinkled with characters familiar from mythology, folk tales and the DC/Vertigo comics universe this is a series unlike most others.

Many of the stories over the further nine volumes (not counting spin offs and extras) are set in the Dreaming, The Sandman’s realm, and in the waking world. They follow Dream on a journey interspersed with past events and strange occurrences, all contributing to the complicated tale of his existence and its increasingly inevitable conclusion.

The trade paperbacks have been reissued over the past year to include revamped colouring of the original artwork. These are not your average comic book superhero stories and I highly recommend them and their glimpse into the fascinating world of Dream and the Dreaming.