He just wanted to impress his friends... and accidentally made MILLIONS

How did Scott Pilgrim go from an unpopular comic to a massive franchise?

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*Links to Buy Comics*

Scott Pilgrim 20th Anniversary Box Set

Scott Pilgrim 20th Anniversary Box Set in BLACK AND WHITE

Seconds

Lost at Sea

Snotgirl
(After a long hiatus, O’Malley’s latest comic is BACK! Catch up with the trades and then you can read along monthly at your local comic shop!)

In case you’re curious, here’s some Paul Pope:

*Credits*

Everything else: matttt

Photos:

Mike Allred photo © Luigi Novi

[Skeleman]

The Scott Pilgrim movie is like a "before they got big" for so many actors.

[tayloreh]

I love how every successful comic book artist seems to have such humble and rough beginnings.

[juliiju]

Worth mentioning that O'Malley got the name Scott Pilgrim from an Indie Canadian band called Plumertree, and the song "Scott Pilgrim" was eventually featured in the movie as a throwback.

[risdio]

I actually met Bryan Lee O'Malley very recently! He did a signing and keynote at the art school I'm currently attending a couple weeks ago. He was incredibly nice and very charming. I was wearing a shirt for Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne when I went to the signing, and he recognized it and went "Nocturne, hell yeah". And during the keynote, he was really insightful with a lot of the questions he was asked during a QNA segment at the end. It was all so great.

[Kimuyaman]

I was surprised to learn the Scott Pilgrim movie was a flop. To 17-year-old me and my friends it certainly wasn't! 😅

[Timooee]

This is my favorite comic YouTube channel right now. I'm on my comic book creation journey, and these history lessons always empower me to keep going. It seems like there's a recurring theme among all these creators: they refuse to give up. That’s so great! When you’re creating your own comic, there’s always doubt in your mind—that no one will care about your work, or that you’re not good enough, or that there’s no point. But these artists teach me otherwise.

[whade]

I think it's impossible to give the context of 2000s webcomic culture now. Webcomic giants like Keenspot, every budding artist going to Comic-Con to make 90% of their annual earnings from book sales, and so many new talents burning brightly then disappearing simply because monetization online did not yet really exist. Yet even among the hundreds of artists I've been following at the time trying to do a similar thing, I think SP was the clear standout in every category. The art, the writing, the on point jokes, the huge number of nerd culture and video game references, and capturing the experience and challenges of a young adult generation, it's easy to see why people felt like it was successfully talking to them personally.

[IanConnel]

I had no idea the movie did so poorly. I saw it and was blown away. The editing, comedy, and action are all top-tier. I got into the comics a while later, and was surprised how much quality there was to them. Unlike most comics, the artwork featured clarity, a single focus per frame, instead of a graphic designer's nightmare of zillions of details forced onto a page at equal weight and importance. And the attitudes of the characters...that's the zeitgeist of a generation raised on video games and movies. Scott Pilgrim is brilliant.

[BenedictStreet]

Wouldn't it be deliciously ironic if this video initially failed to gain traction but became a slow burn huge success as per Scott Pilgrim

[hamburgerlover]

My Dad was part of the underground comic scene in Toronto in the 90s and 2000s. Brian really did just want to impress his peers. It's amazing how successful Scott Pilgrim has become. It perfectly captures the feeling of whay Toronto used to be. The city so many of us miss.

[PaperThinnGlennHall]

I really love this comic because it's about getting out of your own way.
I feel like a lot of people in their 20s are just lost where they resent the past and dread the future and try their best to live in the moment day by day.

nothing is better in life than contentment (and a hot girlfriend)

[wesreleases]

I was that guy telling all his friends to read Scott Pilgrim, which many now have because of me. No story has had the impact on my life that it has. It is my favorite comic ever made, easily. Matttt, you’re spot on with how O’Malley’s unique layouts and pacing help create the books’ distinct tone. No one plays with panels and gutters in the way he does. Sadly, a lot of people misunderstand the story and its themes. It’s clear that it’s still sometimes strange for O’Malley how this very personal and weird story he wrote in his early 20’s is still today a multimedia IP beyond his control, but he handles it with grace. I was lucky enough to meet him on the recent 20th anniversary tour, tell him how much his work meant to me, and get him to sign Scott Pilgrim Vol. 1 and Seconds.

[ajclarke]

His art style started as “gritty 90s manga” and evolved into Legend of Zelda the Wind Waker. And it worked perfectly.

[awogbob]

I was one of the few people that saw Scott Pilgrim in theaters. Both my uncle and cousin fell asleep at the showing but for me it just rocked my world. Shortly after found the comic books and they really helped give me a lot of perspective in highschool. You said ancient live journal blogs and I remember reading those too! I guess I am almost 30 now.

Time to read seconds.

[imdoneplus]

“…but I also interviewed Brian Lee O’Malley himself…”
“YOU WHAT NOW?!” 😮
So amazing, I love it man.

[rocketreindeer]

Me and my sister had heard about Scott Pilgrim but hadn't seen a copy of it to read. We went to the movie and laughed all the way through it. Then we were shocked it wasn't a huge hit. We grew up in Canada so got a lot of in-jokes (lke Scott wearing a Canadian Broadcastig Corporation t-shirt). I wondered if people just didn't get it. Now I'm glad it gets the respect it deserves.

[js]

This channel is such a treasure, as an artist, hearing all these stories it´s so inspiring to just keep going and see what happens in the future!

[amberferrell]

Im so fucking delighted that you mentioned Seconds, please give it a read folks its not too long and it like actually changed me.

[idimation]

I know this vid is mainly about Scott Pilgrim, but I have to admit that Lost at Sea is probably my favorite comic of all time. I read it right after I finished high school, and I really related to Raleigh's (the protagonist) insecurities about herself and her feelings of isolation around her classmates. Up to that point, there was a lot of media that I liked on an aesthetic level, but Lost at Sea was the first piece of art that felt like it was made for me and me alone.

[juanmacias]

18:56 ah, to hate your own work. That's relatable lol