Ketchup: COUPLES, Scott Pilgrim + Knives Chau (and why I didn't like the movie)

I'm gonna rant a little bit here.  I'll try to avoid being spoiler-y about he books but I'm going in assuming peeps have seen the movie.

Scott Pilgrim was my favorite comic for a long time.  I was on board from the beginning, and I say that not to brag that I was there first, but to make the point that I was/am a SUPER FAN.  When I heard the movie was not only going forward but was being directed by Edgar Wright, I thought it was positioned to be the bestest comic book movie ever, SRSLY.  I wasn't expecting it to be note for note the same because it's stupid to expect every nuance from the 1200 page story to fit into 2 hours, but I figured it'd get the spirit of the story at least.  I'm definitely PRO comic book movie (even the not so great ones) because its a great way to get comic creators more paid and who among us isn't for that?

I thought SCOTT PILGRIM vs THE WORLD was bad though, and NOT because "it was different from the book!"  It really wasn't THAT different, at least superficially.  It hit the big story beats, sure.  It did a fine job of keeping a lot of the funny jokes and silly hipster spirit but at its core it completely whiffed on the point of the story: Scott Pilgrim is a douchebag in sore need of some growing up.

My biggest problem is how much the movie let Scott off the hook for his dick behavior.  Sure the characters roll their eyes at Scott a lot (ditto the book), but as the books progressed forward and you learned more about Scott's romantic history (with Kim, Envy, and Lisa, whose roles were reduced to non-existent in the movie) and how he wasn't just an endearing but absentminded doofus, he was actually kind of horrible.  The books beautifully show everything bottoming out in slow motion, because of his stubborn refusal to acknowledge that he's being self centered even though he does genuinely care about those around him.  Whether he ends up with Ramona or ANYONE not was not the point.  The fighting the evil exes, that ALSO was not the point.

The movie kind of chucks all that out the window.  Michael Cera plays Michael Cera, lovable awkward doofus, and ends with the message that TRUE LOVE CONQUERS ALL blaring with bright colors and indie rock.  It ends up being a personal victory without any of the interesting personal struggle.

The reason I picked Scott and Knives is because it's the difference in the book and the movie in a nutshell.  Scott cheats on Knives and Ramona with each other.  Knives in the book is shown to be immature (for sure), but she's also 17 and struggling with a lot of sadness/longing/frustration with this older jerk who played her emotionally and then unceremoniously dumped her when she stopped being the most interesting thing to him this very minute.  In the movie she's just this cute/annoying groupie who ends up being as feasible a love interest as Ramona in the end.

Couples: White Queen and Cyclops by Justin Zyduck

Sorry this is late and just a quick sketch, but I was ill all weekend (like, not in the hip-hop way).

Anyway. EMMA + SCOTT = TRU LUV 4EVA, right? They are miserable together, but they are miserable together, dig? Strangely enough, their relationship seems to be the part of the Morrison's New X-Men run that has had the most lasting effect on the franchise.

Couples; Hank and Dean Venture (Ride the White Horse) by Josh Purple

It's in the next season, honest! :)

The Post Previously Known As Sneak Preview of Couples: Vivien Leigh and Lawrence Olivier by Beth Davis

So DAMN is Laurence Olivier hard to draw with all his dimples and subtle facial anatomy. Anyway, here they are as promised earlier, also with a bonus cheesy gradient background. Darth Vader, coming up next!

Couples: Captain Kirk & His Conquests by Mike McMahon

Couples: Robot Love, by Josh Lynch