Scott Pilgrim: choose your favorite volume

[The_Julian]

So we all love Scott Pilgrim right? Yeah I thought so. What's not to love? It has great humor, action, dialogue, and some of the best characters this side of the MTV generation.  But which volume is the best? Is it the first volume that introduces the story and our heroes? Or maybe it's the fifth volume that has Scott getting his heart broken?

Well, if you ask me you can't beat the fourth volume- It features some of the best dialogue, action, and some of Scott's best characterization of the series so far. But what thinks you?

[Navarre]

Hrmm, sorry. I didn't even know who Scott Pilgrim was until I looked him up.

I guess I'm not worthy to vote.

[The_Julian]

Hrmm, sorry. I didn't even know who Scott Pilgrim was until I looked him up.

I guess I'm not worthy to vote.

There's a Major Spoilers Podcast on the books in the feed. Take a listen to see if it's your thing (and trust me, it will be).

[Beta Ray Bill Cosby]

hard to say, but the first swerve of the series may be the first one. You know, the one where you realize you're NOT reading a modern version of Archie and are actually reading... something else.

but Vegan Powers are definitely the best concept from the series in my opinion

[hermit]

the whole series is just one awesome thing. i will never pick one over the other. when i read the series for the thousandth time, i read it from the beginning.

[Navarre]

I am clearly missing out on something here. Is there a link to read up on all of this? If so, I promise to read this within the next week, just so I can see what the hype is about.

[The_Julian]

As long as you don't mind any spoilers, MSP #79 talks about the books.

But, if you wanna jump right in you've got nothing to lose. Each of the books is just $12. Though I would suggest buying the first three immediately. Trust me, once the first book ends you wanna pick up the second one immediately.  And the same goes for the second. Third is the only one that has an actual conclusion of the first three.

[Ivdar]

It's really hard to choose...like hermit says, the whole series is equally awesome. What's really nice is that each volume has a very different tone and feel.

At this precise moment, I'd have to say Volume Three, because of the sheer evilosity that is Envy (man I love hating her), the bouts of enthusiasm I felt during the final fight, and also because, well...Todd's a VEGAN.

But I agree, fourth volume is un-flippin'-believable. After all it does feature the awesomest moment in my recent comic-book memory ; I won't spoil it, but it involves a certain someone earning the power of something-something...

[Dr. Bolty]

Really close between volumes 3 and 4 for me. 3 was a really nice balance of build-up and characterization...4 had a very strong internal structure.

Also, 4 had my one of my favorite quotes from the series - "We didn't even make out that much," Ramona says just after getting mad at Scott for letting a girl stay at his place...

[whynaut]

Maybe I'm still just in the enjoyment haze from having just finished reading it, but I liked Vol. 6 the best.  I know plenty of people who had complaints that too many things were left vague in that volume. However, having read it a few times, I feel it actually ties together a lot of symbolism that I did not get early on. 
An obvious example is when Ramona's bottomless bag is destroyed to defend Scott and she decides to get a new one.  We find that symbolically/literally Ramona has been carrying an endless amount of (emotional) baggage from the beginning of the series and is willing to sacrifice it in order to preserve her love. 
The NegaScott represents the bad aspects of Scott personality, and Scott finds himself literally "beating down" the bad memories and the negative aspects of himself.  This is, to a lesser extend, also the reason why Scott can never remember himself drinking alcohol.   But after absorbing NegaScott (i.e. accepting his faults) he openly admits to Julie at the Chaos Theatre that he does indeed drink sometimes.
All in all, I just find the last volume very satisfying in this way.