Third Time's the Charm; Bryan Lee O'Malley's Seconds in Light of His Other Works
A Mini-Thesis by Scrumpledina
A Chapter on Unified Style and the Maturing of the Contemporary Artist
Perhaps “maturing” is a misnomer for the process Bryan Lee O’Malley underwent between Scott Pilgrim and Seconds. It is not a maturing that marks this work so much as it is a focusing; rather than cram the multimedia landscape into the work on a formal level—as O’Malley did quite successfully with Scott Pilgrim—the focus is instead on presenting an even more media- and technology-infused environment through a work marked by it’s adherence to a single aesthetic mode. Indeed, the presence of the phrase “A Graphic Novel”* on the front cover suggests that this will be a long-form work that makes use of both graphics and text to tell a single story while remaining within it’s own bounds. While Scott Pilgrim’s action explodes right off the page—with full-page bleeds and the strong connections to other forms of media and other works°—Seconds remains firmly at the center of the page visually and formally centered around the self-contained story.
*See this author’s previous writing (Scott Pilgrim Vs. The Times) for a consideration of this term. °Again, see this author’s previous writings.
A Chapter on Simultaneous Multiple Affective States and Unified Unstable Speaker Voice
Throughout Seconds, a combination of third person narration and direct action representation is used to tell the story, both verbally and visually. Right from the beginning, there is an indication that Katie is acutely aware of this third-person account of her life, possibly even generating it by talking to herself. However, this complicated position of speaker and protagonist that Katie occupies is further complicated by accounts of events of which she did not have knowledge, such as the mushroom falling into the back seat of the car. This suggests that Katie is either looking back and remembering the events while adding outside narration or the omniscient narrator voice passes from her head to literary-objective without any indication of who is speaking at any given time. Thus, Katie’s access to the events and narration is unclear at best, contributing to the reader’s confusion in a move that parallels Katie’s own confusion at the events of her life. Thus, it is her moods that set the tone of a given section, or at least it seems that way for much of the work. The unity between character and literary affect that was present in Scott Pilgrim is here collapsed to the point that the character is directly responsible for the work’s affective tone, even as events spiral out of her control.
A Chapter on Technology and Connectivity Within a Storyworld
Both Scott Pilgrim and Seconds feature the Internet prominently. In both cases, the Internet is something other, something outside, and the relationships of the works and characters to the ‘Net is a product of the times in which each was written. O’Malley has suggested¨ that Scott Pilgrim takes place in some amalgamation of 2001-2010, a time that saw a rapid increase in Internet usage and mobile connective technology. Thus, the characters rarely use phones or other devices, aside from the sixth volume, where two minor characters keep Googling things at Gideon’s club. The characters of Seconds, however, are constantly on phones and tablets: in the break room, at meetings, in the bath tub, in the car, and all manner of places. The novelty has worn off, and the nonchalant yet prominent inclusion of characters accessing the Web from various locations to check things like Twitter suggests that this is simply part of their mediated landscape, so unremarkable as to go largely without comment. However, it is noticeable in a work that is so decidedly printed and contained, unlike it’s multimediated predecessor. Rather than stressing the ways in which art moves across mediums and platforms, Seconds emphasizes the ways in which people jump from reality to Internet at any given moment.
¨On the Internet, specifically his tumblr.
A Chapter on Further Containment, References, and the Creation of a Universe
While Scott Pilgrim was a work premised on references to external works and the “fanon,”ˆ Seconds features a number of references back to Bryan Lee O’Malley’s other works. These happen in two prominent ways. First, there is the repetition or paraphraisal of lines, such as Katie and Hazel’s conversation about bread’s effects on the body. This is a direct reference to a conversation between Scott and Ramona. O’Malley is obviously aware of this, and even includes a light-colored, almost unnoticeable “sorry…” at the bottom of the page, beyond the confines of the panels. This is the only time in the work that something exists outside of the defined panel space on the pages. This space, then, seems reserved for paratextual commentary that makes sense only to those who have experienced the comics or movie versions of Scott Pilgrim, i.e. O’Malley’s fans. Just as he was always aware of his fans’ responses to the Scott Pilgrim series, O’Malley is aware that his fans will bring a certain body of knowledge to bear on Seconds, and he is comfortable feeding into that. Rather than wait for fans to start creating crossovers, he does it himself. In addition to the dialogue references, various characters from Scott Pilgrim appear directly in seconds. It starts slow, with different characters such as Stephen Stills and Joseph appearing at the restaurant, and culminates in the appearance of Scott and Ramona themselves. This suggests two things. The first, as mentioned above, is that O’Malley is ready to play with all of his characters and create his own canon/fanon. The second is that these two stories may take place in the same universe.ˇ Scott and Ramona are seen from above, but they are likely older. They are eating in a fancy restaurant, for one thing, which they could not have afforded at the close of their series. In addition, the aforementioned cues suggest that this is later in time. Perhaps Scott and ramona are stand-ins for O’Malley himself; faceless characters who have matured and whose influence is ever-present in these works while still allowing for the development of an original storyworld with new characters.
ˆNot an original word, but see this author’s previous writings for a sense of contextualized usage. ˇIndeed, characters from O’Malley’s first work, Lost at Sea, may be present and unnoticed by this author.
Conclusion
Or, you know, this is just a new book by a guy who is still finding himself and working it out through his comics.
About the guy who wrote this
Scrumpledina is, like, such a big fan.
