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Ivy Buy at Powell’s

I’ve been rewatching My So-Called Life on Netflix streaming.

When that show first aired, I was just the right age for it (a freshman in high school to Angela Chase’s sophomore) but now, I see very different things in it. I love the beautifully troubled Rayanne more than I used to — I think she probably became someone amazing — and whereas the teenage me found Jordan to be mysterious and intriguing, I now see how ridiculously unworthy of Angela he is. Also, poor Brian Krakow.

Now, while talking about My So-Called Life is plenty of fun (as is the ’90s fashion. Let’s bring some of that back!), I think really, stories about teenagers are really just a matter of perspective.

I liked a good deal of Sarah Oleksyk‘s Ivy (Oni Press, 2011) but I also think I see it in a different way than I would have if I was Ivy’s age.

Ivy is an artistic senior looking to escape her life in small-town Maine. She lives with her hard-working single mother and has fallen in with the other misfits at her high school if she really doesn’t like them. After meeting a trouble boy at an art school fair, Ivy tries to take her life into her own hands, with mixed results.

Oleksyk’s art is approachable and open — Ivy’s short hair gives her a punky edge while her nondescript facial features make her someone who doesn’t stand out. You went to high school with dozens of girls like this. Maybe you were one. Ivy’s friends, while a bit more distinctive, still look like people I knew (or at least knew people who were like them). It makes the story feel intimate and personal as well as universal.

Still, the dramatic turn — Ivy runs away with Josh after being suspended for school — feels a little false. It’s not that I don’t believe teenagers do this, but nothing in Ivy’s character really seemed like it was something she would do. The adults feel pretty one-dimensional. Ivy’s math teacher has it out for her for no real reason I can discern, and Ivy’s mother’s anger toward her feels misplaced. I can understand that Ivy’s mother wants a better life for her daughter, certainly, but I think she’s presented as being overly harsh toward her daughter.

But like I said, it’s maybe a matter of perspective. Oleksyk’s sympathies are with Ivy through and through, so of course the adults are going to be against her. Of course it’s a reasonable thing that Ivy would run away and that Josh would turn on her once they slept together. It’s a teenager’s world — everything is mostly black and white. People are good or bad and there’s not much in between.

The gray washes and Oleksyk’s strong lines do give Ivy the appropriate mood and her ability to express emotion both through quiet images and exaggerated drawings is admirable. She also composes beautiful pages, with borders closing in her characters or isolating them in open spaces. I have no complaints about her abilities as a comic artist.

I will love to see what Sarah Oleksyk does next. I just hope she leaves Ivy behind.

Hopeless Savages Greatest Hits Buy at Amazon.com

Jen Van Meter‘s Hopeless Savages follows former punk rockers Dirk Hopeless and Nikki Savage and their four kids through all kinds of adventures — from the everyday to the exotic. With art by a revolving selection of Oni Press favorites — Andi Watson, Bryan Lee O’Malley, Ross Campbell, Chynna Clugston and Christine Norrie and more — it’s constantly fun and surprising.

In all honesty, I’d forgotten about Hopeless Savages until I saw Oni Press was releasing this collection (this is even despite owning a couple of the books). I don’t think I’m alone in that, sadly.

I do remember how fresh this felt when first came out. Maybe it’s just a matter of my perception, but I do feel like this was a predecessor for a lot of comics we’re seeing. That’s nothing but a good thing.

I’m happy to see this comic get its due and find a legion of new fans as well as get rediscovered by some of us old ones.

I, of course, went to see Scott Pilgrim vs. The World this weekend.

I liked the movie. It had a great, manic energy and it just kept moving forward without any hesitation. There really wasn’t a wasted moment nor was there any time to stop and get bored. Or honestly, really think. Director Edgar Wright did a beautiful job of capturing the giddy spirit of the comic. It’s a pretty seamless, joyful adaptation and the video game and manga-inspired touches are playful. The whole production design is perfect and spot-on.

But I guess my problems with Scott Pilgrim vs. The World are the same problems I have with the comic. Mostly, Scott Pilgrim himself.

I did enjoy Bryan Lee O’Malley’s comic. I think it captures a certain period of life very well. But I think that’s also its flaw. The older I get, the less I’m interested in the drama of young twentysomethings. I did love the final volume of Scott Pligrim and I think O’Malley brought it all together in a very satisfying manner, but I think it took too long to get there.

In some ways, the abbreviated pace of the movie works a bit better for me — it edits down the comic to its essential parts. And as annoying as he can be, I think Michael Cera was perfect for the role of Scott. Mostly because Scott is annoying. When his friends in the movie make fun of his naiveté and idiocy, it’s believable to me whereas it was less so in the comic (I know Scott’s friends in the comic treated him much the same way, but I often felt there was too much implicit approval with regard to Scott’s behavior and we were supposed to be cheering him on. I realize it’s personal, but I’ve known guys who were like Scott at this age, and well, they weren’t people I wanted to celebrate).

In the movie, Scott’s relationship, however chaste it is, with Knives is given a slightly more distasteful overtone. Scott’s too weak to be predatory, but he does come across as more unintentionally opportunistic. Likewise, all the supporting characters, especially Anna Kendrick as Scott’s sister Stacey and Kieran Culkin as Scott’s gay roommate Wallace, provide the voices of reason and are two of the more interesting parts of the movie.

I don’t think the movie quite did Ramona justice, though. Even in the comic, it did take a while for readers to learn much about her, but here, she mostly remains a mystery. Mary Elizabeth Winstead does play her with some pathos, but there’s not much to work with. I can understand what Scott sees in her — she’s cool and cute — but as for what she sees in Scott, I really don’t know (but unlike the comic, the movie only takes place over a handful of days, rather than a year, so it’s still a very young relationship).

If nothing else, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is incredibly entertaining. All in all, I think this movie is fated to play in dorm rooms for the next decade or so, and definitely shows what it feels like to be young in the early part of the 21st century. And it does have something to say about relationships and their baggage (although I think the movie does sacrifice a lot of the deeper issues of the comic for the sake of fun, which is understandable, but doesn’t make it as meaningful as it could’ve been).

It’s also wonderful in that it reveals what else comics have to offer other than “superheroes” or “serious autobiographical.” Whether or not that will have a lasting impact, I don’t know. Ultimately, I like this movie for what it is, and what it represents. I had fun, even if, in the end, I still feel a little ambivalent about the plot overall.