There are many ways to communicate. And drawing comics is mine. The first memory I have is when I was eight years old. I scribbled in the notebooks non-stop and then showed them to the teacher, who instead of scolding me encouraged me to continue drawing. And it was clear that he would. What I didn't imagine was that I would achieve it professionally", confesses Bryan Lee O'Malley to La Vanguardia. The cartoonist is currently visiting the city of wonders, as he is one of the artists invited to the Manga Barcelona salon, which started yesterday and continues until Sunday at Fira Gran Via, in Hospitalet de Llobregat.
The 24 years were decisive. "I saw everything more clearly", he admits. It was then that she published her first book, Lost at sea, an intimate story that focuses on Raleigh, a young woman caught on a road trip with three schoolmates she barely knows. "When it was published, I showed it to my friends, but it was such a personal comic that they didn't laugh, and I thought: I'll work on something that makes them laugh." Then came the series that catapulted him to fame: Scott Pilgrim.
Scott is a musician living in Toronto. He doesn't make a very good living, but he doesn't care. He is in love with Ramona Flowers and, for him, that is enough. It doesn't take long to discover that, beyond her weapons of seduction, his lover has special abilities, as do his seven ex-partners, who in the comic are transformed into supervillains. So if he wants his relationship to work, there's nothing Pilgrim can do but fight against it.
Under this premise, O'Malley published six volumes between 2004 and 2010, which became particularly popular when they made the transition to the big screen thanks to filmmaker Edgar Wright, with Michael Cera in the role. "With the film, everything took a leap. The trailer came out in March 2010 and from that moment my life changed completely. My name and character were all over the internet and everywhere. It had an official release in Toronto and I remember my friends had to leave the movie theater. But not because they didn't like it, but because that atmosphere with movie stars puzzled them. Me too, but what could I do about it. I confess that I am still not getting used to it. I'm just a simple guy who likes to draw."
Overnight, the series went from being "small and independent" to becoming a cult work with capital letters. The Spanish filmmaker Abel Góngora has just recovered it and, with the help of the author, has transformed it into an anime, which premiered in November on Netflix and which has the same cast as the previous film, although that this time from the vocal field. "I am very satisfied with the result. In addition, it is available in fifteen languages, which is why it has spread much faster than any of my books."
Then he published more comics: Seconds, Snotgirl..., "but people always end up asking me what happened to Scott. And I don't care. It is beautiful. Who knows if I'll ever rescue him in a new book. I don't plan on it, but if it happens, the plot will change, because whoever will be behind it will no longer be a twenty-year-old, but someone older", he concludes.
