See previous reviews for Vol. 1, Vol. 2, Vol. 3, Vol. 4, and Vol. 5.
I know I shouldn't reference the film so much when I talk about these books, but of all the stuff to leave out of the film, the sixth volume has buckets of amazing content! There is significant growth not only from Scott, but also from almost all the named female characters - Kim, Knives, Envy and Ramona all get a chance to confront their past with Scott, and they all (in their own ways) make peace and move forward, with or without him. It was great - and so significant for girls - to see all of them, particularly Knives, mature and hold Scott accountable for the way he treated them.
Also it would have been cool to see Envy's costume. hair, entrance and solo act in the film. I liked her a lot in this final volume; her character is really rounded out into not just Scott's evil ex, but a real person with feelings who is struggling to deal with fame and the way men treat her. Envy Adams spin-off comic please!
Lots more Wallace in this volume, which was great. The final confrontation with Gideon was fine, lots of stabbing and slashing which is not to my taste, but I liked the explanation of the subspace highway, and the frozen exes. What I really enjoyed in this volume was the background detail, from the guys googling Ramona (and then updating her Wikipedia page) to Scott's mom reminding Stacey that Scott had collected a 1Up a couple volumes back. Very cool.
Not much Toronto detail in this one, as most of the action takes place on Scott's couch, then in the wilderness, then in the Chaos Theatre (at the perfectly drawn corner of Queen and Bathurst).
Overall I think this series was really excellent, a quintessentially Toronto story that is nevertheless very accessible, and of particular appeal to the early-twenties hipster crowd. I loved the style, the story is great and despite the fantasy elements, very true to the struggle of youth and maleness and relationships, and all that nonsense. Definitely worth a read, and in my opinion volume six is the strongest entry.
Five CN Towers out of five.
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