Graphic Novel Review: Bryan Lee O'Malley's Seconds

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July 31, 2014

It's often said that the second book is the hardest for an author. For Bryan Lee O'Malley, it might be more accurate to say that the eight book is the hardest. Following his graphic novel debut with 2003's Lost At Sea, O'Malley devoted most of his energy to the Scott Pilgrim series. Six volumes and one movie adaptation later, O'Malley has earned numerous awards and a legion of rabid followers. Where does a creator go from there? Is there anywhere to go but down?

Seconds is appropriately titled, because it's both a story about second chances and a chance for O'Malley to launch the next phase of his artistic career. It showcases an artist maturing in his visual style and mode of storytelling without losing any of the charm or whimsy that made the Scott Pilgrim series stand out. So while it's a very different kind of graphic novel from the Scott Pilgrim books or Lost at Sea, O'Malley fanatics will feel right at home with Seconds.

The star of protagonist could be viewed as the anti-Scott in many ways. Where he was a self-absorbed, video game-obsessed slacker with dreams of being a rock star, Seconds' Katie is successful, ambitious, and generally respected by her peers. She's the head chef in a popular restaurant called Seconds, and as the story opens, Katie is well on her way to opening her own restaurant and moving up in the world. But there are similarities between the two characters as well. For all her drive, Katie is immature, sometimes oblivious, and prone to bouts of reckless behavior (like sleeping with the same chef she's grooming to replace her). And those qualities quickly become Katie's undoing when she encounters Kris, a peculiar "house spirit" who dwells within Seconds and shows Katie a way to wipe away the mistakes of her past. It's a four-step process:

1. Write your mistake.

2. Ingest one mushroom.

3. Go to sleep.

4. Wake anew.

Suddenly, Katie finds herself in possession of a godlike ability to rewrite the past on a whim. And while she initially uses that ability to make simple, relatively harmless changes, it isn't long before Katie's world begins to unravel as she reaches back years and tries to undo mistakes that hinder her quest to become a successful business owner in the present.

It's an interesting premise with shades of Death Note (a book bestows a powerful ability so long as the owner follows a set of arbitrary rules) and movies like The Butterfly Effect or books like 11/22/63 (abuse of time travel causes the world to spiral out of control). Seconds isn't overly derivative of any particular work, although there is a certain amount of predictability to the plot. It's obvious early on that the story will follow Katie's increasingly disastrous abuse of her gift, followed by an epiphany where she learns the importance of accepting her mistakes rather than trying to wipe them away.


Predictable or not, though, O'Malley gives his tale enough charm and spice to always keep things interesting. The concept of house spirits is especially interesting. The book takes on an almost horror vibe at times as a dark spirit grows within the bowels of the restaurant and pollutes the feng shui of the joint. And at other times, Katie's journeys with Kris into the heart of the multiverse turns Seconds into an epic sci-fi/fantasy tale. Couple those elements with the frequent humor and the fourth-wall breaking interplay between Katie's dialogue and the omniscient narrator, and Seconds has a style very much its own.

Seconds also offers a refreshing change of pace for O'Malley's work. As a single, self-contained graphic novel rather than a series, Seconds is more focused and more plot-driven. The cast of characters is fairly limited. Aside from Katie and Lis, the main players consist of shy waitress Hazel and her ex-boyfriend and current romantic fling. This more intimate approach allows O'Malley to dig in with Katie (and Hazel to an extent) and delivering a solid, satisfying character arc over the course of a few hundred pages. It's an ambitious story in scope, but very funny and readable at the same time.

On the visual side of things, O'Malley is joined by both art assistant Jason Fischer and colorist Nathan Fairbairn (who is also in the process of colorizing the Scott Pilgrim books for their hardcover releases). The pencils and inks show no real signs of being handled by more than one creator. O'Malley's style has evolved in the sense that his character designs are even more squat and exaggerated than ever, veering almost into chibi manga territory at times. I would actually have preferred something a little more naturalistic given the tone of this story, but the distinctive figure work is part of the charm. More importantly, O'Malley shows a willingness to open up the page, toy with structure, and generally exploit the medium wherever he can to tell his story. There's a great use of negative space in many pages as Katie rewrites the past and everything fades to white.

And as much as the Scott Pilgrim books have benefited from the addition of color, Seconds really exploits Fairbairn's work to full effect. The colors are great at establishing mood, distinguishing past and present, and allowing the art to shift from humble restaurant surroundings to cosmic spectacle. This story wouldn't have been the same had it been crafted in simple black-and-white.

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The Verdict

Seconds is a great way to follow-up the mega-popular Scott Pilgrim series. It's a much different, more focused story, yet features similar themes of self-growth, maturity, and a focus on relationships both good and bad. And while it's easy enough to predict the general course of the plot, O'Malley keeps things interesting through a combination of wit and creative storytelling.


Seconds - HC on Comic Book
  • +More focused than Scott Pilgrim.
  • +Many humorous and charming elements.
  • +Great visual storytelling and use of color.
  • The basic plot is fairly predictable.
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