Bryan Lee O'Malley Quotations

In my teens and university and stuff, video games became more realistic, or they started to.

Doubt yourself all you want, but you have to make choices in life and live with them.

'Monkey Island 2' was a huge game for me. It kind of taught me all about comedy.

I'm always exploring other people: trying to figure out myself, trying to figure out everyone.

I'm a firm believer in stories with arcs and beginnings and endings and all that. 'Scott Pilgrim' is sort of one long novel, and it's so long that I get confused and sort of tread water sometimes. But there's definitely a goal to it. People who just dismiss it as shallow, that's their prerogative, but it's not really my intent.

When I was in the middle of the 'Scott Pilgrim' series, and it was slowly becoming more popular, though still not financially solvent, I had this real bratty instinct to turn around and do something super arty and dark. I felt dismissed by comics culture, stuck in between the artcomix world and the nerdcomix world, and I was cranky about it.

The first Nintendo game I ever got was 'Clash at Demonhead.' I got into anime and manga thanks to that Canadian classic, 'Sailor Moon.'

There were times over the years when I wanted to take a break from 'Scott Pilgrim,' or even just stop doing 'Scott Pilgrim,' when I was feeling down or whatever.

Culture is evolving, and I'm along for the ride.

Each new book that comes out kind of pulls up the old ones a little bit. The new releases are always going to bolster the old releases.

I don't really picture anyone when I'm drawing. They just become their own completed person with googly eyes.

After a long period of not drawing, you have to, like, relearn how to draw. It's not very fun.

I always like to write where I'm at in real life into whatever I'm working on.

I didn't expect 'Scott Pilgrim' to be successful. I just made this weird comic to entertain my friends.

When I was a kid, I desperately wanted more background information on especially cartoonists.

Writing music is sort of my hobby, but it's been falling off more and more. Doing comic books takes up my entire life.

I just have this thing in my head that I want to do serious stories that are still just way too cute and drawn in a really cute, appealing, rounded, childish way, and it's like, I don't know if it makes sense - but it's just something I'm really strongly compelled to do.

I'm too young to have experienced firsthand the '70s rock, but when I was in high school, me and my friends were super into Neil Young. That was the grunge era, and he was considered cool again

'Seconds' is grounded in the reality of this restaurant environment, and I did do plenty of research, so there's that. It takes place in a town that is like a kinder, gentler fairy tale version of reality. Then it takes off into a story that is very strange, very mental.

Tumblr culture and the whole reappropriation-without-context thing are a double-edged sword in that they both raise awareness of my work and also kind of devalue it at the same time.

I grew up in London, Ontario, and moved to Toronto when I was 22 or 23.

I really like the look of old '70s and '80s Japanese comics, so I think that style is something I will continue to draw.

I've had so many little ideas I've written down here and there. Some ideas I've got reams of notes for.

Seeing people cosplaying my characters is always a blast.

The places I've been, or passed through, or seen at a distance, have had as much an impact on my life as the people I've known.

I do get the sense sometimes that if I draw things too nice, maybe I won't be indie-rock enough anymore.

I just don't think I can write someone drastically younger than me.

'Seconds' is very much about reaching out for the next thing after you've figured out the first thing.

I don't think anyone ever sets out to make a crappy movie, but there are a lot of forces working against those people who are trying to make something decent. There are a lot of fine lines to walk and small battles to fight.

I don't really have a metaphor for how I write, but it kinda feels like chipping away at a big dark object that I can't really see.

I've certainly played games that provoked a real emotional response or serious thought processes.

For Hollywood to make 'Spider-Man,' only to redo the movie a couple years later, just boggles the mind. To recast 'The Incredible Hulk' for a third time? I don't get it.

I don't tend to cast roles in my head because I spend so much time with these characters and the drawings that they're complete in themselves, you know what I mean?

I guess I've always been kind of obsessed with food. I always liked drawing food, and I always liked stories - I think I probably just read somewhere that stories are better if someone's eating in them. I don't know where that came from, but it really stuck, and I always try to put food in.

I just had this feeling that, if I were to get into a fight, somehow I would have the ability to fight back, just based on playing 'Street Fighter' for so many years of my life. It's almost like I actually learned martial arts.

I lived in London for a long time, and that's a pretty white town. In Toronto, I just ended up in this circle of indie rock kids who happened to be white, too... Really, it was just when I started getting out there and meeting more people and seeing more fans that I went, 'Oh, actually, I'm not white.'

I think it's natural as you get to the end of your twenties to start thinking about what you could have done differently - whether they went well or whether they went terribly.

I've always been open to the idea of an adaptation that does its own thing, that freely diverges from the original as long as it's true to the spirit.

'Seconds' is all about spaces, and I guess spaces are kind of like people in that they can be haunting and alluring before we even really get to know them, and after prolonged exposure, they can become mundane or oppressive.

I used to be really influenced by Brian Bendis, back in his indie days. But I guess I try to tone that down.

I don't want to spend my entire life drawing talking heads. It seems like a waste of everyone's time.

I'm sometimes sort of in touch with the readership, and they seem to have perceptive questions, for the most part.

My readership seems to be the sensitive people, for the most part. Then there are the occasional fans who are like, "Ah, video games!"

I remember talking to someone who is vegan. At the time, I would hear a lot of outrageous claims from vegans about the good that being a vegan can do for you, for your health and whatnot. I remember someone once told me vegans don't sweat, so I started my mind going.

I'm 25 and just trying to understand women. Obviously, that is a process that never ends.

When you do your first book, you're just like, "This is my work." And it's just this whole other world that you throw yourself into.

Kim: Hey... There's a guy over there with a samurai sword. Scott: Really? Like a katana or a wakizashi or both?

Okay, this might sound vague, but do you know this one girl with hair like this?

What kind of tea do you want?" "There´s more than one kind of tea?...What do you have?" "Let´s see... Blueberry, Raspberry, Ginseng, Sleepytime, Green Tea, Green Tea with Lemon, Green Tea with Lemon and Honey, Liver Disaster, Ginger with Honey, Ginger Without Honey, Vanilla Almond, White Truffle Coconut, Chamomile, Blueberry Chamomile, Decaf Vanilla Walnut, Constant Comment and Earl Grey." -"I.. Uh...What are you having?... Did you make some of those up?

Bryan Lee O'Malley has been alive since he was born and will lives until he dies.

Kim: "What, a coffee? Hollie, I have some bad news. I hate you, okay?" Hollie: "You hate everyone, Kim." Kim: "You're one of everyone.

I feel like im in this river just getting swept along... And if I hold on to anyone, if I'm holding on for dear life, I'm not getting anywhere. I'm stuck. ...I never wanted to get stuck

Let's be friends based on mutual hate.

I have a lot on my mind and not a lot to do so it's going to come out, all of it, and then, then, it may begin to make a sort of sense

‎All my stupid little thoughts beget stupid little thoughts, rampantly speculating every possible outcome of every possible situation until they're all done to death and none of them could ever be true.

Maybe it's important to open up I people- people who are right there with you, not some thousand miles away in another universe. Or maybe it's something else. Maybe I should just settle for not knowing. Maybe it's just good to know that you're not the only one who doesn't know.

I.. Uh...What are you having?... Did you make some of those up

There was about six months when I was absorbing other stuff and not drawing very much. After a long period of not drawing, you have to, like, relearn how to draw. It's not very fun.

You suck, surprising no one!!!! If bad was a boot, you'd fit it!!!! You're a stupid poo-poo head! I had sexual relations with your mother! Your mother was not that good in bed! You, sir, are a wretched soul! I am rubber, you are glue!

Listen to this, okay? Just listen. You hear that? That's market bacon hitting the pan. Today a child is born unto us, and his name will be bacon.

Somehow the pantsless gay man is not bringing the romance, Scott.

this song is for the guy who keeps yelling from the balcony, and it's called 'we hate you, please die.

Anyway, how are you and Ramona doing?' Uh... you know. Pretty good.' Have you said the L-Word yet?' The L-Word? You mean? Lesbian?' Uh... No. The other L-Word.' ?' Okay. Uh, It's "love." I wasn't trying to trick you or anything.

Scott, if your life had a face, I would punch it. I would punch your life in the face.

Each new book that comes out kind of pulls up the old ones a little bit.

Oh, hey, maybe I should have mentioned that my friends are retarded douchebags.

I need some kind of... like... last minute, poorly-set-up deus ex machina!!

These shoes are Mr Silly's shoes, Scott.

When you're alone, you look at yourself more, it is kind of inevitable.

Tell it to the cleaning lady on Monday. Because you'll be dust on Monday. Because I'll be pulverizing you sometime over the weekend. And the cleaning lady... cleans up... dust. She dusts. And she has weekends off, so... Monday. Right?

Out here where the world begins and ends, it’s like nothing ever stops happening.

Scott: I don't think I'm ready to be a grown-up. Kim: I don't think you are either, buddy. But hey, you'll get it. It just takes practice.