Manga with a hip twist

Michael Cera is in. Now what about the rock ‘n’ roll? Inspired equally by music and video games, Bryan Lee O’Malley’s “Scott Pilgrim” series is a “High Fidelity” for those weaned equally on Nintendo and record stores. The six-part comic series -- Vols. 1 to 4 are out now, and O’Malley hopes to have Vol. 5 in stores by the end of 2008 -- is being turned into a film by Universal Pictures, with shooting pegged to begin this year.

The books may not come with a soundtrack, but music has a starring role. For instance, the title of Vol. 3, “Scott Pilgrim and the Infinite Sadness,” is a nod to a Smashing Pumpkins album, and the main character himself is named after a song from defunct indie-rock band Plumtree.

The hero of the story is a twentysomething Canadian indie rocker who battles his insecurities in the way Mario & Luigi tackle giant lizards -- with a jump and a kick and a prize of gold coins at the end. “Juno’s” Cera has been cast as the young Scott Pilgrim, a character who tempers his self-proclaimed awesomeness with a bevy of neurotic ticks.

-- Todd Martens