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Chew Volume 1: Taster’s Choice
Release Date: December 9, 2009
Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: John Layman
Pencils: Rob Guillory
Collecting Issues: Chew #1 - 5
Price: $9.99
Reviewer: Eric
Last summer Image Comics brought out another new ongoing series from John
Layman and Rob Guillory. I can certainly say Chew did not sound that appetizing
when I first heard about it but my mind set was different after I read the first
volume, Taster’s Choice. Layman and Guillory have a good thing going here and
Taster’s Choice is just a small piece on how good this series is.
Chew is crime story that focuses on Tony Chu, a special crimes detective for the
FDA. Chu has the ability to find the memories of anything he eats. That means
Chu can find out where the food was made, how it was processed, and just about
all of the other tiny deals you could not even imagine. Whatever the man puts in
his mouth he can picture something that some of us might not even want to learn.
During a sting operation Chu and his partner are trying to bust a location that
is selling chicken to people. Times are different in the world of Chew and
chicken, yes the food, is banned from being sold, eaten, and used to cook with.
When Chu’s partner talks him into lighting up and eat chicken, instead of
busting them, Chu sucks it up and eats some chicken soap and changes the whole
game.
Tony Chu finds out that the chef in the restaurant has killed innocent women,
chopped them up for his pleasure and to eat. Instead of flat out letting his
partner know everything Chu heads to the kitchen with his partner, where a
cleaver goes into his partners head. The actions that happen next lead Chu into
a whole new life without the FDA.
Chew has one of the most original stories I have read in a comic book for a long
time. The concept around it is so bizarre that you will want more after your
first read through on Taster’s Choice. John Layman uses both detective and humor
to write this story. At times the pages feel a little bare since there are not a
whole lot of frames. Layman could have tried to give us more to the story, but
it would have cut into Rob Guillory’s artwork.
Layman usage of two stories going on in this volume helps keep your attention
stuck in the very pages in Taster’s Choice. At one point in this graphic novel
you will make sense of what is going on and then the ending happens. Taster’s
Choice has an ending that you wouldn’t expect and if you see one of the parts
happening then you won’t with the other aspect.
Truly with a comic book this well written the artwork has to be just as good.
Rob Guillory’s style has a modern cartoon feel to it, something you might be
familiar from the DC children’s comic books and of course the modern cartoons
like I said before.
Some of the images in this graphic novel might disturb the ones with weak
stomachs. Guillory shows Chu in all his glory when he needs to eat the strange
to figure out his next move in a case. I’ll let you know that Chu eats a finger,
but towards the end of volume one you might be tossing your
breakfast/lunch/dinner.
Final Verdict
Around every corner you have the same old superhero bullshit and then you have
the few comic companies who try something new, letting writers and authors do
something risky. Chew got the chance to get published by Image Comics and it was
a success. Taster’s Choice will get you started on this amazing series. And for
only $10 it is hard to pass on this graphic novel. Make this one a mandatory
purchase.
Rating
9 out of 10
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