Chew by John Layman & Rob Guillory

Chew by John Layman & Rob Guillory

Available so far: Volume 1: Taster’s Choice (RRP £7.50), Volume 2: International Flavour and Volume 3: Just Desserts (both RRP £9.99), published by Image Comics.

Chew is an American comic book penned by John Layman and illustrated by Rob Guillory; it centres around one Tony Chu. Tony is cibopathic. For those of you who don’t know, that means he can take a bite out of something, and he knows all about it. For instance, he takes a bite out of a piece of food and he knows where it’s come from and how it’s been cooked. Now you could leave it there, or you could take it a step further. And this is the beauty of Chew; it does go a step further. Tony Chu doesn’t just chow down on food.  Tony Chu nibbles on corpses too. It’s this special ability that gets him hired with the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) who have FBI like powers in an America where all chicken is outlawed, due a to a mad bout of bird flu that wiped out millions of Americans. That’s when the real fun starts. Tony’s first assignment is to discover the murderer of a health inspector and it all spirals wildly from there.

I really don’t wanna give too much away here ‘cause one of my favourite things about this comic is the twists and turns; they feed into the plot seamlessly and instead of leaving you dying for more caused they’ve stitched you up with some irritating money-grubbing cliffhanger, you genuinely want more because you wanna know what the hell they’re gonna come up with next.

Its originality is the main thing that drew me to this comic whilst trawling the net for something new and shiny. Chew pulsates with personality. It’s dark, sick and a little bit twisted.

Before you even get as far as reading the thing you’ll get drawn in by the visuals. You’re looking at a comic made up of soft, rich pastel colours, which lure you into a false sense of security. Only to jog you back to reality with one of Tony’s cibopathic induced flashes, or just the generally odd content. What you get throughout is that great juxtaposition of the beautiful and the disconcerting, or just downright disgusting. This contrast persists and makes the comic richer for it, even the babes aren’t really babes. Wait till you meet the Russian chicks; you’ll see what I mean. Their body proportions are all wrong, it’s like the creators are purposefully trying to make sure you’re just a little on outside of your comfort zone, all the time.

This is comic for those with a sense of humour, albeit a little bit of a weird one. It’s for those of you who want to read something different. Chew isn’t a neat little package, though it is slick. Your good guy doesn’t just swoop in, get the girl and beat the bad guys, it’s messier…

Much messier.

This mess is what makes Chew such a compelling read, the unpredictability and creativity are what make every panel pop and make you want to re-read the books to make sure you haven’t missed anything interesting. More importantly they make this into a series you want follow – it feels like a series made by geeks for geeks. It reminds me of ‘Spaced’; there’s that same feeling that the creators know what they like, so they’ve decided to run with it, and they’ve got a feeling you’ll like it too. I’ve recommended this for the last year to anyone who’ll listen and I’m gonna continue to do so: give it a chance, and you’ll soon be doing the same. Quite frankly, it’s awesome.

So far the comics have been compiled into three books, Volume 1: Tasters Choice, Volume 2: International Flavour and Volume 3: Just Desserts, with a fourth volume due out late 2011. And honestly?

I can’t wait.

Kate West, Bookseller, Waterstone’s Edinburgh George Street