Chew on Chu
By Dania Sonin
January 12, 2011
I often spend time on Amazon.com just surfing the deals and new releases to see if anything catches my fancy. It’s not the best habit, as I usually wind up spending the minimum amount to get free shipping and wind up with things I will never ever read, but as far as needless consumption goes, I’ve always felt books a bit more noble than gadgets and shoes.
So, a few weeks ago, in the mood for comics and feeling my credit card burning a hole in my pocket, I set myself up to find something worth reading. It was easy enough – I had to own The Walking Dead before I watched the series. Added that to cart, which left me with a whopping eight or so dollars left to spend on something, anything really, that seemed worth the free shipping. I browsed the sci-fi comics and saw tons of things that caught my literary eye, but nothing that satisfied my parameters – I never like to spend more than I have to – until finally I came across a rather sparse cover by comparison and a price tag I could feel okay about. It was called Chew and even better than being cheap, only had two volumes published so far. This was something I could get into almost from the start and maybe even stick with if it was good enough. I was at the very least, excited to get in on something on the ground floor.
I’ll be honest: I didn’t expect much. The art was pretty and one of the styles I am in love with – bold caricatures with sinewy lines and rich colour. The premise, on the other hand, left me a little cold, a little hungry for something more substantial, shall we say. It seemed, as far as I could tell, to be about a very violent police officer. I could definitely get on board with that, but I wasn’t in the mood for an illustrated David Caruso. Even so. Added that to cart.
It took me about five minutes to fall in love with Agent Tony Chu. I only had five minutes to look at it when it arrived, since the postman seems to like to tease me by delivering my packages just moments before I have to speed off to work. But I was curious and so read the prologue to the first chapter – it was already doing things differently. It flowed like a cartoon. The artwork was so wonderfully fluid and the dialogue so funny and engaging that I could almost imagine the images animated and moving, cutting from scene to scene. As soon as I could, I read both volumes cover to cover and was left with this absurdity as the last words:
“Bland.” – Newsarama.com
Even though this fantastic review is included in the blurbs on the back cover of the second volume of Chew, the comic is anything but. Created in 2009 by John Layman and Rob Guillory, Chew follows the career of cibopath Tony Chu. What is a cibopath? Well, a cibopath is a person who gets psychic impressions from food. In Tony Chu’s case that means everything from meat to fruits and vegetables (except beets) to human flesh, and his job – working for the FDA – tends to lead to cannibalism more often than not.
The story itself is set in what seems to be the not too distant future. Chicken has been outlawed due to a supposed bird flu pandemic and as such, poultry runs the black market. The FDA has almost free reign over the United States and surrounding territories with agents set up in the remotest locations often undercover, operating more covertly and violently than the CIA in any conspiracy theorist’s wildest dreams. In the first issue, Chu is recruited for his unique abilities and quickly finds that he is not the only one in the world who can get impressions from anything chewable.
The cast of characters is wonderfully ridiculous, including Chu’s gung ho partner John Colby, the very pretty Amelia Mintz – a saboscrivnor or someone who can so accurately describe food in prose that the reader will actually feel as though they’re sitting down to dinner – and a whole slew of odd individuals with equally odd and original talents. Guillory illustrates them with wonderful personality and individuality, letting them shine through design as well as Layman’s delightful writing. Together they paint a picture in a style that’s unique, intriguing, and hilarious. If you don’t at least crack a smile while reading this comic, chances are you’re dead.
It’s beautifully written and beautifully illustrated; well worth the read. It’s innovative and doing something we as writers all want to do. It’s creating its own mythos and doing it confidently with its own lexicon and jargon. It’s like reading about the first vampire and definitely good inspiration to get writing. So, if you get a chance, jump on the Chew bandwagon. It was the best impromptu, filler purchase I’ve made in a good long while.