By: John Layman (writer & letters), Rob Guillory (art & colors)
The Story: We see some possible future paths for Tony’s sister.
Quick Review (with a SPOILER): The first 6-7 pages of this comic were darn funny. I don’t want to get hyperbolic and say it was “the best thing EVER” or anything like that, but the Toni/Paneer wedding was funny enough that I (a) laughed aloud several times and (b) attempted to show the comic to other people in the room who don’t even care about comics. Chew has a consistent ability to put a simile on the reader’s face and that is a very special thing in an era when a lot of comics are trying to be gritty and grim.
The rest of the comic went in a very different direction and I’ll admit to being a little confused. I’m not entirely sure how Toni ended up being held captive by “the vampire” and even went back through the last few issues to see if I was forgetting something (Note: Checking back issues is hugely easier on an iPad than with paper comics), but there were no insights into her abduction. Chew has been doing so much time jumping and showing possible futures that it’s almost expected to be confusing at this point. Further, if you just roll with the story it’s perfectly enjoyable. If you’re in the right state of mind, it isn’t going to bother you much.
The visuals in this issue are very good. Guillory works in a cartoony style that works with the humor of the issue. I sometimes like to think of what a comic would look like if another artist was involved. Can you imagine this issue being so funny with Alex Ross’ epic, painted styles? Me neither…..it would come off as stiff and unfunny and the jokes wouldn’t work at all. Guillory is perfect for this subject matter. The other thing I really appreciate is how Guillory has never stopped inserting the secondary jokes in the background. We’ve seen a LOT of comics over the years where the #1 issue had all sorts of clever background nonsense going, but that stuff usually falls to the wayside well before issue #30 as the artist struggles to get the next issue out on time.
Conclusion: Confusion aside, I couldn’t be happier with this issue. Pretty rare to find a laugh-out-loud comic.
Grade: A-
– Dean Stell
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Conclusion