By: John Layman (writer/letters) & Rob Guillory (art/colors)
The Review: Remember the Gallsaberries from the 2nd (?) arc of Chew? Those things that looked like a mash-up of a pineapple and an octopus? Well, it seems like those things are going to be important.
I can’t tell you how fascinated I am by the transition that Chew is making from (A) the funniest comic on the market where plot didn’t seem to really matter to (B) a comic where multiple plot threads are converging. These creators had a GREAT thing in the early issues of Chew and I give them huge credit for being bold enough to try to massage a wonderful story out of the whole thing. That’s especially true because it isn’t clear that the overall story of the series is going to be as dramatic as the early issues were funny. When Chew is funny, it is a perfect 10. So far, when Chew is merely trying to be dramatic, it is more of a promising 6.
The big thing this issue makes me feel is that I should have paid closer attention to the early story arcs. I mean, there is obviously something very important going on between the gallsaberries and the alien-language skywriting we’ve seen. That means the cult that worships that alien skywriting is important. And, it probably means that Agent Poyo is more than just a joke about how vicious roosters are.
If you’re detecting a slightly negative tone to the review, it’s because I’m not sure that I LOVE the change for the dramatic in Chew. It reminds me a little bit of a class I took in college called Drama 10. It was taught in a 500 person lecture hall and had a reputation for being the easiest A on campus. All the basketball and football players took it. The only problem is that the year I took Drama 10, the instructor was been threatened by her department and Drama 10 became a very serious undertaking. I thought I was just showing up to read some plays and have some fun, then they surprised me with actual homework and a FINAL EXAM. That’s a little how I feel about Chew: Nobody told me there would be homework! Suddenly I am being forced to remember stuff from two years ago instead of just laughing at a myriad of jokes about Mike Applebee’s sweat-stained armpits and HUGE crush on Agent Colby.
So, while I admire Chew’s braveness in trying to make a story out of this, it is changing what I loved about the series. I don’t love it as much NOW as I did a year ago and that’s all because the series is making me do homework. To be clear, Chew isn’t approaching the level of plot complexity of an Alan Moore work. This is just basic storytelling stuff that I’m refusing to remember, but one of the things that was so refreshing about Chew is that it didn’t make me do any of that stuff, and now it does.
Anyway, anyway, anyway….
In this issue we keep diving into this relationship between Tony and his daughter and we finally get the confirmation that the daughter is powered. It turns out that she is an Cibopath much like Tony…..but she is much more powerful and can turn the power on/off at will. And that means she will be of tremendous interest to the Vampire Cibopath. Once he learns about her, the Vampire will be dead set on adding her to his “collection”. And that means that Chew will basically turn into a story about a cop chasing a serial killer with the climax being that the serial killer comes after the cop’s own family.
The part that really isn’t clicking with me is the whole outer-space angle. It is so obviously important otherwise we wouldn’t have the gallsaberries, the chogs, the alien language, Amelia writing sci-fi after eating gallsaberry…… The thing is that I just can’t put that piece of the puzzle together with the others. And that is frustrating.
The art is still tremendous. The image of chogs in a blender is pretty priceless. The thing that always captivates me about Guillory’s art is how perfectly timed and toned it is. There are so many scenes in Chew that could be offensive if the art was just a little different. Consider that scene of the chogs in a blender. If the chogs looked just a little more sentient or if the blender was was actually turned ON that scene could be horrific and gross….but like any good comedian, Guillory knows just how much to give us to make us laugh – and doesn’t push the joke so far that we’re offended. Anyone who has an edgy sense of humor should be able to appreciate the knife’s edge that Guillory successfully walks.
Conclusion: A good issue. I’m just hoping that the small amount of humor that we’re sacrificing for the sake of story is worth it in the end.
Grade: B
– Dean Stell
Grade
Conclusion