By: John Layman (writer) and Rob Guillory (art)
The Story: Tony Chu is tripping…
Review (with SPOILERS): I felt a lot better after reading this issue. For some time, the over-arching “big story” of Chew has been slipping from my grasp like a greasy rope. With easy issue, I had less and less of a grasp on what was really going on. I still laughed at all the jokes and still found Toni to be really a touching character, but I was missing a lot of the bigger picture.
This issue kinda locked things back down. Now I understand why Toni was involved and why NASA was involved, what the alien sky-writing means, etc. I wouldn’t say that I could write the entire Wikipedia article about Chew, but I feel a lot more secure. Things make sense instead of being random – still FUNNY, but random. Nice job by the creators. It has to be really hard to manage the big story for these series because what is a nice reminder for one reader is boring and repetitive for another. I honestly have no idea where I fall on the spectrum of readers in terms of remembering plot details, but *I* enjoyed the reminders and summaries in this issue.
Also, mega-bonus points for the glossary of food powers in the back!
But what makes this issue (and series) slightly brilliant is that it isn’t just a reminder of plot points, it also checks off the funny and touching boxes too.
The whole scene of Tony and Colby getting high and raiding the pillow factory was insane and wonderful. Chew is always a pretty insane, but this alien acid trip was next-level even for Chew. I loved the way our protagonists were hallucinating: file folders with teeth, vicious pillows…. And the moment when you hear Appleby’s voice gradually creeping into their acid-trip as the art shifts back to reality was amazing too. It was really funny to see that they really were FIGHTING WITH PILLOWS at the pillow factory.
The touching moment came when we saw sister Toni walking away into the sunset. She is really the soul of this series. I know a lot of us wondered why the creators would kill a great character like Toni, but now we see that in comics…..death doesn’t really matter. Toni isn’t really even dead from a story-standpoint, she’s just another character. I love everything about the Toni character.
The art is amazing as usual. There are so many little gags and emotions that would be 50% less effective if the art was mediocre.
Conclusion: A really strong issue that hits both the funny and touching notes that this series is known for while also re-calibrating the “big story”.
Grade: A
– Dean Stell
Grade
Conclusion