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Chew (comics)

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Chew
Cover to Chew #1 .
Art by Rob Guillory.
Publication information
PublisherImage Comics
ScheduleMonthly
FormatOngoing series
Genre
Publication dateJune 2009 – present
No. of issues14 (as of October 2010)
Main character(s)Tony Chu
Creative team
Created byJohn Layman
Rob Guillory
Written byJohn Layman
Artist(s)Rob Guillory
Letterer(s)John Layman
Colorist(s)Rob Guillory
Lisa Gonzales (#5-)
Collected editions
Taster's ChoiceISBN 1607061597

Chew is an Eisner Award-winning American comic book series written by John Layman[1] with art by Rob Guillory[2] and published by Image Comics.

Plot summary

Set in a world where all chicken and other bird meats are illegal, after a catastrophic outbreak of the bird flu that killed 23 million Americans, Chew centers on Tony Chu, a police detective who is a "cibopath" (pronounced "see-bo-path"[3]), who detects psychic impressions from whatever he eats. Tony becomes a Vice Cop with the Philadelphia Police Department, and when on assignment, trying to find people smuggling chicken, he enters a Black Market Chicken Restaurant on invitation from the FDA. He has a bowl of chicken soup only to find he gets a psychic impression of the cook killing people and then putting them into the soup. He goes to bust the cook, only for the cook to kill himself outside the restaurant. Chu then eats the cook to find out the names of the rest of the victims. He is fired from his job with the Philadelphia PD and gets hired on to the FDA by an agent named Mason Savoy, who is also a cibopath.[4]

The first case that Tony and Savoy are assigned to is finding out what happened to a Health Inspector named Evan Pepper, based on a finger found inside of a hamburger at a fast-food restaurant. During the investigation, Tony has a hit put out on him by a business man named Ray Jack Montero.[5] It is eventually discovered that Mason Savoy killed Pepper and when confronted about it, bites off Tony's ear to use as leverage in case Tony ever comes after him. Savoy then runs off to discover what really caused the so-called Bird Flu, and banned all chicken consumption.[6]

Tony takes some time off and flies with his brother to an island called Yamapalu. Chu is there to investigate a certain plant called a Gallsberry which tastes exactly like chicken. Chu then meets with a USDA agent, who tells Tony that she'll tell him all she knows about Gallsberry, but unfortunately she's murdered and Tony is framed.[7] Tony has his FDA credentials checked and is released only to find out by biting another prisoner that another murder has taken place, over a rooster named Poyo, a cockfight champion. After confiscating the rooster, Tony goes to the morgue to find out more about Gallsberries. During this time, the chief of police steals Poyo. Tony than eats a Gallsberry raw and finds out that it's from outer space.[8] Tony then sneaks on the base where Gallsberries are grown, evacuates several people that are imprisoned there only to find out that the entire crop of Gallsberries are burning.[9] It turns out that Ray Jack Montero is burning the plants to remove any competition, with a little help from some residents of Yamapalu, who are rebelling due to the capture of Poyo. Tony is then shot at by an employee of Montero, but is missed, and then has a confrontation with a person known as The Vampire who is also a cibopath.[10]

Tony then finds out that Poyo had been moved to America, so he retrieves him and shuts down a cock-fighting ring.[11] It is then revealed that Ray Jack Montero had been changing Frog DNA to make them taste (and look) more like chickens, creating a creature called Frickens, or Chogs and then packaging their meat and calling it Poult-Free, a chicken substitute. It is also revealed Montero knew that the bird-flu incedent was going to happen before it did, so Mason Savoy had his partner, Caesar, go undercover inside of Montero's company. Caesar was the one who shot at Tony in Yamapalu and intentionally missed. Montero is captured, and Savoy is surrounded by the FDA when they were watching one of Montero's buildings.[12] Savoy has a confrontation with John and escapes. Amelia finds a toe that was in Tony's fridge, given to him from an old girlfriend.[13] Savoy then eats Tony's ear and learns more about him. Tony brings Amelia and John with him to his family's Thanksgiving. We meet his friendlier twin sister Toni. While giving grace, there is a 2 car pile-up outside and alien writing in the sky. [14]

Characters

Tony Chu

The protagonist. Tony is a cibopath, meaning he gets a psychic sensation from anything he eats, except for beets. Tony originally worked for the Philadelphia PD, and then for the FDA. He's been called a "By-the-book square that never met a department regulation you couldn't love." He's a great detective and does not seem to know how to talk around women. Not much of Tony's backstory has been revealed yet, but it has been revealed that he has a large family and that when he was a beat cop he proposed to his girlfriend named Min "Mindy" Tso who then wanted Tony to eat one of her toes. She then went insane. It turns out that Tony still has the toe.[15]

Mason Savoy

Savoy was Tony's first partner at the FDA. He's a large man who fights with a pair of sai (weapon). He is also a cibopath and worked with the FDA for a very long time. He is very interested in what actually happened on the day of the bird-flu incident, and a flashback showed him holding a dying woman in his arms on that day. It is revealed that Savoy is the one who killed Evan Pepper, but not why.[16] Mason is found by the FDA, he kills most of the agents and wounds John Colby, it turns out that Mason is the one who got Colby turned into a cyborg. Savoy is currently a fugitive but is still continuing his investigation.[17]

John Colby

John was Tony's partner in the Philadelphia PD. When Tony gets a psychic sensation from his chicken soup and goes to arrest the chef, John is incapacitated by a butcher's knife to the face.[18] After Mason runs, John joins the FDA, with cybernetic implants where his face was injured.[19] John becomes Tony's new partner. John is often seen eating illegal chicken products whenever he can, and is apparently gay after sleeping with his boss to keep him from pestering Tony.[20] John was turned into a cyborg after Mason Savoy suggested it. He was informed about this after Mason attempted to get John on his side and then attacked.[21]

Amelia Mintz

Amelia is a food critic at a newspaper. She is a Saboscrivner: "That means she can write about food so accurately, so vividly and with such precision, people get the actual sensation of taste when reading about the meals she writes about." [22] After seeing her a few times, Tony finally gets to meet her when he is supposed to get her fired, after she gets bored and decides to start writing about disgusting foods causing several people to vomit. When Tony goes to her office, she helps him defuse a situation with some terrorists from the group E.G.G.. She then goes with the governor of Yamapalu.[23] After finding out that he's imprisoning people, she is also captured.[24] She is one of the people Tony saves from Yamapalu, and soon after they start dating.[25] She starts writing about food for him so he can taste them without getting psychic sensations.[26]

Collected editions

The series is being collected into trade paperbacks:

  • Chew, Volume 1: Taster's Choice (collects Chew #1-5, 128 pages, November 2009, ISBN 1607061597)
  • Chew, Volume 2: International Flavor (collects Chew #6-10, 128 pages, April 2010, ISBN 1607062607)
  • Chew, Volume 3: Just Desserts (collects Chew #11-15, 128 pages, January 2011, ISBN 1607063352)

There is also a large hardcover edition collecting the first two trades paperbacks:

  • Chew Omnivore Edition, Volume 1 (collects Chew #1-10, 264 pages, August 2010, ISBN 1607062936)

Reception

The first three issues of Chew have all sold out multiple printings with the first issue receiving four printings as well as being reprinted in black and white in The Walking Dead #63.[27][28] The first issue was so popular that it was called one of Image's most acclaimed titles, and was reprinted again in the first wave of the Image First line.[29]

Critical reception has been mostly positive. IGN gave the first issue a 9.5 out of 10 and the subsequent issues 9.0, 9.1 and 8.8 respectively.[30]

Chew Vol. 1 Taster's Choice[31] and Chew Vol. 2 International Flavor[32] have both been on the New York Times Bestsellers List.

Chew ended up on several Best of 2009 lists, including IGN's Best Indie Series of 2009[33] and MTV Splashpage's Best New Series of 2009[34]. Chew was also #4 on ComicBookResources.com's Best 100 Comics of 2009 list[35].

On July 23, 2010, Chew won the Eisner Award for Best New Series[36]. Chew has also been nominated for two Harvey Awards (Best New Series and Best New Talent)[37] and two Eagle Awards (Favourite New Comicbook and Favourite American Colour Comicbook)[38].

In other media

Television series

In July 2010 it was announced that Chew was being adapted into a television series by the same people behind the Walking Dead television series.[39]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ John Layman Bites Back in "Chew", Comic Book Resources, April 23, 2009
  2. ^ Rob Guillory: The Art Of "Chew", Comic Book Resources, April 30, 2009
  3. ^ Chew On This With John Layman, Comic Book Resources, June 7, 2010
  4. ^ Chew #1
  5. ^ Chew #2
  6. ^ Chew #5
  7. ^ Chew #7
  8. ^ Chew #8
  9. ^ Chew #9
  10. ^ Chew #10
  11. ^ Chew #12
  12. ^ Chew #13
  13. ^ Chew #14
  14. ^ Chew #15
  15. ^ Chew #14
  16. ^ Chew #5
  17. ^ Chew #14
  18. ^ Chew #1
  19. ^ Chew #6
  20. ^ Chew #9
  21. ^ Chew #14
  22. ^ Chew #3
  23. ^ Chew #3
  24. ^ Chew #9
  25. ^ Chew #10
  26. ^ Chew #12
  27. ^ [1]
  28. ^ [2]
  29. ^ http://www.imagecomics.com/archives.php?category=13&month=January&year=2010#10452
  30. ^ [3]
  31. ^ "Graphic Books Best-Seller List: Casting About". The New York Times. January 15, 2010.
  32. ^ "Graphic Books Best Sellers: Food for Thought". The New York Times. July 2, 2010.
  33. ^ http://bestof.ign.com/2009/comics/best-indie-series.html
  34. ^ http://splashpage.mtv.com/2009/12/15/best-of-2009-comics/
  35. ^ http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=24238
  36. ^ http://www.tfaw.com/blog/2010/07/24/chew-wins-best-new-series-eisner-award/
  37. ^ http://www.harveyawards.org/
  38. ^ http://www.comicsbeat.com/2010/05/24/2010-eagle-awards-nominations/
  39. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (July 21, 2010). "Circle Of Confusion & Stephen Hopkins To Develop TV Series Based On Comic 'Chew'". Deadline.com. Retrieved July 21, 2010.

References

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