Indie Spotlight: Chew

Hey,
Here's a spotlight on a fun new series.

Indie Spotlight: Chew Vol. 1

I've been waiting for this series to come out in trade since last summer. If you keep up on comics like I do then you've already heard of Chew. It was the surprise indie smash of last summer from writer John Layman and artist Rob Guillory. Chew follows Detective Tony Chu who is a cibopath, a person who receives the history of anything he eats. Imagine the horror of biting into a hamburger and feeling the cow being slaughtered that you've just imbibed. Now you know a small portion of the hell that Tony Chu feels every time he sits down to eat.


This a world of big imaginative ideas. Layman doesn't shy away from creating an entirely new world and characters, but this isn't a superhero or horror book. Another interesting layer to this comic is that in this world poultry has been outlawed due to a bird flu epidemic. And as with all illegal substances that people really enjoy there's an underground blackmarket. Because of this the FDA has become the most powerful crime agency. So Tony Chu is recruited due to his cibopathy and detection skills in the first issue.

John Layman sets up these characters and world with such a great sense of humor and imagination. Tony Chu is smart and funny in a way that detectives should be. He isn't a gritty cynical cop yet. This trade pairs him with a mentor who is also wonderfully original and savvy. Chu has a unique super power but it makes him a miserable person. These first issues are about him discovering how to use these powers and what his morality is.

Now this should be boring and predictable but it's not. A major part of that is due to the art-style of Rob Guillory. He has a cartoony and hyper-exaggerated style that lends it an original look. I think this book would be a terrible experience if it was realistic. The cartoony look helps emphasize the humor and downplay the gross-out factor. It reminds me a lot of Humberto Ramos, who is another artist that started at Image. Guillory also does a great job with action which is essential since this is a crime comic, sorta.

I highly reccommend checking out this new book and I can't wait for the next arc.