Chew #1 cover image

Chew is a new ongoing series from writer John Layman (House of M: Fantastic Four and Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness) and artist Rob Guillory.  The series follows the bizarre adventures of Philadelphia Police Department Detective Tony Chu, a cop with a weird secret.

Tony Chu is Cibopathic, which means he gets psychic impressions from whatever he eats.  He can eat an apple and the feelings he gets in his head might tell him about the tree from which the apple came, what pesticides were used on that tree, or even when that apple was harvested.  Or he could eat a hamburger, and the pictures that appear in Chu’s mind could be a replay of when the cow was… harvested.  When Chu and his partner, John Colby, stumble upon a black market operation, Chu finds the career path before him strewn with cannibalism, fried chicken, and serial murder, among other things.  But what happens when his secret gets out?

Chew #1 introduces readers to a kind of near-future scenario, which at first glance seems not only kooky, but also ridiculous.  There is a twist here (a global incident) that I don’t want to reveal because the reader should discover it himself.  The reader may roll your eyes at the revelation, as I did.  About midway into the first issue, however, Chew seems surprisingly adroit, especially when considering the various social moods and the political climate in the United States the last 30 or 40 years.  The ridiculous becomes the possible.

In the America of the nanny state, War on Drugs state, the security-trumps-privacy state, with its crisis/outrage of the week-generating media, Chew seems more than plausible.  Hell, its near-future scenario is practically just around the corner.  Perhaps, John Layman didn’t mean to write a dystopian, sci-fi satire – like A Clockwork Orange, but he may end up with that anyway.  At this early juncture, some of the narrative and its characters seem superfluous, but Chew has huge upside.  So before I go too crazy about it, I want to see where the series goes from here.

The artist for this series is a promising newcomer, Rob Guillory.  His art on Chew doesn’t look like the work of a newbie.  His composition is quite good, especially the sense of space, which is of utmost importance in comic books.  A sense of space and depth visually give a world verisimilitude, making those peculiar comic book worlds seem alive or at least plausible on some level.  Guillory may have some graphic design experience, because practically every panel has a bit of dynamism and zing.

Once again, I’ll hold off on going completely crazy about Chew #1, but this is highly recommended to readers looking for something familiar that’s been made different with some rowdy narrative and illustrative ideas.

www.ChewComic.com
www.RobGuillory.com