Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Chew #2
Image Comics
Layman & Guillory
The second installment of Chew tops the first issue and Tony barely even has to unveil his “power”. The comic proves immediately it can stand on its own feet without the gimmick because it has strong characters and excellent dialogue. The comic has laugh out loud moments and has some great introductions to some new characters. This is a series worth paying attention to.
Tony’s first day on the job at the FDA has him meet his boss, Mike Applebee. Mike is a tough guy and is real hard on Tony. You might think this is clichéd and a tired concept. Perhaps it is but this character has charisma through his dialogue and is a perfect fit for this comic. That, and Applebee orders Tony to take a bite from a finger found in a fast food restaurant so he can use his cibopathic powers on it. Through this interaction we also find out that Agent Savoy is a cibopath. This opening scene manages to make Savoy a much deeper and a slightly more mysterious character.
The comic gets better as Tony heads to the fast food restaurant to do some investigating of the teenaged workers that were present for the finger found in the food. This scene is brilliant because it captures the paranoia and defiance that a teenager might have and then it quickly switches over to the other side which is that teenagers tend to be spineless in the face of real resistance. It’s a hysterical interrogation and it seems to ring so true in more than a couple of ways. This sequence makes you understand why and how Tony might have been a good cop prior to entering the FDA.
The comic ends with a raid of sorts that ends up taking a wrong turn. Here we get even more complexity with Agent Savoy as he quickly becomes of the most intriguing and important characters in this comic. I could see him becoming a Snake Eyes or Wolverine type of a character before you know it.
The comic relies on its great writing instead of an overly complicated plot or the power of cibopaths. I was fearful that biting flesh and chasing chicken speakeasies would grow old but it won’t if this comic continues to role out terrific characters with personalities and dialogue that all clicks together perfectly.
The artwork is outstanding. There are so many panels to point to that show off some level reality while presenting the story in a dark and humorous manner. You need to look no further than the opening page when the kid goes to paste a ball of snot on the burger but finds the finger. I also loved the scene where Tony’s desk sits across the panel separation bar while the character Tony is speaking to switches sides of the desk from panel to panel. It’s just such a fresh view of a story I can’t help but be very impressed with the art.
Chew was strong out of the gate but delivers a fantastic second issue. I recommend this story because it is telling an interesting story with cool characters and a neat little gimmick to help keep things out of the realm of totally normal. This comic gets the highest possible recommendation. Good luck finding the first issue if you missed it.
5 out of 5 geek goggles
