Let's Begin Anew with "Chew"

Sorry to have disappeared folks, but I was on sabbatical the last two weeks. Uh yeah, let's go with that. Sabbatical sounds much more professional than "I fell behind."

But I'm back! Let's begin anew with the latest book to join the ranks of my pull box-- Chew by John Layman and Rob Guillory.

Now let me just say, I'm a sucker for first issues. I like to check out first issues when I can get my hands on them because I like getting into a story when it starts and not having to go back and play catch up. I picked up Runaways #1 on a whim because it was a first issue and it ended up becoming one of my favorite comics at the time.

I can only hope Chew will join the ranks and so far I can say that this is probably the case. Chew is the story of Tony Chu, a detective with the ability to obtain a psychic impression from whatever he eats. If he bites into an apple, he can tell what kind of pesticides were used on it. If he eats your face, he can tell where you hid the bodies. The concept alone got the book in my hands, but I still had a level of skepticism.

It's not enough these days to present me with a detective-with-a-shtick story because it's been done before. From Heroes to Medium and even Pushing Daisies, I feel like I've seen this genre a million times. Although the concept in Chew, that being Cibopathy, is different enough to make me take the chance on buying it, I knew once I opened the book that it had to razzle-dazzle keep me coming back for more.

Consider me razzle-dazzled.

Beyond it's genre-detective exterior is a book that explores much deeper themes about society, the government and even fried chicken. In the world of Chew, an outbreak of bird flu has caused a ban on poultry in the United States. That means, if you want to rock out with a six piece Chicken McNugget, you've got to get it from a speakeasy or some skiivy poultry dealer or learn to simply learn to deal with the fake meat alternative.

So in essence, Chew is the combination of two interesting and unique concepts into one amazing story. When it's funny, you're in stiches, and when the action pick up it is completely electric thanks to the artistic talents of Rob Guillory. But the most important thing the story has going for it is good timing. With swine flu mania reaching a critical mass, it's interesting to see a story that deals with the reprocussions of a bird flu pandemic. Even after the book is done, the concepts will linger for days.

One thing's for sure though, I am definitly hungry for more Chew. Serve me up a second helping!