#CBR6 Review #27-28: Chew, volumes 4 & 5 by John Layman and Rob Guillory

 I feel like there are so many comic book series that I start but don’t keep up with in a timely manner. It’s been almost a year since I last read an installment of Chew, but I still managed to remember most of what was going on. That might be because this series is just so different and strange, that it’s hard to really forget. Or maybe it’s just easy to remember once you get back into it. Describing the plot of this series is difficult if you haven’t read any before, however, as things get… weird.

In any case, volumes 4 and 5 of this series are entitled “Flambé” and “Major League” respectively, as we follow Tony Chu through his cases with the FDA, only to eventually have himself and his partner transferred to other law and enforcement divisions. Meanwhile, an ominous message in flames is seen in the sky, which is assumed to have been put there by aliens. Chu’s daughter also gets tossed into the middle of things, and we find that she too has a particular, food related gift. And of course, as always, more new abilities are exhibited in new characters, including a Effervenductor who can control people through messages in coffee foam, a Voresoph who becomes smarter the more he eats,  and a Xocoscalpere who can sculpt chocolate into forms so accurate that they mimic what they depict exactly (ie, a chocolate sword that can slice just like a real sword).

I feel like my description of these books is making little sense, but if you are already into reading the Chew series, then you know how bizarre and gruesome (yet enjoyable) they are. They are imaginative and perhaps a little gross at times, but interesting enough and with so many threads being sewn into the mix of things that I want to read more and find out where this all goes in the end.

[Be sure to visit the Cannonball Read main site!]

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