The 11 O'Clock Comics crew proved to be right yet again. Heeding their rave reviews of Image's new series Chew, I bought the first trade, Taster's Choice, which collects the first five issues of this book written by John Layman and illustrated by Rob Guillory. And I loved it.The story is original, dark, twisted, funny, offbeat, surprising, and very well-written, with interesting characters and even more interesting situations. Tony Chu (notice the clever play on words), the main character, is a cibopath, which means he knows things about the stuff he eats. For instance, if he eats an apple, he can tell what tree it came from, what pesticides were used, and who harvested it. If he eats some bacon, he can experience the agony of the poor pig being slaughtered. Also, Tony Chu is a cop, so I bet you can imagine how he goes about finding clues to solve his cases. And this is only scraping the surface of the story, but I won't spoil anything else for you.
The artwork is amazing, very stylized, and completely recognizable as Guillory's own. It doesn't look like anything you've seen before, and it looks great. Chu and Savoy (his partner) showcase Guillory's sense of character design, seeing as they are fully realized characters with their own mannerisms and body language. Also, Guillory's skills as a storyteller and sequential artist are nothing to scoff at, and I found myself in awe of his page and panel layouts. Plus, he also inks and colors the book, and it is just beautiful, beautiful stuff.
As you well know, I believe that the recipe fo the perfect comic book calls for great story and great artwork, and Chew definitely has an abundance of both ingredients. This is not a limited series, so the story doesn't really end on the last page of this volume, but it is such a delicious meal that I am positive Layman and Guillory will cook up an equally mouth-watering dish as a follow up to their entrée. Therefore, if you haven't tasted it already, bite a morsel off this appetizing book, enjoy it, and digest it with pleasure. I bet by the end of this meal you'll be begging for seconds!
8 comments:
Te ha quedado un post muy temático, Fel. Jeje.
El cómic suena de fábula. Me lo apunto.
¿Algún ejemplo de canibalismo que se pueda encontrar en él?
Le he dejado el comic a un par de amigos, pero no han disfrutado el invento tanto como yo. En fin...
Y sí: más de uno y más de dos ejemplos de canibalismo (tanto post-mortem como con carne fresca) se pueden encontrar...
Por lo que conozco de tus gustos ya, mucho me extrañaría que Chew no me gustara tanto como a ti. Me lo apunto junto con Witchblade. A la que vuelva a tener dinero, no lo perdono.
Chew mola, aunque es sin duda menos mainstream que, por ejemplo, Witchblade, Revelations o Danger Girl. Pero si la reseña te ha parecido interesante, entonces dale una oportunidad, que seguro que te gusta.
¿Qué significa exactamente "menos mainstream que Revelations? Siempre di por hecho que era uno de esos comics que no ha leido casi nadie.
Al menos comparándolo con Danger Girl, o con, ejem, X-Men.
Pues no sé cuántas personas han leído Revelations, la verdad. Lo que quería decir es que Chew probablemente no le resulte atractivo a tanta gente como Revelations podría resultarles. O sea, que independientemente de cuánta gente los lea, probablemente Revelations le gustaría a más gente.
Porque Revelations es muy buena comic, está claro. En fin, por lo que dices parece que Chew es más bien un comic de culto.
Supongo que sí. De todas formas, juzga por ti mismo :)
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