Review: Chew Volume 1: Taster's Choice by John Layman and Rob Guillory

Title: Chew Volume 1: Taster's Choice

Written and Lettered by: John Layman

Drawn and Coloured by: Rob Guillory

Published by: Image Comics, Inc.

Released: 2013 (3rd printing)

Summary: Tony Chu is a Cibopath. He has a special talent when it comes to food. When he eats an apple, he can sense what tree it was grown on, what orchard, and what types of pesticides were used. If he eats a piece of bacon, he gets a visual image of the pigs life and slaughter. Tony doesn't enjoy eating that much. Then Tony gets recruited to the FDA for his special skills and he finds more adventure than he ever imagined.

My Thoughts: This was really fun! I loved the art style and the overall story. There was a lot of humor in it and I just really enjoyed reading it. The situation of chicken being outlawed was crazy. I don't think I could survive in a world without chicken in my diet. I eat a lot of chicken. I wonder what's really going on there.

Also, the whole time I was reading, I just kept picturing Tony Chu as Miles from Lost. I love Lost. I marathoned all 6 seasons on Netflix in the span of two months. In my post-Lost state, anything can remind me of Lost at any given time, and Chew definitely did. Tony and his partner John reminded me so much of Season 6 Lost, flash sideways, where Sawyer and Miles were detectives. So yeah, Tony Chu is pretty much Miles Straume in my eyes.

The only minor flaw I have with Chew so far is I'm not sure where the overall story is going. There seem to be a bunch of separate cases and issues that don't really seem to connect. Some cases remain unsolved and without a definitive answer. It's kind of like what is the point of all these separate incidents? How do they come together? I'm sure everything has to connect eventually, I'm just not sure what the overarching arc is yet.

This first volume was awesome! Lots of fun, funny, interesting subject matter and intriguing characters. The art style was great and the story was pretty interesting. Can't wait to continue with this series!

BOOKCITEMENT LEVEL 4.5/5

Something to sink your teeth into!