I seem to go through this comic book series in little stints. I’ll read a few, then take a break until I acquire some more, and then take another break. And while a few details always get lost here and there, it always manages to draw me back and I start to remember where I left off almost immediately. John Layman’s story is twisty and engaging, and nothing like anything I’ve ever read before (ya know, speaking for myself). It’s different and fun, but also dark and dirty at parts, and the drawing style of Rob Guillory really reflects this dichotomy of moods and feelings constantly present within the Chew series: sometime you wonder why people are rendered with such strange proportions or images will be humorously exaggerated, only to then flip the page and find something grotesque on the other side. And yet it works: both the story itself and the drawing is engaging and unique, though I will say that I know a few people who are not particularly fans of the art style of Guillory.
In any case, Space Cakes and Bad Apples picks up some plotlines of the previous Chew installments that were almost starting to seem like they were scattering all over the place without coming together. But now they are! We continue following Tony Chu and his chibopathy (the ability to get a psychic vision of the past life of anything he eats) after he is found almost beaten to death by a hostage taking in volume 5. But in Space Cakes there is an increased focus on Tony’s sister, Toni, and her cibovoyant abilities (the ability to see the future of any living thing she eats, including any humans she bites in to). Toni becomes involved in some food-related cases due to her work with NASA, and her abilities are ultimately discovered by the Vampire who is collecting people with food-related abilities. These events lead to some tragic events that end up sparking a new fire in Tony to go after the Vampire, and I am curious to see how this plays out. These two volumes also feature a new role for Poyo, the killing-machine of a rooster, so that is of course ridiculous yet incredibly amusing.
With a host of new food abilities displayed in these two volumes (some of which are incredibly useless), as well as a collection of intriguing supporting characters (Tony’s ridiculous half-cyborg partner, John Colby, being a personal favourite), nothing is ever boring in Chew. Though sometimes it can be a bit gross or absurd. Because of that, it’s really hard to know who to recommend this series to; I enjoy it a lot, but I know that it would definitely not be well received by some people that I know. All I can say to summarize this reading experience is that it’s bizarre but in a really good way.
[As always, my review can be found double-posted on my personal blog]
