Chew Volume Two: International Flavor
Great stuff. I had my hopes up high after Chew Volume One: Taster’s Choice and International Flavor exceeded all expectations.
There is a self-contained story here sending F.D.A. agent Tony Chu to an island in the Pacific called Yamapalu that grows a kind of fruit (it’s called a gallsaberry, or gallus sapadillo) that tastes like chicken. This is important because, as you’ll remember, chicken is now a black market delicacy after an outbreak of bird flu. While on Yamapalu there is a sort of revolution or civil war that Tony gets caught in the middle of, alongside his partner John Colby (now out of the hospital with his face rebuilt after half of it got hacked off with a cleaver), his brother (invited to the island as a celebrity chef), and his sort-of girlfriend, the food columnist Amelia Mintz.
It’s zany action from start to finish, and introduces a number of new plot points (like an ersatz vampire who’s really an evil cibopath), while dropping hints to storylines that are still being developed (the massacre at the Russian observatory, the missing Mason Savoy, the crime boss Montero and his horny frogs). Meanwhile, Tony’s boss Applebee is still being a jerk and Amelia remains just out of reach.
It’s fun keeping track of all these different threads and characters because nothing is random. Even Yamapalu’s governor had a cameo appearance in Taster’s Choice that you’ll likely remember. Which makes you figure that we probably haven’t seen the last of the corrupt police chief Raymond Kulolo, though I’m afraid the super-sexy U.S.D.A. agent is good and dead.
More good writing from John Layman and great art from Rob Guillory, who delivers “pure aesthetic zing.” I really love what they’ve built here and can’t wait for the next course.
Alex Good 
It is so odd how something can just click with us. Based on your reviews of other comics, and if I’d go by synopsis alone, I would have thought you’d brush this off. But nope, you’re loving it! 😀
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What I like most about it is that it’s insanely complex and seemingly all over the map, but they keep drawing things together and you realize that everything is in there for a reason. Even if it seems like nothing important it might get picked up a couple of issues later.
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So it is chaotic, but not just random for randomness’ sake then?
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Yes! It’s crazy but it’s also meticulously put together.
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Well, I hope for your sake it stays that way.
Because fans of LOST thought the same thing and we all know how that ended 😉
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I can honestly say I never watched an episode of Lost. It was sort of after I gave up on network TV. But getting the ending right is hard. What I think helps here is that they originally planned the series out in advance, knowing how many issues they wanted it to run. So it should hold up. At least that’s what I’m hoping!
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I thoroughly enjoyed LOST. Because it’s a mystery, rewatching it really loses something. I don’t know if you would like it or not.
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Horny frogs?
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They can’t keep their webbed feet off each other.
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Nice to read you enjoying one so much! What is a cibopath?
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Someone who can, just from tasting food, be given a vision of its entire prehistory. Example: take a bite of an apple and know what tree it came from, what pesticides were used on it, and when it was picked. Useful ability when you’re trying to solve crimes because you can eve take a bite out of a corpse (and they do).
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Urk.
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