By Gabe Gonzalez — I’m just saying, the Chew Universe (the Chew-niverse) is the only comic book-verse where you can have bloody dismemberments, flying toupees, a man named Mr. Takoyaki, and an energy drink-powered assassin all in the same book… AND THAT’S JUST IN THE FIRST FIVE PAGES! If you know nothing about the Chu book, a quick rundown goes like this: Saffron Chu is a cibopars which means she can gather psychic information from those around her that she eats with, she also just happens to be criminal and her cibopathic brother Tony is a cop and a sibling cat-and-mouse game might just commence within this five installment humor mini-series containing culinary puns and food-featured fun.

In this issue, we find that Saffron Chu is currently dealing with the aftermath of the heist in the first issue and was seen running from the scene of the crime by a set of cameras from a building next door. Now, she must go on the run as a creepily-designed assassin with rose-colored glasses is called on her trail and will do nothing to make sure his mission is a success. Within this newest installment, we’re also introduced to Saffron’s twin sister Sage who is a cipropanth. Although the term is not entirely explained, it seems that Sage can get psychic impressions when she takes a bite at the exact same time as someone around her. Another, super-powered sibling has been added into the mix of this wild and eclectic family, the other members we actually get to see at a family dinner sequence and are introduced to! However, it seems that Tony, Saffron, and Sage are the only three with any form of food-centric powers and the others are just really good cooks. A great follow-up to a pretty phenomenal first issue and is definitely proving to be a worthy successor to the original Chew series.

Writer John Layman continues to infuse the panels with fun and snappy dialogue that doesn’t let up and triggers a few chortles from his readership as they scan the pages. He made these characters and understands them from head-to-toe, each one brims with their own unique energy and flavor that it’s difficult to complain that any one of them is the same as another. He has an incredible range of different figures within this universe, whether that be the rebellious Saffron or the gross funnyman Detective John Colby who needs to work on his table manners. They all work very well in this dynamic and fast-paced series which, sure, John Layman has a lot to do with that but so does artist Dan Boultwood.

Dan brings his own unique artistic flavors to the Chew universe with vibrant colors and cartoony pencil work that makes these pages flow like an animated series. He has an eye for the grotesque as is seen with his interpretations of violent vomiting and forehead filleting that seems completely natural to the world that John Layman and Rob Guillory laid the foundations for in the original series. Everything in the story is interwoven with bright pops of color and dynamic posturing which just crafts a fully-realized world of excellence that I haven’t really seen in a lot of comics over the last couple of years. These two issues have been a delightful appetizer and dinner plate, I’m very excited to see what the full course turns out to be.

Overall: A second issue proves this series is going full-speed ahead in its narrative filled with fun visuals and fantastic writing. So far, a worthy successor to the original series and it’ll be exciting to see where it heads from here. 10/10

REVIEW: Chu #2

CHU #2
Writer: John Layman
Artist: Dan Boultwood
Publisher: Image
Price: $3.99
“THE FIRST COURSE,” Part Two Bodies start to pile up. And Tony Chu gets a new partner.
Release Date: August 26, 2020
Buy It Digitally: Chu #2

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Gabe Gonzalez