“Space Cakes” part 1 of 1
Written and lettered by John Layman
Drawn and coloured by Rob Guillory
So there’s this book called Chew, you see? It’s by John Layman and Rob Guillory, and it’s about a young woman named Antonelle “Toni” Chu. Toni’s a cibovoyant, which means that she can bite into anything alive and get flashes about their future. It’s an ability that isn’t all that useful in her job as a NASA agent, but it does come in pretty handy when she’s trying to determine if she should get serious with a guy. The whole biting off a piece of said guy usually puts the kibosh on the relationship anyway.
Now, in this issue, Toni’s older brother Chow enlists her aid to ostensibly prove that a rival chef is forging priceless artwork. It’s not just any artwork, however, but the work of Quindum Buongiovanni, one of the greatest living sabopictors whose paintings are brilliant in both technique and taste, which makes this case right up Toni’s alley. But, as it turns out, Tony Chu wasn’t exactly telling his sister the whole, unvarnished truth, and his motives are a little less than altruistic, but I won’t tell you how that particular plot point turns out, so as to not ruin your enjoyment. The story wraps up with the surprise appearance of a vampire, and I really don’t know what that had to do with anything, to be perfectly honest, but I’m holding out hope that regular readers of this title understood its significance.
The verdict? Chew isn’t my cup of tea. There was nothing wrong with this issue, but I found nothing overly great about it either. As a new reader, I did find that Layman and Guillory did a great job of explaining the premise of the series and introducing the characters, which is always a plus. And given that the series is up to its 26th issue, I assume that it has its fans out there, but it just isn’t to my taste (pun intended)…
