Chew 3: Just Desserts

Comic Info

Chew #13 Variant

Reprints Chew #11-15 (June 2010-October 2010).  John Chu is in love and now it seems like Chu’s love of Emilia Mintz is reciprocated.  Chu’s job at the FDA is getting more and more dangerous as Savoy remains on the run and even his partner John’s decision to “take one for the team” and sleep with their boss Applebee hasn’t calmed things down.  With his relationship with Emilia at a tipping point, Chu learns that he might have to come clean about all his past to Emilia…and Chu has a lot of baggage.

Written by John Guillory, Chew Volume 3:  Just Desserts is an Image Comics collection.  Following Chew Volume 2:  International Flavor, the collection features art by Rob Guillory and issues in the collection were also collected as part of Chew:  Omnivore Edition—Volume 2 and Chew:  The Smorgasbord Edition—Volume 1.

I’ve had a rather tumultuous relationship with Chew.  I heard about Chew about five issues into the series and picked up the first collection which I found ok, but not as great as everyone was making it out to be.  The second collection had a similar vibe to me and this one does as well.  What is working in Chew’s favor though is that by Volume 3, you are in Chew’s world and what was more annoying in earlier issues isn’t as bothersome.

Chew #15

Chew feels like it tries a bit too hard.  The quirkiness of the series is ultra-quirky.  For me, this was a bit too much, but fortunately the “quirk” has worn off a bit in the volume and the series feels like it getting more down to the story.  I like Chu himself and like that the character is getting more expanded in this volume with a bigger introduction to his family and the secret of his first big relationship with Mindy Tso…plus, the introduction of a surprise daughter.  While it is done for shock and awe in the story, it also goes with the basic idea that you don’t really know the people until you start asking questions.

What is also being more firmly established is Chu’s role as a cibopath.  It is turning to be less quirky and less unusual as the series goes on.  He encounters someone in this volume who can determine every ingredient used in a meal and more and more abilities are popping up as the series goes on.  While for some this might just be 100% convenience, it helps me accept that Chu isn’t as special and unusual as originally implied…which was some of my issue with the series as it rolled out.

I understand why people like Chew, and I definitely don’t hate it.  The caveat with that is that I still am not completely in love with Chew.  I like that it is trying something different, but I wish that the tone was more of a happy medium…like a quirky detective stuck in a real world situation or a quirky world with a real world detective stuck in it.  Having both the world and the detective being oddballs makes it a little much.  Chew 3:  Just Desserts is followed by Chew 4:  Flambé.

Preceded By:

Chew 2:  International Flavor

Followed By:

Chew 3:  Flambé