I Chew-Chew-Chewse You : John Layman – “Chew”

More than 23 million Americans died during the avian flu pandemic, 116 million people around the world.

Except maybe there WAS no avian flu, and the government has been lying.

Maybe all this nonsense about the FDA making chicken products illegal is about something else altogether.

Something even more sinister.

Or so goes the premise for “Chew” (written by John Layman and drawn by Rob Guillory.)

ABOVE: Looks like he bit off more than he could… masticate.

Tony Chu is an FDA agent with one very unusual investigative trait : he’s a “cibopath,” capable of receiving psychic impressions from foods. Whereas all those other psychics who assist during criminal investigations are always creepily fondling sweaters or underwear, Chu has to nibble on some unpleasant morsels to get an idea of how a crime went down. The plot flaps around in increasingly bizarre circles, (Yakuza! Russian Bikini Amazons! Aliens!) and Layman gets a lot of gross-out laughs out of the ickiest poultry dining this side of David Lynch’s “Eraserhead.”

I’ve just finished the first collection, “Taster’s Choice,” but it’s a feast. To this admitted carnivore, the Chicken-Forbidding Dystopia is every bit as unnerving as the Book-Burning Dystopia in Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451”. Subsequent volumes of “Chew” to be devoured later today.

RATING: COOL!

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