"CHICKEN IS DOOM!" (We know already, so lets move the story on, okay?)
Tony is on a special assignment to investigate a murder of a secret agent, a seal! (The animal kind, not the human kind.)
The Good
Another funny issue; without much progress in the larger story, just teasing. As that does get old real quickly, thankfully John Layman did something right with this issue! Ok so in this issue, Tony has to go after a E.G.G. henchman that murdered a agent seal from the U.S.D.A. Meanwhile, Colby, Caesar, Applebee, and Savoy talk about the future and protecting it from The Vampire Cibopath and the Bird Flu epidemic. The makings of a okay issue; focusing mainly on Tony's portion of the story. That was a part of the problem and also what made this issue pretty good in my eyes.
Originally, just seeing the first page of this issue (which played homage to Toni's funeral) I knew that I wasn't going to enjoy this issue fully. Having Tony go on an assignment that involved him to stay there three weeks to find a seal's murderer is stupid and pointless; especially with this series reaching a close at 60. I mean, why can't Tony Chu just go around the room biting everyone and finding the killer like that? It would make a lot more sense then keeping him under the sea for so long. So thinking that Tony was just going to stay under the sea for three weeks, I prepared for the worst. However, I was happy to be proven wrong by John Layman! Instead, Layman actually made Tony go around the room biting everyone until he found the killer. Plus, Tony's reaction to finding out he had to stay there three entire weeks, is the same response any reader would have if they know the series well. So I really liked how John Layman saved this issue by having a predictable and okay story, but saved it by doing something [we as the readers] would do if put in the character's shoes.
The artwork by Rob Guillory is the definition of unique, if you don't know that, then you need to leave!
The Bad
John Layman continues to tease the larger picture, however he only gives us issues like these instead of a bigger bite into the bigger story! While I greatly respect John Layman for addressing the issue of having Tony Chu go on a stupid assignment to avenge the murder of a seal in this issue; his ability to keep, joking, with his fans like that does get a bit repetitive when it happens every issue. Reusing old elements we already know like, "CHICKEN IS DOOM!", is something that should've not been in this issue. We already know that chicken is evil, by why is it evil? Hopefully next issue, we get answers to many of the questions that we've had for so many issues! But one can only hope!
The Verdict
If you enjoy CHEW, I'm sure you'll enjoy this issue. For those that are new to this series though, you might be confused and amazed at how far John Layman and Rob Guillory will go to make you laugh. This was an okay issue in terms of moving the story forward, but a better issue just for laughs. 4 out of 5, until the next issue!
CHEW reviews -