Chu #1

Friendly for both new readers as well as veterans of the world of Chew, Chu #1 is a phenomenal book in every sense of the word. Read Full Review

A refreshing dive back into the 'Chew' universe with new characters, same great dialogue, and a promising storyline. Read Full Review

Chu #1 (Layman, Boultwood) is an awesome return to the world ofChew! Meet Saffron, Tony Chu's little sister - she's a criminal. He's a cop. Collision course? You bet! Don't sleep on this one! Read Full Review

That said, I still loved the issue. Layman's writing and Boultwood's art have manifested a different segment of a universe I have loved and as a Chew I definitely recommend it to others, and for the uninitiated… you'll still appreciate the stylized world and the food related shenanigans, but as of now, Chu is best served alongside its predecessors, although time will tell if it becomes a worthy standalone serving. Read Full Review

A rowdy, goofy, and brilliantly drawn start to this anticipated sequel series. Read Full Review

If youre a long time reader of the series then I think that this is going to be right up your alley. It promises to deliver a fun new twist on the established premise, and is off to an explosive start here. If youre a new reader then starting here is as good a place as any, and not having read any of the rest of the series wont spoil your enjoyment at all. If however, like me you havent read any of the previous stories then I simply cannot recommend enough that you dive in right away, theres twelve volumes to catch up on. Read Full Review

I like the premise and the story moves at a fast enough clip that I was engaged all the way through, all combined with strong art for a well-done debut issue. Read Full Review

Pull up for a second helping as Tony Chu's morally flexible little sister sits down at the table and her secret ingredient is crime! Read Full Review

The story of Saffron Chu's downward spiral into criminality begins in this bloody, pukey first issue. Read Full Review

Crime drama sits down for a family dinner as this meal gets a definite thumbs up. Read Full Review

Without a moment's notice, Chu goes from Saturday morning cartoon vibes to the animated shows best aired after the kids have gone to bed. Read Full Review

Chu #1 offers much of the same grotesque humor from before, but whether or not this new series feels like warmed-up leftovers remains to be seen. Read Full Review

Captain Stark

Jul 23, 2020

New spinoff series Chu promises to be a delectable cat-and-mouse story and will stand on its own for new readers, but delight longtime fans of the Chew universe or the Chewniverse. It is a great starting point to jump into this world, you don’t need to be a Chew reader to enjoy this comic. Chew centers on a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) agent/detective, Tony Chu who is a cibopath (pronounced “see-bo-path”). Tony can solve crimes by receiving psychic impressions from what he eats, it can be food or even people. It means he can read the memories and history of everything he consumes. Set in a world that has banned poultry following a catastrophic outbreak of avian flu. But this is not a new Tony Chu story, instead, it’ s a new story featuring Saffron as the lead. Saffron is a crook and a cibopars, able to learn secrets from who she eats with. This premise is the flip side of Chew, now an odd-powered female criminal instead of a food powered male cop. And the Chu will be a felonious new food-noir comic about cops, crooks, cooks, cannibals & clairvoyants. Tony Chu is a cop and Saffron is a criminal and they are on a collision course. This is a great start for the new Chu spin-off and as expected, writer John Layman returns to this crazy world of food, crime, sci-fi, and slapstick humor with a bang. He also promised that as the story progresses Chu will be fundamentally different from Chew and more character-driven. So this new spin-off is going to be a fun-filled ride. Right from the start, the readers will find themselves getting ready for a delicious feast. IS CHU AS GOOD AS CHEW? Yes, it is totally Chew level good. The Chu, like Chew comics, can make the readers hungry for more. For new readers, it may not be enough to get them interested to start reading the 64 previous comics of Chew – but it is intriguing enough to make them stick with this new series. If the upcoming issues are done as well as this one, maybe after the first volume of Chu, the readers might want to dive deep into the Chewniverse. Saffron Chu’s character is completely absent in the Chew comics. The Chu will be the story of Tony’s secret sister, the black-sheep-of-the-family, who has her own food-based powers who seems to have a different career path entirely. How can she learn secrets from who she eats with? This will be answered moving forward. Saffron looks like an absolute badass and I am interested in knowing about her more. John Layman is offering a tale of a crime story that sees a brother and a sister on the opposite ends. Well, that is how the initial storyline of this series looks like. Layman maintained the same energy of the original in this. It is balanced with action, humor, and seriousness. Layman himself lettered this comic. The action is shown in the simplest way possible without too much gore. Dan Boultwood’s art style is reminiscent of his previous work and it fits perfectly well with this story. The Chu is filled with vibrant and striking colors that are eye-popping. The usage of colors and character designs are classy and gave this comic a feeling of watching a classic animated show. Boultwood is a great artist and even in the absence of Chew’s artist Rob Guillory, the first issue gave the assurance that this is in great hands. The first issue of Chu: The First Course part 1 accomplishes its goal by delivering a solid story and catchy artwork. I definitely recommend picking up Chu issue #1. CHU #1 My Overall Rating: 9.5 more

ohhaimark

Aug 13, 2020

As a fan of Chew, I was definitely ambivalent towards this. Chew's ending was just so... perfect, man, and we didn't really need any more. If I knew it was a prequel, I'm sure I'd still be cautiously excited. Just out of curiosity, does this take place before or after the avian flu? Anyways, I see a lot of potential in this series, namely in the main character Saffron. A series following a food-powered thief is definitely an interesting one, even if she's got a long way to go in order to be interesting enough to sell the series. I'm definitely gonna inflate the score above what my gut tells me, just because I know how much crazier John Layman can get and how much better his series are when he does. Rereading the first issue of Chew, it's clear that it was only a hundredth of what the series could become, and the only mildly interesting character at the point was Mason (Speaking of, I'm really hoping for an appearance from Mason and Caesar later on). I'm sure plenty more characters and ideas will surface once this series comes into its own and finds its own voice. Hopefully. The only part of me that doubts that is the part of me that noticed how John Layman was starting to run out of food powers toward the end of Chew. Oh, and obviously he's busy, but man, does not having Rob Guillory on a Chew series blow. He added so much life and personality into the original series, to the point where I'd say he's equally as responsible for how great that series was as John Layman. The new guy's good, and it's clear they were going for someone who can capture that cartoony feeling that Rob Guillory had, but this just feels sort of flat. I dunno, man. Anyways, there's still good here. I was super happy to see Tony and even happier to see John. Probably something else notable, but I can't think of it at the moment. Overall, I think if a new Chew series needs to be made, I would've much rather had the adventures of Ginny and Olive, who surprisingly ended up being my favorite part of the end of the series. more