Is It Good? Chew #40 Review

It’s been a while since I’ve reviewed Chew and with the end of the arc upon us, I feel it’s time to return. How does “Family Recipes” conclude? Is it good?

Chew #40 (Image Comics)

After having a bite of the most psychedelic food one could make, Tony has a vision of a former distant planet, Altilis-738, several galaxies away and of his dead sister, Toni, who has some useful information that could help him stop the Vampire. However, before she gets into any details, Colby shows up and whisks Tony away to get to work. The thing is though, Tony is pretty high and Colby soon joins him…

There are no words for this. Just look at it.

As the big finale for the arc, Chew #40 was pretty decent overall. It had the usual charm, sense of humor, and over the top wackiness combined with seriousness that we’ve come to expect (I mean, the entire part of the story where Tony and Colby are high and try to raid a factory for a criminal is great). The characters are memorable, there’s solid dialogue, and writer John Layman is starting to bring in elements and subplots from previous issues in the series back to the forefront (like the whole writing in the sky and Altilis-738). There’s been no real dip here in the quality at all and that makes me a happy man.

My only problem with this issue is that I wish there was more time spent focusing on the hallucination with Toni and the two siblings talking between each other. This is the finale of the arc called “Family Recipes” and for the finale, I was hoping for more of the “Family” part. That’s not to say the scenes between the brother and sister weren’t good; they were frankly great and had some very touching and emotional moments, but the issue could have focused more on that since this is their big goodbye. The whole scene where Tony and Colby are high is great and funny, but it feels like padding and unnecessary as well.

I want to see how crazy he can get.

What is there to say about the artwork that has not already been said? Rob Guillory’s stuff looks great as always, with it’s vivid and creative imagery (again, the entire the scene with the characters being high comes instantly to mind). The characters are all distinct and unique with their looks, designs, and their facial expressions; it flows well from panel to panel and page to page with some of its layouts; and of course, there is always the fun stuff hidden in the background as well that is always worth a laugh or two. It looks fantastic overall, but everyone already knows that.

Is It Good?

Chew #40 is another solid issue of the series and decent finale to its arc. While it could have focused a bit more on the family element for the ending, it has all the usual enjoyable things that you have come to love from this series and that won’t distract you at all. Definitely loving forward to the next arc.