Saffron Chu returns for the second arc of writer John Layman and artist Dan Boultwood’s comedy crime caper in Chu #6. After spending three years at Haricot Women’s Correctional, Saffron isn’t the woman she used to be. She’s completely different, but not in the way her brother Tony Chu intended. Tony thought he was teaching Saffron a lesson by putting her in prison for three years, but all he did was allow her ample time to go from crook to super crook in a matter of three years. Thanks to her cibopars abilities, which enable her to learn secrets from anybody she eats with, every morning, afternoon, and night for three long years she ate with different inmates. Now newly out of prison, Chu #6 sees Saffron and her useless boyfriend Eddie Molay take her new skills to the high seas on a cruise ship.
The story opens with a prologue set nearly 200 years before the events of Chu aboard a boat called The Cargo Schooner Cioppino with one of the worst captains a crew could have named Captain Klemme. Klemme is a blatant alcoholic who chooses booze over his shipmates in the face of mortal danger. However, the importance isn’t on Captain Klemme, but the precious liquor he’s scarfing down in this issue. These particular bottles of wine are Chateau Deveraux Cabernet Camerois 08 — over 200 years old and potentially worth millions. So it’ll be interesting to see how Saffron gets her hands on them. After all, this arc is called “She Drunk History.”
Chu #6 solidifies Saffron as a standalone character. The beginning also indicates that she hasn’t been keeping a low profile and has been pulling a lot of jobs because when we meet her she’s violated her parole and is a wanted fugitive. Not only is she now equipped with many new useful criminal capabilities like pickpocketing and safe cracking, among others, but she also proves this issue that she can handle her own, especially if someone tries to intimidate her. Now she just needs to cut her troublesome boyfriend Eddie Molay loose, and she’ll be a criminal mastermind.
Dan Boultwood continues to do an incredible job keeping the antics, suspense, and hilarious moments that made the original Chew series great in his unique way. By far, my favorite scene in the book feels like a homage to the film Titanic, where we see an underwater diver retrieving a bottle of wine thought to be lost two hundred years prior. It feels like the scene in Titanic when they search the wreckage for the necklace known as The Heart of the Ocean.
Chu #6 is a delightful return to a great series. This issue shows Saffron’s character growth while being in the slammer and has probably one of the darkest endings we’ve seen so far. However, the ending serves as a testament to how far Saffron will obtain what she wants.
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