Chew #12 Review

Chew #12 is here!!!
Ah back into the world of a raging cibopath!

I must say, I am slightly disappointed. I really liked issue #11 and was waiting to see what happened with Chu and his love interest. But was let down kind of with Chew #12.  I liked the overall story but I'm very impatient and I dislike "filler" issues that are used by storytellers to keep us interested as they move from point A to point B. Unfortunately this issue falls into that category.The issue is short (before I knew it the whole thing was over!) and concise--it offers a very tantalizing cliff-hanger but I was less excited and more irritated because the story that was wasted on #12 needn't really exist... an open-and-shut story involving Tony without really telling us anything more about Tony or the story beyond the last page of the issue which leaves a HUGE cliff hanger. 

On top of this, despite the filler-story format, it was a whole lot less gory than usual. I just really feel that the author kind of piddled out on this issue and the artist followed suit. Granted there is an awesome scene with a demon chicken but with what I've come to expect I feel let down. No bueno.

Forgive me for feeling slightly miffed. I feel let down and irritated because in order to get a real story I have to wait until next month. LAME!

I eagerly await the next issue, which I hope is more satisfying than this one. I feel like a fat kid who has been forced to eat rice cakes. No good.

Loaded Bible:Book I

I found Loaded Bible Book I: The 'Jesus VS. Vampires' Gospels in my local comic book shop a week ago. My eyes locked onto the cover and I saw "Jesus V. Vampires" from across the room...it was like a scene out of Chariots of Fire. Angelic music tickles off stage and just a little extra light shown down from the florescent lights, illuminating the cover. It seemed to me as if time slowed down and as my feet shuffled excitedly across the linoleum it felt like I was moving at light speed towards my destiny.

I must admit, I had never heard of this before I saw the collected volume in the store. The series originally came out annually between 2006-2008. The back cover lists the book as "An Action Packed Sacrilegious Satire." I admit I felt slightly worried when I read that: I don't really care for blatant satire all that much, mainly because it tends to be a bit top-heavy in the story and is rarely worth the 15$ I'll spend to read it.

As I flipped through the book in the store however, I appreciated the art, the smattering of gore and some good old fashioned violence that I saw inside. These facets mollified me enough to want to give it a chance and I carried the tome to the register and cried "wrap it up!"

Inside I found some wonderful things, the first of which being: Jesus isn't lame...he is hardcore. I enjoy religion in comic books, especially when someone intelligent realizes that when you make fun of something you should at least write it well. But Seeley isn't really making fun of Jesus, which is the best part. He's making fun of everything else.

Jesus is to post-apocalyptic Earth like Batman is to Gotham. He's what is needed, not what is wanted. He is strong and smart and hard-core while being kind, faithful in God and a good person. He kills the evil vampires with such strength and prowess (and not to mention entirely satisfying blood and guts associated with a giant claymore/cross sword) that it really does a credit to the Christian faith that he's been given a license to kill. Totally awesome.

Then there is the story. It's actually good, well-rounded and funny. This isn't just a Wyatt Earp fantasy with Jesus inserted with a smattering of "we'll make fun of the stupid Jesus people har har."  The story doesn't make fun of Christianity by calling it names and pulling it's hair; it points out what Christianity really is about: having faith in humanity and in God. And its funny! Funny not because it's Jesus doing what he's doing but because Jesus is actually funny!

The plot revolves around a post-apocalyptic Jesus and his fight to rid the world of the evil vampires that have taken over.  It's a futuristic, wild-west vampires vs. humans shoot-em up with a message. It's even got some romance (covered in blood of course) and a perfectly evil bad-guy and a really good twist half-way through. It's not too slow, not to fast, easy to follow and not boring at all.

I'm really quite proud of Tim Seeley for writing this the way he did. He could have gone a completely different way and ruined the whole thing, but the way Jesus has been represented didn't insult me at all. It made me smile and be proud that my God could be modernized so appropriately.

It's totally worth the money I paid for it and I'll probably read it again after I publish this post. Awesome to the extreme. Go Jesus!

Crossed Family Values #2

The point of Crossed is to freak you out, which it does with with staggering mastery. But with the sugar comes the medicine.

Because the real monsters in this comic, as it is with all true horror films, comics, books and other media in this genre are not the monsters themselves but the regular people.

David Lapham has a true command of this genre. The slick horror of each page draws the reader in for what eventually becomes the proverbial rug pulled out from beneath one's feet. The real horror is how Lapham builds you up for the fall.

This issue was a real testament to Lapham's skill.  The first issue revealed the horrible reality of our heroine's life before the Crossed infection enters the picture. The second issues greets us some time after. Everything that isn't to do with the Crossed seems to be OK, that is the evil that was not the cause of the infection seems to have abated.

I got drawn in thinking, "Wow. Maybe its stopped. Maybe their only enemy is the Crossed now."

Boy was I wrong. Not only has the depravity remained at a constant at the very least, but it has the potential for exponential increase.

I should have known better.

You go David Lapham. You go all the way.

I think my initial problems concerning the new artist have been put to rest, at least temporarily. I've begun to enjoy his style and appreciate his skill. It makes sense that he was chosen to pair up with Lapham for this series.

Good issue. Can't wait for the next one.

Chew #11

When I first picked up Chew, I knew I'd like it.
I mean come on. The guy solves crime by eating the grossest things you can think of....like corpses. Awesome.

So issue #11 was extremely amusing. The end (which I wont relate in detail but lets just say 'just desserts's is an appropriate arc title) is especially 'aw yeah' inducing. Makes you want to give someone a high five.

But I digress.

#11 begins a new arc starting with Chu hot on the case of a murdered politician's son. The delicious (a matter of opinion, since he eats an unsavory....dish) evidence leads towads the beautiful Amelia Mintz and an exotic animal eatery (Chu eats a dead endangered marmet...yummy).

What I like best about Chew is the art. I don't think the story would work nearly as well without the artwork done by Rob Guillory. The happy, bubbly cartoonish figures are doing the grossest and most disgusting things. There's a scene of a dead guy with a rodent shoved down his throat with a pitchfork stuffed in his chest. The potential for someone being put off (ok maybe i'm desensatized but i'm not put off) is so huge but is prevented because of how slightly silly (in an awesome comic book way not a sad Dagwood way) Chu and Colby (whose cyborg face is totally awesome btw) standing there gaping at the dead guy with a rat in his mouth and you KNOW Chu is going to take a honkin' bite out of the rat-thing and its just gross enough to be silly and wince-inducing but not like "omg I'm never reading this again."

I thoroughly enjoy Chew. The entire comic is refreshing morbid and sneakily funny (like watching Chu trying to hit on Amelia Mintz).

Read it. You will love it.
 
Unless you're lame. Then you won't.

Crossed: Family Values #1

Let me tell you something about Brits and their apocalypic fascination. For some reason people from the British Isles love to discuss the end of the world. Whether it is Alan Moore (Watchmen), Alex Garland (28 Days Later), Neil Marshall (Doomsday), Terry Hayes (Mad Max 2, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome), and Garth Ennis (Crossed), British people love to talk about the end of the world.

So when I picked up the first Crossed issue after seeing an ad for it in Avatar back in 2008, I knew I was in for an end of the world shtick.

I was not, however, prepared for what Garth Ennis had in store for me. The man must have seen something extremely traumatizing as a child....the dude obviously has issues.  The depravity became addictive and the story told through the horror was engrossing.

Granted, the Zombie angle has been gone over and over, especially in the past few years as the Zombie Renaissance has emerged. "Zombies that are still alive" has been done with 28 Days Later, so its not a totally new angle, but Ennis does a good job keeping you turning the page with a wince, expecting a new level of gross that you just can't help but gawk at.

So now the torch has passed to Eisner-award winning David Lapham.

First things first:
Don't worry, the creepy horrible-ness has not been lost in the author transfer.  Lapham is a gifted story teller and the level of depravity has not lessened with his hands at the wheel.

What I like about the book is that it is really a study on different levels of horror. Lapham makes you chose whom to hate more, those not infected with the Crossed Plague and those who are infected. Lapham draws you in and I think Avatar did a great job picking him.

What I find somewhat troublesome is the switch between artists. I thoroughly enjoyed Jacen Burrows approach to the extremely gory scenes (the horse penis and the legless and armless guy being prime examples of his skill in horror). I am not sure if I like Javier Barreno as much as Burrows. His drawings seem more flat and less detailed (yes, I looked for detail in my gore. so do you, shut up).  I will however give him the benefit of the doubt.


All in all its a good book and a definate must-read for the gore-enthusiast.
I await the next issue eagerly.