Jessie Robertson reviews Chew #45…
“CHICKEN TENDERS,” Conclusion! The aftermath of last issue’s shocking events, and an ending that’s even MORE shocking. Plus, this issue comes with a WRAPAROUND TRI-FOLD COVER, starring everybody’s favorite government secret agent cyborg rooster, POYO!!!
This month’s issue wraps up the aftermath of the horrible and gruesome battle that was the bulk of #44; the main crux of the issue becoming Tony’s grief over what happened to Olive and who he blames: his partner John. Tony explodes into a fit of rage not seen previously and tirades John for his involvement in this sting operation in a pretty damn dramatic moment for Chew. In typical Chew fashion, beforehand, we get a nice montage of images of some of their most fondly worked cases together, including chasing down the Kool-Aid Man for double homicide and breaking up a crackhouse ran by the Rice Krispy elves.
All the Collector’s victims were still in critical condition so no real update on if any of them will survive; but it seems like there’s a lot more room to explore between Tony and Olive, his estranged daughter. We get a backstory of Panseer Sharma, a former lover of Tony’s sister, who vows to protect the family, being he works for NASA, it gives a plausible yet wildly ridiculous reason the Collector was not able to finish the job.
Our ending few panels shows John down, feeling like the world is against him, having a few drinks with his former partner Poyo. I won’t spoil the ending but I’m guessing this will be a catalyst for what could potentially wrap up into the finale of Chew (which is coming to a close at issue #60). This wasn’t a bad issue, nor a good issue; we had a shocking ending but overall it felt like plot service to get Tony back involved with the major event that just took place, but it’s done very well because he had to be kept out of it as well. Only thing I’m a bit sour on is I don’t care for John as a character, so to see him more involved could be a downer.
Jessie Robertson is a contributing writer who loves all things comic books. He currently has one novel on Amazon.com, exploring people able to consciously do what they want in dreams. Yeah, sounds good right? Feel free to email him anything, questions, comments, critiques or Lost trivia at phdreamer81@yahoo.com.
Originally published December 10, 2014. Updated April 13, 2018.
