Chew #17

Written by John Layman
Art by Rob Guillory

Here's something we haven't seen for a while - a more or less straight-up FDA procedural issue of Chew.  Agents Chu and Colby are called to Francis Bacon High School, where a food fight has turned deadly, and the person responsible is holding hostages in the Home Ec. room.

Of course, because this is Chew, things are deeply twisted and food-related, with asides that involve Tony's estranged daughter, a joint American-Russian space station, the return to these pages of the gallsaberry, and the ever-mysterious alien letters that have appeared in the sky.

Chew just keeps getting more and more fun with each issue.  I like the way this chapter eases off on some of the longer-running plot lines (even while an old villain makes his return) and opts to return the book to its buddy-cop roots.  This is a comic that really stands on the strength of its characterizations, and its nice to see Tony doing some of his usual FDA things.  In all, a very good issue.