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Chew

Chew, Vol. 12: Sour Grapes

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The final story arc of Tony Chu, the cibopathic federal agent with the ability to get psychic impressions from what he eats. Mysteries are solved, secrets are revealed and lives are lost. Many, many lives. This is the end of the line for the New York Times Best Selling, Harvey and multiple Eisner Award-winner series about cops, crooks, cooks, cannibals, and clairvoyants.
Collects issues 55-60 plus the smash-hit spin-off one-shot: CHEW: DEMON CHICKEN POYO.

184 pages, Paperback

First published January 24, 2017

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627 people want to read

About the author

John Layman

805 books584 followers
John Steele Layman is an American comic book writer and letterer. Layman is most known for writing Chew, published by Image Comics.

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 328 reviews
Profile Image for karen.
4,012 reviews172k followers
April 9, 2020
for musical accompaniment, click here.

spoilers are spoilers.

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How do I say goodbye to what we had?

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The good times that made us laugh

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Outweigh the bad.

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I thought we'd get to see forever

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But forever's gone away

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It's so hard to say goodbye to yesterday.



I don't know where this road
Is going to lead


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All I know is where we've been

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And what we've been through.

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If we get to see tomorrow

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I hope it's worth all the wait

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It's so hard to say goodbye to yesterday.


And I'll take with me the memories

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To be my sunshine after the rain

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It's so hard to say goodbye to yesterday.



And I'll take with me the memories

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To be my sunshine after the rain

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It's so hard to say goodbye to yesterday


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ugh, i hate that this is over, I WILL MISS YOU, TONY CHU!!!



review to come when i stop being sad about this series being concluded.

POYOOOOOOOO!

come to my blog!
Profile Image for Sam Quixote.
4,778 reviews13.4k followers
February 6, 2017
It’s over – the final Chew book is plated at last! So is it a satisfying finale? Eh… sort of.

The chicken conspiracy and the fire writing in the sky is finally revealed – but at a price. Tony endures tragedy and must make a dreadful choice for the future of the planet.

John Layman and Rob Guillory serve up the answers to their whopping twelve-volume storyline but because they basically waited until this last book to wrap everything up, the volume is heaving with inelegant, awkward info dumps! I was amazed to see that even in this final volume Tony and John were still pissing about with silly foodie cases too – it’s because of these that the series has dragged on for too long and why Layman has to rely on Mason spouting massive monologues to get his complete story across.

There’s yet another Poyo issue included where he saves Christmas from evil Santa and a Dr Seuss mash-up character. I guess it’s cute but to be honest I’m tired of these Poyo issues at this point. It was fun the first time, even the second, but now it’s just played out.

The first “ending” is unoriginal, basically ripping off the Watchmen dichotomy. The second and final ending though was plain bad. Really – that’s how you’re gonna end things? I guess it seems cool initially in a nihilistic way but when you think about its implications, you realise how it totally undermines the sacrifices of the first ending. Layman really butchered it.

There are good things about this book too. Tony has some wonderfully poignant episodes with Amelia and John that were quite moving – John especially. The jump towards the future at the end showed a fun story with Olive and Ginny, and the landing ceremony was exciting. Also the reveals behind the devastating avian flu and the fire writing were more or less rewarding despite being rushed through. Tony’s journey takes several interesting twists as well.

Rob Guillory’s art remains the most appealing part of the series for me. His strength is in comedic over the top artwork but he shows he can draw some deadly serious scenes too and pull them off convincingly. Many of the pages in this book are beautifully drawn and the meatball Mason sub was an inspired and hilarious touch!

I loved Chew once upon a time but the series ran on way too long. I don’t get why it had to be 60 issues long except that I think they stated its length in the early volumes. But why say it in the first place – because some other titles like Y: The Last Man and Scalped also ran to 60 issues? Do they receive guaranteed regular income if they hit that number like how TV shows get syndicated when they reach 100 episodes?

These last few volumes have been mediocre at best and this final volume is unfortunately no different with a really stupid end scene. I’d still recommend the series to people but don’t expect the quality to remain as high as it was at the start towards the end; to everyone else who’s been following the title, lower them expectations for this final book. Sour Grapes indeed!
Profile Image for Jedi JC Daquis.
925 reviews46 followers
February 13, 2017
Since this is the last volume of Chew, let me give you my overall impression about the series, followed by a short review of volume 12.


Chew and Brian Vaughan's Saga are the reasons why I started reading Image Comics titles.

Chew, written by John Layman and drawn by Rob Guillory is a unique story about people having food-related superpowers, a mysterious space writing and a chronicle of events that centers in family and friendship - all drenched in edible barf, blood, fingers, ear lobes and whatever crazy rotten stuff Layman can throw to our epicurean taste buds. It is all original from start to finish. Guillory's cartoonish style of drawing perfectly complements the rowdiness and frenetic action Chew offers to its readers.

This, together with Brian Vaughan's Saga are the reasons why I started reading Image Comics titles. The series has been consistently entertaining and violent in a way which is very palatable and delicious to my taste, even though much of it are really guilty pleasures.

I highly recommend Chew to everybody.

And as for the final volume, it didn't really meet my expectations, given that it had been set low from that very disappointing volume 11. The last volume felt very different from what Chew is all about: a fast-paced fun and non-depressing story. Yet volume 12 is a bit dragging at many times, all thanks to Savoy's pompous conversations and also quite depressing in its ending.

The ending was also unexpected in a bad way. Note that there are surprises in stories which are genuinely good. Chew's ending is not.

So even though I find the whole Chew series to be consistently fun and engaging, its last two volumes lack the spirit that Chew has and ended in a rather mediocre way. Still, congratulations to John Layman and Rob Guillory for the whole reading experience.
Profile Image for Peter Derk.
Author 32 books398 followers
February 21, 2017
Ah, endings.

We love to hate an ending.

Think about it. Which TV endings were beloved? Any? Off the top of my head, I can remember Seinfeld, Lost, the Sopranos, all of which were totally reviled.

But I think we too often confuse our feelings about the fact of a series ending with the ending itself.

And we want endings to do something impossible, to wrap things up in such a way that we feel really happy and satisfied, and that we feel these things so strongly that we're okay with the fact that there will be no more of a series.

To go on the food theme, the last bite of a meal, even a very satisfying one, is rarely as good as one of the first. It just isn't. And yet, I never heard anyone say, "That was really good, but the very last bite was so-so. Meh" when it comes to food, but when it comes to entertainment, I hear that shit all the time. When it comes to rollercoasters, we don't get all pissy when the end of the rollercoaster doesn't deliver the same thrill as the first drop. We expect it.

In almost all other realms, we don't expect the climax to be the ending.

The ending of Chew was in line with the book, as a whole. It made sense. It was a little wild, a little sad, and it made sense in its special, Chew way of not making a lick of sense. Was it the peak of the book? Hell no. But it delivered answers, and it delivered content that was satisfying.

I'm very sad to see the series go. But I'm not sad it ended the way it did. I quite liked the ending. It was memorable without being the purpose of the series. Something actually happened, but the something didn't negate a bunch of other stuff in the series.

It was a damn good ride, and all good rides come to an end. Thanks to writer John Layman for taking this wild idea as far as you did, for telling some great jokes, and for writing a series that went somewhere fast. And thanks to Rob Guillory for your art. It's so, so hard to imagine this series with different art by now, and I can't wait to see what's next.
Profile Image for Shadowdenizen.
829 reviews43 followers
August 18, 2017
A (mostly) satisfying end to the saga, though not as good as the previous 2 volumes.

Still, I would give 4 stars for the overall series as well. While not every issue/arc hit the mark for me, this book was clearly a labor of love, and they always strove to bring something new and fresh to the table, and that alone earns major points from me!
Profile Image for Kayla Charisse.
325 reviews245 followers
October 7, 2017
It's over. It's really over. Even though it was Saga that got me into comics, it was really Chew that made me fall in love with the genre. I love this crazy series so much, and over the course of 12 volumes, I grew super attached to all the characters. Yes, it was definitely over the top at times, and yes, the story got sidetracked occasionally, but the heart of it remained the same, and I'm going to miss this world a ton! Note: Please make an entire series focused on the BAMF that is Olive Chu, kthxbye.
Profile Image for Sesana.
6,176 reviews330 followers
February 22, 2017
Significantly better than some of the previous volumes had been, and it's a good ending for the series. The biggest problem is that wrapping everything up and answering all or most of the questions was put off as late as humanly possible. Which means that there's an incredible amount of stuff going on in these last few issues, more than there really ought to be. The overall pacing of the series is off, with too much filler in the middle and a frantic race to the finish at the end. I think that perhaps 60 issues was actually too much for the series. Maybe Layman should have aimed for 50? It would have made the entire story as a whole that much more tightly plotted, which strikes me as a good thing. That said, there are some real emotional high points in this volume, and despite a fairly depressing ending, there's still a sense of fun throughout. Now that the series as a whole is finished, I think I could still say that I would recommend it to somebody with a fairly strong stomach, but be aware of the wonky pacing.
Profile Image for alittlelifeofmel.
930 reviews400 followers
September 21, 2017
There is something about this series that I just have not been able to fall in love with. I actually enjoyed the series as a whole and I do think about this series in positive thoughts, but I don't love them. I think the art style is great and I think they are extremely unique, but there's a lot of side stories and whatnot I thought were a bit too much, and it's why most of these volumes got 3 stars.

As a conclusion, I found this weak. I liked the actual conclusion to the overarching theme of the series, the chicken mystery. But I did not like the epilogue. I'm definitely glad to have finished the series, and I will always look back at this as a series I enjoyed, but I feel like they aren't the best graphic novel series that exists out there.
Profile Image for Krysta ꕤ.
945 reviews767 followers
August 17, 2023
the end is finally here and we get the answers to all the mysteries that have been teased throughout the 12 volumes. at this point the story was definitely starting to drag, but I just love the insane world that was created here. the art is 100% the best thing about this series and I did grow to love some of the characters along the way. the ending wasn’t the most satisfying but it delivered enough not to feel like a complete fail for me. I just can’t believe I’m finally done 😭😭 so bittersweet.
Profile Image for Mike.
1,579 reviews148 followers
November 27, 2017
Like my endless flirtation with the end of Fraction/Aja’s run on Hawkeye, I let this final volume of a series I’ve off-and-on loved slip into the back of the getting-around-to-it pile for an awfully long time.

In Hawkguy’s case, I was trying to stretch the savoury flavour of a unique pleasure. In Chew’s case, I was more concerned that the flagging middle of this series was a portent of a lack of planning and a dead end.

Like, the first five seasons of Supernatural were clearly architected up front, constructed as a super-story - with room enough for some fun diversions along the way, but they knew where they were headed all along.

My greatest hope was that at the very least, Layman and Guillory has figured out the ending of this story, even if they clearly were caught flat-footed in the middle (and were forced to gin up some random filler).

Reading this story feels like a death march - a journey to an inevitable, sad, depressing conclusion. The longer it goes on, the less enthused I am.

For each scene with a new food-based villain or monster, I get fewer laughs or even grimaces. I’m numb to the gag - it’s so over, and Layman and Guillory are still cranking them out, seemingly with the same gusto (though maybe the lack of laughs is a reflection on their own ability to give a shit or two).

Minor kudos for tying up the loose ends that were strewn along the way like weird-flavoured gumdrops. Major sigh of relief that this fucker is *over*. May I never see another “¿Poyo!” belligerently-adoring fanpiece again.
Profile Image for Artemy.
1,045 reviews965 followers
November 24, 2016
This is it — the grand finale of Chew. And it's honestly a bit underwhelming. Don't get me wrong, Chew is a fantastic series, and is absolutely worth reading, but the last three (or so) volumes were almost complete filler, so John Layman obviously had to pick up the pace for the final book. The end result is that the first two issues are spent on an almost plain-text info dump which gives you the answers to all of the remaining questions, and the next two issues contain all of the drama and action necessary for the big finale. What was the point of issue #60, I honestly don't know — it was kinda crap, and I think the ending of #59 was good enough to be the ending of the series.

Layman and Guillory created an extremely fun and imaginative series that unfortunately got a bit drawn-out. I don't understand this aim for the arbitrary 60 issues. The story should take as long as it demands, and Chew would probably have been a much tighter series with a better finale if it was 10 or 15 issues shorter. Still, it is a very good book, and will probably be considered an Image classic, just like there are Vertigo classics. Congratulations to Layman and Guillory, and I hope to see their new comics sooner rather than later.
Profile Image for Norman.
398 reviews20 followers
November 25, 2016
I loved Chew. Yes, it had its ups and downs and boring patches, and yes, it got pretty outlandish the past couple years, but I loved it nonetheless. I loved its ridiculously unique art style (Rob Guillory was only 26 when he started?? I'm so excited to see where he goes from here on out.), bizarre overall world, and perfect dialogue between imperfect characters. Or maybe it's none of that, and I loved that our protagonist is Asian American. Either way, I am sad to see it come to an end. Maybe another series will hit me with as much excitement as this one did sooner than later.

As to this specific volume #12, it did pick up a lot of speed, and it felt a tad rushed. I would have loved to see more of a buildup, but I wasn't disappointed at all. The epilogue felt anticlimactic, but I didn't really care.

Goodbye Chew.
Profile Image for Chris Lemmerman.
Author 7 books121 followers
December 22, 2017
Not quiet where I expected everything to end, but seeing the long path we trod to get here, the writing was on the wall (and in the sky too).

Of course, this wouldn't be Chew without at least one horrible heartbreaking death, so we get two instead since it's the final volume. We also get answers on just about everything that wasn't answered so far, plus another brilliant Poyo interlude (this one all in rhyme!).

Rob Guillory draws the fuck out of these final issues, parodying himself at certain points to evoke all of the emotional investment that we've built up for these characters.

I'm still not sure if I 'like' the ending. It fits, but it still leaves a little niggle in my brain that there was something missing, hence 4 stars rather than the full 5.
Profile Image for Scott.
347 reviews5 followers
February 19, 2017
Couldn't have ended better! This series was so much fun. Combining hilariously but darkly written Sci-Fi / FDA detective stories with quite demented and vividly drawn artwork, none of these volumes were EVER boring. If you've been following this series, make sure to finish it up!, and if you haven't yet embarked on this crazy stuff, well, fasten your food bib on and get started with volume 1.
Profile Image for Himanshu Karmacharya.
1,135 reviews113 followers
June 29, 2021
Ah, the final dish in a 12 meal course. Overall, the course has been very palatable, but it would be a lie to ignore the fact that, by the end, our tongue was getting a bit sensitised to the taste offered by the dishes.
Profile Image for Michael Church.
670 reviews4 followers
March 14, 2017
Here we are. The final volume. Answers are given. Goodbyes are said. Lives are lost. Mysteries solved. Emotions felt.

All in all, it felt a little anticlimactic. The previous volume was so action packed with such a satisfying resolution, that I think we all kind of knew the final volume would fall a little short. It's well executed, it's just impossible for it to be as satisfying as the last arc.

That said, it's a reasonably satisfying resolution to the overarching mystery of the series about the chicken prohibition. It managed to feel rushed, though. There weren't really breadcrumbs to pick up through the series. I don't think it's possible to solve the mystery without the way it was spoon fed to us in this volume. Maybe it's better that way, but I would have rather had some inclination of what I thought could happen.

It's executed pretty well, and it had some really touching moments. I just wish that it felt like this story thread had been nurtured along like the Vampire or other storylines.

Layman and Guillory have executed their vision of this wonderfully unique and amazing story. I fully expect this to go down in comic book history as one of the unique great stories. If you've got even a passing interest, try it out from the beginning. Just know the real payoff comes in Volume 11.
Profile Image for Baba.
4,020 reviews1,469 followers
June 24, 2020
Chicken is doom! It's the end of the road. Will all be revealed. Will we get to see that oft forecast scene of the 3 of our now elderly protagonists? What will need to be done to save the world. And will he eat Savoy?

Not the most satisfying conclusion ever written, but one that fits and sits well with the way this series has been created and shared. 9 out of 12.
Profile Image for RG.
3,084 reviews
June 29, 2018
A good conclusion to a very fun series. I think it did get a little too long towards the last few volumes, it could have really been wrapped up in 8/9 volumes however really did like this overall. Definitely recommend.
Profile Image for Devon Munn.
535 reviews81 followers
June 5, 2020
4.1 stars

Well i finally finished this series! Overall it was pretty enjoyable. The story is quirky and fun with some pretty hilarious moments and gags. This ending was weird, it was more small scale besides the reveal behind the avian flu and what happens at the end
Profile Image for Juho Pohjalainen.
Author 5 books351 followers
October 14, 2020
Honestly, at the very end of things I found it a little bleak. But it was pretty great up until then.
Profile Image for Hani Suraya.
Author 7 books50 followers
October 23, 2017
3 stars for the final volume.
And 4 stars for the whole Chew series.
Yey-hey~! Highly recommended to readers who love dark comedy and action genre.

I'm gonna miss you, Poyo. Bok-kawww!
Profile Image for Ginger .
723 reviews29 followers
March 20, 2019


and I am not sure....

What.....




I feel a little robbed.
Profile Image for Licha.
732 reviews123 followers
December 18, 2019
--Tony must eat if he wants to save the world.

--Amelia taps into her power so Tony won't have to eat her but it proves too powerful for her and

--Tony needs to read Amelia's manuscript. Anybody who has eaten chicken and still has it in their digestive system will die if they read her manuscript, therefore only Tony can read it. But ends up reading it and dies. I cried like a baby.


Overall review of the series as a whole:

I have rated every volume a three star, so technically this series as a whole shouldn't add up to a four star rating, but as a whole, I loved this series. The three stars per volume was because I never knew where the story was quite going but liked it regardless.

I loved all the characters, especially Tony, Olive, Savoy, Toni, Colby, Caesar...The characters had great chemistry between them and I loved the interactions between them.

There were many silly side plots and some unnecessary Poyo side stories but overall they added to the overall understanding of the characters and story.

My one complaint would be the amount of people who started having food powers. It was no longer unique.

There were many sad sacrifices and deaths in the series of main characters, which added to the believability of the story as a whole but also caused me immense sadness. I don't care that they are animated characters.

This was a very unique and original story to the point where Rob and John's essence seemed to be as much a part of the story as if they had been characters within it. This story felt like it was a piece of their soul. I would love to see this story come to life in a cartoon series.
Profile Image for Bonnie.
402 reviews8 followers
January 29, 2020
I just have to say ALL THE FEELS. I haven't cried this much while reading a volume of Chew since Toni died (and we saw her preparing for her death) in Volume 7. I was hoping that by some trick Amelia actually didn't die (and that Savoy didn't die and that John didn't die).

I am going to have to re-read the series in its entirety. The character development and also the change in the "feel" of the series has been profound. At the onset, Tony was likable, but almost bumbling or fumbling his way through these weird and explicable events. By the end, Tony was shaped by the hardships and events that he had lived through and the sacrifices and choices he had to make - he was an angry, jaded man, but justifiably so.

I know that there have been some complaints about the abrupt ending of the series, but honestly, I don't think it could have ended any other way. Maybe it's because I have been enjoying ambiguous endings more and more (because things that wrap up neatly just aren't believable) but I thought it was perfect.

I know that this series had a profound impact on me. Reading the author's note afterward and realizing that they started this in 2008 made me realize that I've been reading Chew for more than a decade. I have talked about this series to so many people and recommended it over and over again. I enjoyed the writing, the art, everything. It was a unique, compelling read. Would highly recommend.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Michelle.
816 reviews7 followers
March 6, 2017
Here we are after 12 volumes: the end. I had no expectations or theories on how it would go tbh. Content wise, there's 2 issues, a so-so Christmas themed POYO interlude, two issues for the end and then an epilogue issue.

I loved the ridiculous POYO interludes but this one didn't hit right. As for the main story, everything gets explained in large info dump monologues from Savoy. Tony loses a lot and when I read "The End" I was like WAT. The epilogue was sorely needed and was mostly filler with Olive but for the last page or so.

Endings are hard. There's no 'what next' to look forward to but this series has had a great run. Some volumes better than others but I've enjoyed it all, especially the art style. I won't hesitate to recommend this series to others, and I'll be looking out for what these guys do next. It's been real.
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