Comic Book Review: Unwritten #1 and Chew #1

The following is a guest review by my wife, MrsEvilGenius.

I confess that it's not often that I find something new in Comic Books that really grabs me. Perhaps its just that I'm old and jaded (I've been reading comics for over 40 years now - I'm a vintage comic geek. Give me 30 years and I'll be that saggy old tattoed and pierced, grey-haired lady who causes you to do a doubletake at the con. You'll reassure yourself that I'm there with my grandkids, but nope, I'll be in line to get Robert Kirkman's autograph on an unnamed, wrinkly body part.)

ANYway, so it takes something really interesting to wow me nowadays. Bodog, (my hubby and Evil Genius Comics's faithful reviewer) is not like that. He's a comic book omnivore. He gives almost everything a fair chance and finds good in titles that I'd never consider - which has caused him to discover delightful Indies like Ariel Press's Harker by Roger Gibson and drawn by Vince Danks.

This is the sort of stuff I'm talking about! Joe Hill's Locke and Key is another good example of what tweaks my nips. Great stuff. Fresh and unusual, well written, crisp, lovely art (I am an artist by trade. Art is very important to me.)

So I was pretty much floored to acquire, via Bodog, two new comics that just blew me away and left me eager for more.

The first is Unwritten (Mike Carey / Peter Gross, Vertigo). Leaving aside the cool, graphic design-y cover, which charmed me immediately, the story is fresh and they leave us several tempting loose ends. The premise is a man, Tom, whose father wrote a madly popular series of books (think Harry Potter-ish) and patterned the main character, Tommy, after his son. So the boy is now grown; dad, the author, has mysteriously vanished; Tom is making his living mooching off of his fame and making appearances. Many fans have trouble distinguishing him from the character his father invented (something that actors like Daniel Radcliffe face every day one supposes) and there are the usual assortment of weirdos, like the cult who thinks he/ his character is the second coming.

Enter a mystery chick who claims Tom is NOT actually the son at all but an imposter. All hell breaks loose as the fans turn bitter and the fanatics get crazier. Oh, and the wee tid-bit about how Tom is Tommy and why.

Tell me you don't want to read this comic!

The second fab pick is Chew (John Layman / Rob Guillory, Image comics). The cover is brilliant. I thought I was looking at (yet another) zombie comic (Bodog farkin' loves zombies. Bleh. I can only stand so much gore. Gore in context, like Punisher, I can handle, but whole comics of brain eating and dragging entrails *holp!* No thanks.) but the carcass is a turkey and that gun is pointed right at the viewer not some walking dead.

The premise is Tony Chu, police detective, and his unnerving ability to get psychic impressions from whatever he eats. Yes, I said eats. So if he eats a grape, he might get the image of the guy who picked the grape, the gal who packaged the grape, or the loony tune furry fetishist who trucked the grape to Tony's local grocery store.

In Tony's world, poultry is illegal, banned by an overzealous nanny government (can you see it coming?! Wonderful social commentary, that) due to avian flu. Tony and his neanderthal partner are staking out a chicken speakeasy when the FDA send a man in black to tell them that they can't continue as their mark is an informant.

Long story short, Chu and partner end up eating at the underground restaurant and things get really REALLY weird. Remember Chu gets impressions from his food. What exactly is in that soup?

Well, you'll have to buy it and find out, won’t you?

Srsly, run to your local comic shop Wednesday and beg the greasy-haired geek behind the counter to order these two for you. You will NOT be disappointed.