DomUga Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 (edited) I was thinking the same thing. Here's hoping you get it and then sell both to me When is the next issue out? (thumbs u maybe you will sell me one of your covers? haha May 11 Here is a 9 Page Preview of Issue #27 Edited May 3, 2011 by DomUgarte Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeasOfCrap Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 wow, this thread was bumped off the first page! cool article from USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/life/comics/2011-05-09-Chew27_N.htm It took John Layman years for people to believe in his cannibal comic book Chew. And its current popularity is allowing him to take a risk venturing almost a full year into the future. Those who read Layman and artist Rob Guillory's Image Comics series starring cibopathic FDA agent Tony Chu — a guy who gets extra-sensory insight from what he eats (and at times, yes, he has ingested human meat to solve a murder) — will probably wonder why they devoured issue 18 last month but issue 27 is waiting in their pullboxes on Wednesday. Reason No. 1: Layman already wrote the issue, and it gave him a chance to feature Tony's sister Toni, a NASA employee who's the exact opposite of Tony's sourpuss character. (You'd be a sourpuss, too, if you ate as many beets as he does.) Reason No. 2: It was a fun writing exercise writing for two different audiences: the monthly readers who enjoy the crime-procedural aspect of Chew, and the people who wait for the trade collections (aka "trade-waiters") who will probably never realize he pulled this stunt when they read the issue in the sixth collection next year. Reason 3: When you win an Eisner award for best comic series, are up for three more this year and have Showtime developing a TV adaptation of your sci-fi foodie action comedy, you garner a little bit of leeway to enjoy yourself. "I thought, 'Why not throw it out there?' " Layman says. "I'm always very aware of the monthly readers, because they pay our monthly rent. We get big checks twice a year from the trade-waiters, and I don't begrudge them. But if we can do things to keep people interested on a month-to-month basis, we will." Those who remember all the way back to the introduction of Tony Chu in the first issue of Chew will see a lot of similar panels in issue 27, a solo adventure for his sister, Toni. They both handle their overbearing bosses differently, and when she enters a "chicken speakeasy," her fellow agent — unlike Tony's partner, Colby — doesn't get a hatchet upside his head. If you're wondering exactly what a chicken speakeasy is, let's get up to speed: In Chew, an avian flu wiped out millions of people, so chickens and the eating of them were prohibited by law enforcement — namely the CIA-ish FDA and the spy-like USDA. There are cibopaths like Tony, and saboscrivners like Tony's girlfriend, Amelia Mintz, who can write about food in such a way that people can actually taste it. In the current story arc, a weird alien message has lit up the sky, and Toni is on the case when a bunch of "chogs" — genetically bred chicken-frog hybrids, because frog tastes like chicken, obviously — go missing. It's a lot to take in at first, but Layman tries to make every issue accessible to new readers — even one set in the future. "It's hard to tell people, 'Hey, this issue 27 that is part two of something that's not going to appear till a year from now, is a good way to jump on,' " he says. "Every issue is self-contained and is its own case. Again, I want you to pay $2.99 every month rather than paying me twice a year. There are so many Marvel or DC books that are part of a six-issue story, and you get to about the fourth issue and there's nothing that happens. It doesn't get you back into the comic-book store week after week." Chew has been one of the major cult-to-mainstream successes the past few years, alongside the likes of The Walking Dead, Locke & Key and Scott Pilgrim. "It's shocking," Layman says, adding that it's even more surprising since he pitched Chew to editors at DC Comics' Vertigo line for years to no avail. "I probably didn't sell it very well," Layman admits. "Here's a cannibal comic book about food and the bird flu, and when you hear that, it doesn't really capture the sense of fun that was in the book." Layman and Guillory decided to do five issues on their own, and then it took off as a female-friendly series that often fans would give to their pals who usually wouldn't step near a comic shop. "It's not giant, super-idealized, muscular and busty women hitting each other like comic books are thought of in America too much," Layman says. "The other thing that no one realized, including myself, is I didn't pitch it as a food comic book, even though it was. That's so universal. Everyone eats, and here's a comic book where every story arc touches on food and everyone can relate to that, whereas everyone can't relate to a guy who flies and saves the world." Layman has also created a supporting cast à la Seinfeld that orbits Tony and his crazy adventures. "Jerry Seinfeld was really the most boring of the characters, but he was the most grounding character for all the oddballs around him," Layman says. "Tony Chu is like that: He's the quiet guy who took a little while to get to know and is kind of a grump, but everyone around him is more animated and interesting than him." The writer has found two characters with whom fans have fallen deeply in love: Colby, Tony's partner who was turned into a cyborg of sorts after getting that hatchet embedded in his face, and Poyo, the karate-kicking chicken that works for the USDA. Layman received lots of worried notes from people when Poyo got pumped full of bullets at the end of issue 18. "I got so many 'How could you kill him?!' (letters) and I'm like, 'Wait a minute. This is a world where a guy can take a butcher's knife in the face and come back as a robot.' I thought it was pretty obvious I'm not killing him, I'm setting him up to come back as Super Chicken, but no one seems to have figured that out yet," says Layman, who envisions a Secret Agent Poyo one-shot someday during the planned 60-issue series. Layman is planning more "screen time" for other characters, including Toni — whose "powers" are suggested in both issue 27 and the following 19 — and Tony's teen daughter, Olive, as well as an unnamed sportswriter who gives Tony and Colby the evil eye and a guy who can name the ingredients in anything he imbibes. Layman and Guillory designed a Last Supper-inspired cover to issue 15 that showed the majority of Chew's main characters. For those wondering what's up with the skeleton in the baseball uniform Toni was holding, Layman teases he will pop up again in the next story arc beginning in issue 21. "Tony gets kidnapped by really hardcore baseball fans who know about his powers, and they are digging up dead baseball legends and feeding them to him so they can write the definitive biographies of these characters," says Layman, adding with a laugh that it's "awesome and horrible at the same time." That's all in the future, though, as is the Showtime series. It's still early in development, but Layman's read the -script and it maintains the absurd tone, both grotesquely and humorously, that has made Chew a savory success. "It's not exact, and I knew Chew was too weird. You're not going to have Arctic observatories and -fighting secret agent chickens. But they got the spirit of it," says Layman, who has a Godzilla: Gangsters and Goliaths miniseries out next month for IDW and is working on an upcoming Dark Horse graphic novel with Sam Kieth. "Part of the fun's gonna be what's different, what's the same, but the tone is the most important thing and that's what they've caught. It'll be interesting to see where things go." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DomUga Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 Just read Chew #27. Loved it! Its gonna be awhile for #28 though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medusanyc Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 issue 27 seemed like a parody of chew #1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lebowski Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 Actually, the first page is an homage to page 1 of issue #3. And the references, homages, etc. were all intentional, of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N/A Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 Actually, the first page is an homage to page 1 of issue #3. And the references, homages, etc. were all intentional, of course. Page 1 you say? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hulksmashdave Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 Secret Agent Poyo!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DomUga Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 Actually, the first page is an homage to page 1 of issue #3. And the references, homages, etc. were all intentional, of course. Page 1 you say? Did you get the OA? haha Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N/A Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DomUga Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 I was gonna get it but instead I chose to be on the Cover waiting list. Just curious, when did you get to choose the covers what you wanted or do you just get the next available one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N/A Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 If you just got on the list you have a 2 year wait I would guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DomUga Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 (edited) Strange April said next available cover is #20 I shall clarify. If it really is two years that gives me a lot of beer money Edited May 13, 2011 by DomUgarte Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
easyt63 Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 There's a waiting list for covers? Wow, I thought April sent out an email when she sells. Cover and whoever had the fastest fingers wins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lebowski Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 I thought...whoever had the fastest fingers wins. I believe you are correct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N/A Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 I thought...whoever had the fastest fingers wins. I believe you are correct. Incorrect There is a list. She gives 48 hours for responses. Whoever is highest on the list that responds......wins! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N/A Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 Strange April said next available cover is #20 I shall clarify. If it really is two years that gives me a lot of beer money 20 may not be presold but there is a waiting list that will receive an e-mail when it is available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lebowski Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 There is a list. She gives 48 hours for responses. Whoever is highest on the list that responds......wins! :shrug: Perhaps. Not necessarily how it worked with the one I purchased, but whatevs. Doubtful I'll be buying another one anytime soon anyway. Now, if I could just get this #11 cover sold... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lebowski Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 Strange April said next available cover is #20 I shall clarify. If it really is two years that gives me a lot of beer money 20 may not be presold but there is a waiting list that will receive an e-mail when it is available. The solicitation for #19 was just sent out about 10 days ago, so #20 will probably be up for sale in two to three weeks or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N/A Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 There is a list. She gives 48 hours for responses. Whoever is highest on the list that responds......wins! :shrug: Perhaps. Not necessarily how it worked with the one I purchased, but whatevs. Doubtful I'll be buying another one anytime soon anyway. Now, if I could just get this #11 cover sold... If only you'd sell your pages too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N/A Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 There is a list. She gives 48 hours for responses. Whoever is highest on the list that responds......wins! :shrug: Perhaps. Not necessarily how it worked with the one I purchased, but whatevs. Doubtful I'll be buying another one anytime soon anyway. Now, if I could just get this #11 cover sold... Definitely not how it worked initially. I keep asking for exactly how it works but don't want to be a pain in the Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
