And so we reached the big milestone in Chew and also the finale to the Chicken Tenders story arc with Issue #50. It’s been a long time coming and only big things can come for reaching an issue like this. Is it good?
Chew #50 (Image Comics)
This issue is all about the fight/final confrontation between Tony Chu and the Collector, the villain that has been hounding the characters since almost the beginning. I won’t go into big details and specifics about the issue (I’ll leave that for you to discover), but suffice to say, this was a great issue and conclusion to this storyline. The situation played out like you hoped it would, the fight between the characters was impressive and exciting (and also a bit goofy given the powers the Collector was using), and the conclusion felt natural for how it played out. There are still plenty more storylines to come, like a character mentions, but this issue brought solid satisfaction to those who have been waiting for it.
There’s only one part of the story that felt rather annoying, at least to me personally. It’s something that may vary from person to person, but it’s the epilogue and final page of the issue. Without giving too much away, this ending page seems tiresome. After all that Tony has been through in this comic, all the constant pain and misery and him ending up mopey or such, it’s a bit played out and tiring to keep putting this character through the ringer. Almost every arc since his sister died seems to be constantly trying to make him miserable and have a bad time, with few exceptions. This only seems to indicate more of the same going forward. I don’t expect the comic to always be sunshine and lollipops obviously, but a new story and character beat would be nice. Again, this will differ between people on how they feel about this turn of events.
The writing is pretty good for the most part. The pacing and focus on the action makes the story go by quickly, so the comic is pretty quick to finish. The characterization is still pretty strong and gives plenty of great moments and bits of character to Tony and the Collector throughout, such as the ending of the fight itself. Other characters appear in the book besides the two, but there’s not much focus given to them. The dialogue is good overall and there are some nice exchanges when the two aren’t duking it out. The comedy is not as prevalent here as in previous issues (outside of one or two moments), but that’s perfectly fine since John Layman is trying to make this a much more serious issue anyways. Overall, outside of some minor nitpicks, it’s another solid issue and also conclusion on the writing front.
Ultimately, there’s not a whole lot to say about Rob Guillory’s artwork that hasn’t already been said. The characters are very distinctive, the designs and appearances for characters with food powers are inventive and creative, the action is intense and brutal, the coloring is nice, and he still manages to squeeze in a few little background gags at points. There’s no dip in quality, leading to a book that is still looking great even after fifty issues.
Is It Good?
Chew #50 is a solid and exciting milestone issue for this long running series. While I’m personally iffy on the epilogue, the story and finale to the Collector storyline was fantastic from beginning to end. There’s very little to complain about or nitpick with the writing or the artwork. Ultimately, fans of Chew are not going to be disappointed at all with the issue.
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