Chew Volumes 1 and 2 – Taster’s Choice of International Flavor

Welcome to The Pole Bag. Join us as we dig out

our latest comics and discuss them with the rotating

panel of the GCRN crew. So sit back and enjoy

this week's Pole Bag. Hello and welcome to the

pull bag this is episode 92 and as I've said

in the last few episodes I've kind of lost control

of the pull bag train We're putting out episodes

as we can at this point. They are still coming

out every Wednesday But at this point it's going

to be a surprise as to what you can get I do

know that next episode will be, if I can get

it done in time, Masters of the Universe 2013,

Masters of the Universe, where they asked Baron

and I issues 7 through 12, which is the What

Lies Within arc, which you'll have to tune in

to hear those. But of course, I am TF2 and Mike,

and joining me returning to the show is JT from

Saskaspoon. Hello. Hello. It's been a while,

hasn't it? Yeah, I think the last time you were

on was one of the turtle adventure books which

I kind of stopped because I Pretty much stopped

getting print books and I'm not paying full price

for digital for turtle adventures I don't mind

paying full price for the regular turtle series

from IDW, but the adventures I would rather wait

for a trade. Yeah, no, I get that So we are breaking

into the world of image comics for the first

time here in the pull bug It only took us 92

episodes to do so and we're gonna be talking

about John Layman and Rob Gilory's chew Now,

someone recommended this to me. I don't remember

who, I don't think it was you. Somebody said

that it was an interesting series, or maybe it's

because I follow Layman at the time, Layman at

the time, and he was doing, oh, he was working

on Batman Eternal for the first few issues. And

I had read his Detective 25 with the Gordon story

and that of how Gordon met up with Batman and

everything else, so. I found out that this is

his creator -owned series, and it's interesting.

It's dark and hilarious and bat -coof and seed.

Yeah, it's interesting writing. It's good writing.

I don't dislike it. Let me just read the back

of the first trade here so people can understand

why I may have a problem with this. Tony Choo

is a detective with a secret, a weird secret.

Tony Choo is a... ...cybopathic. Which means

he gets psychic impressions from whatever he

eats. It also means he is a hell of a detective

as long as he doesn't mind nibbling on the corpse

of a murder victim to figure out who done it

and why. He's... been brought... on by the Special

Crimes Division of the FDA, the most powerful

law enforcement agency on the planet, to investigate

their strangest, sickest, and most bizarre cases.

Presenting Taster's Choice, the first story arc

out of the sold -out acclaimed surprise hit comic

Chew, a twisted and darkly funny series about

cops, crooks, cooks, cannibals, and clairvoyance.

So yeah, I'm not into really... exposing myself

to any media that has cannibals in it. Honestly,

I think the only thing I've seen that had cannibals

in it in my entire lifetime. Can you guess what

it was? No, Mike. Why don't you tell us? It was

a little -known film in 1995. Oh, come on, Paul.

Let me eat him. Let me eat the judge. Judge Dredd.

That's the... Oh, don't even... don't you dare

even start making gulping so it oh god i'm gonna

reach through this computer and just punch you

right the hell out up there in canada don't even

start um so i was really hesitant about this

i guess i should have realized what it was about

just by looking at the title of the comic um

see the character's name is chew and the title

is called chew it's a play on words yeah no i

i gotta say like just like i It's weird. It's

dark. It's funny and it's not just the the writing

by layman. It's the art by Guillory they perfectly

complement each other like it is just serious

enough when it has to be and it is Just goofy

enough when it has to be with this story. I God

I love this comic like there is really I have

yet to be disappointed in this series I mean

I wasn't I didn't go into this with a closed

mind at all I just kind of went into this was

like oh no what kind of weird stuff is this going

to be and volume one in trade is called Taster's

Choice it collects the first five issues for

the series yeah first five yeah and have to read

layman's dedications here to Kim who surely expected

my weird cannibals and bird flu idea to flop

and supported my mad folly nonetheless I think

that's absolutely amazing so we get we get chapter

one and we get set up with a prologue and We

see this chef cutting up carrots and other stuff

and everything else, and cuts up some mushrooms,

and while he's cutting up the mushrooms, he actually

cuts himself, and his blood mixes in with the

mushrooms. Loses a star is not four stars anymore.

No. Like, seriously, like, any... I wouldn't

know exactly from the industry. You would think

most chefs are like, ah, shit. Ah, they'll just

think it's red wine. you know and yeah so that

that's a really good prologue like opening kind

of creepy but it kind of sets the tone for the

story and then we go and we meet well Tony's

not an FDA agent yet and we should mention I

mean it's we get into later on in the story but

basically three years ago there was an avian

flu and now chicken is illegal And the FDA has

about as much power as the Department of the

Homeland Security and the NSA. Yeah, combined.

Combined. But we haven't quite gotten there yet.

So we meet Tony and his partner, John Colby.

Yeah. And Tony, he is, you know, I love how Layman

and Inglourious set this up. where they have

these black and white character shots at the

top of some pages, you know, meet Tony Chu. Tony

Chu is almost always hungry and almost never

eats. Here's why. And then they go into a monologue,

but it isn't really a monologue. It's more of

expositional writing, which I like that it's

not... any one of the characters explaining it,

it's the writer explaining it to the reader.

I like that. I think that's amazing. This is

like the text crawl at the beginning of A New

Hope. It sets stuff up so they don't spend five

pages halfway through the story expositing all

this. And let me tell you folks right now, this

is not a comic for children at all. The two image

titles that I read are not comics you can have

your children reading. I read, well, as of now,

I read Chew, and I read Cowl by Kyle Higgins,

Alex Siegel, and Rod Rice. And these comics are

very adult -themed, adult -toned, you know. I

don't think Image really puts out any kids' titles

anymore. Which is fine, because for me, it's

so, like, um... Have you read, Cal? Not yet.

Oh, damn it, I was gonna tell you. Okay, there's

a scene, I think it's either issue one, two,

or three. I think it's issue one. There's a scene

where a struggle over a gun happens and you will

not believe and it will just amaze you where

the gun actually went off. If you get it on Comixology

and you go through it on the guided view it's

like oh my fucking word I cannot believe that

just happened So we get Tony Chu and we get the

explanation of him being a cybopathic That means

he can take a bite of an apple and get a feeling

in his head about what tree it grew from what

pesticides were used on it and when it was harvested

and then the only thing that tony does net and

it's not related it's basically his kryptonite

but they go on to explain what his kryptonite

is and they don't explain why beats are his kryptonite

so he is always eating beets because he can't

feel anything from beets. Beets salad, beets

pickles, beets stew, beets scampi, beets, you

know There's a lot you can do with shrimp Yeah,

it's it's a weird power and it's not as I've

read the series to date folks. It is not the

weirdest power There's something later on involving

chocolate and curving that you'll just stop it

Tony I've only gotten up to the front I'm not

saying that you will see this and you will shenanigans

i call shenanigans but yeah so you know it's

tony's a cop he's partnered with john colby who

is clearly the world's biggest asshole or one

of the biggest assholes you will meet in this

comic believe me there's a big one coming and

well john turns into a more of an asshole after

what happens he becomes more of an asshole but

you kind of start to like him later on you know

once the face plate and chin plate come into

play but we'll get to that so they're on a stakeout

outside of speedy upholstery and he's got I love

this scene where it looks like we got some carry

out there's this guy coming out of the store

and he's wearing the x -ray heat vision goggles

and you see this guy who's like clearly Three

seconds away from soiling his undergarments and

he's walking out with some contraband now. It's

not drugs It's not an illegal firearm. It's about

a pound of chicken Because as we said chicken

is illegal so they let him go because it's not

worth the paperwork and Then Tony's brother Chow

Chiu I'm sorry. I don't know what kind of joke

layman is going for here, but jesus christ that

is one of the worst names I have ever heard in

my entire life Yeah, and yeah, and he's walking

out with like 20 25 pounds of chicken And apparently

he was this celebrity chef to had a meltdown

on live on air And they showed it and it's awesome

yeah especially how it breaks down he's like

instead substitute a 14 ounce can of poultry

free chicken flavored naturally and stir and

and then he just loses his ever -loving mind

and it's brilliant and so they Tony's gonna go

bring him in and Colby in a brief shining moment

of uh not being a complete douche convinces Tony

not to do it and then they go after this guy

D -Bear who's like you know fur collar leopard

skin coat big -ass gold chain clearly he's a

baller and he's like the king I really I really

wanted them to call him Deebo considering he's

like five foot nothing in this comic yeah he's

like little it's that would have been so good

especially if they didn't if they like they're

well let's talk a little bit at the end that

they're doing an animated movie of this tiny

Lister as Deebeard yeah so Colby and Tony are

you know, lock and load and ready to go in, and

we meet my favorite character in this comic book.

Agent Mason Savoy of the Food and Drug Administration.

This guy is a pimp. You know, I... I never knew

that the FDA did crap like this. Like, you know...

The way I've always seen the Food and Drug Administration

is that they, you know, have things mailed to

them. They have things tested. The way I've always

viewed the FDA is that they are basically the

giant CSI for the entire country. Trying to figure

out if there's anything wrong with the food or

is it like I? Never thought of the Food and Drug

Administration is having like agents as in like

you would have with ATF or FBI or CIA or that

kind of stuff I'm sure in reality. There's something

like that, but not the level of the FDA issue

universe I mean no this guy. He just shows up

you know monocle Ascot nicely tailed pinstripe

suit and oh my god he's freddy jones's father

fred jones was a badass or a complete disappointment

to his father but sure yeah but i mean Savoy

just pimps up lays it on lays down this information

for him and basically he's like i'm gonna help

you guys out or in the spirit of cooperation

you know and he basically tells him how to get

in there Have a chicken dinner on the government,

you know, the password is fishbone. Like he just

You know, he just sets him up beautifully Yeah,

I love that they go in and they get like the

snottiest Most prickish waiter I've ever seen

in comic books And you know cuz Colby orders

like a full spread And he's like very good sir

because you know clearly they're getting a shit

ton of money from this guy and then Tony is what's

the soup? Yeah, you know Tony yeah, so I mean

they get their food Cole you know Colby's chowing

down and I love whenever because there's a couple

there's another cyber path in the series whenever

somebody has one of these food related psychic

powers there's this uh grid collage image that

uh gilary puts in the background of like stuff

we've seen stuff we haven't seen and it's basically

like that wave of images that goes through tony's

mind yeah and uh basically he get because of

The cooks blood he finds out that he's like this

serial killer and so they go and you know, they

go to bust him and Well Colby gets a meat cleaver

to the face Yeah, and I mean it's just like straight

up just fuck and it's and Tony goes after him

And he basically like he calls the kid the sous

chef out and all this bullshit And then the guy

takes himself out. And see, like, up until this

point, it's all, despite all some of the dark

stuff, it's been kind of light. And then you

see Tony gnawing on the corpse. Mm -hmm. Yeah.

And that's kind of where I kind of checked out.

Usually when he's gnawing on corpses or things

that... should never be eaten at least in my

personal opinion that's kind of where i'm like

okay next page please you know it's just one

of those things yeah like it takes like as as

adults i should say it wasn't necessarily dark

as adult and not kid -friendly as the comics

has been up this is where we take this hard left

turn into okay kids go to bed and you know then

we cut to tony getting you know chewed out by

his boss is like Jack Slater getting yelled at

by his lieutenant in last action hero kind of

deal and then in pimps agent Savoy again who

offers Tony a job with the FDA which is interesting

yeah and that's and that's kind of how we end

the first the first chapter here yeah so we get

We overall I like the first chapter. I think

it's I think it's interesting It's a nice setup

to the earth to the main characters. It's interest.

You know, like I said, it's I Love the art. Oh,

yeah, it's it's quirky and it's twisted and just

Bat poop insane sometimes but it like I said

it per it complements layman's story like just

This is what this universe would look like And

like I said, they're doing they're working on

an animated film if the art if they can do like

what they did with public enemies With DC and

how they kind of ape the Ed McGinnis's art if

they could ape the Guillory's art for that animated

movie that would be so good or Here's an idea.

I don't think they'll do this. But here's an

idea have him Show the animators exactly how

to do it Well, yeah, yeah, he could come up with

like the storyboards of the basic models or something.

So yeah, yeah, so we move into the second chapter

and again, we get another prologue with it kind

of it echoes back to Colby getting the coffee

and the teenager that he was, you know, snus

snapping off to at the server that teenager spits

in his coffee where you get this old lady taking

a burger back to which is ostensibly McDonald's

To make beefy. Yeah, and you basically when you

look at this guy I hear like the pimply -faced

teen from Simpsons. What's that? You didn't want

cheese? This old lady got a cheeseburger. She

didn't want a cheeseburger. So he's like pushy

old bat and he goes and he pulls a waiting where

he scoops some nose gold out of his schnoz and

he's about to wipe it on this fresh burger and

he takes the bun off and there's a human finger

in there. And then this happens a lot in a lot

of issues where there's again, here's Tony Chu,

da da da. And except this one's different where

now we see the new set up. Now that he's an FDA

agent, you know, he's got specific set of circumstances

and he has is a supervising agent, Mike Appleby,

who is the biggest dick in the planet Literally

and this isn't him saying it out loud He has

an immediate intense hatred for Tony and he's

determined to make Tony's new career at the FDA

a pure and unending living hell And they I don't

think to date they've actually given an explanation

why this guy is such a tool No, not yet. Well,

I don't know. I've only read the first The first

ten well, I know I'm just I'm just saying this

as far as I'm aware but But yeah, so he's the

biggest dick in the world and he's just like,

is this your lunch? Yes, sir. Beat salad. Yeah,

like you need this shit. You know, and so he

tosses a salad and he gives Tony the finger burger

that clearly has been sitting around for two

or three days. And then they kind of get into

it with each other. And I think Applebee is actually

afraid of Savoy because Savoy and really I can't

say he walks up he pimps up and Immediately Applebee

kind of backs off So Tony eats the finger and

it's Savoy No, he doesn't Tony doesn't eat it.

Yeah, he does. No, he doesn't. Yeah, he does

No, he doesn't Savoy does no Savoy offers Oh,

and then Tony eats it like cuz Tony is like I

am NOT eating this nasty thing and then Tony

eats the nasty thing Yeah, and and this is the

other thing is as they have that introduction

to Tony and other characters involved in the

story Sometimes in the series when Tony eats

something we get another introduction page in

this case Evan Pepper who's a health inspector

and Tony flashes on what happened to Evan Pepper

and it's like a psychic flash, he gets this information

and him and Savoy are gonna go off and you see

Tony's about to, I'm gonna speak blue for a moment,

he's about to fuck up Applebee because Applebee

reveals that they've already got Evan Pepper's

personal information and his address. Yeah Appleby

just wanted to test Tony as far as his eating

prowess goes and That is not cool. Like I don't

care how many new you know, you know how much

of a noob you are to a new Job or you know, whatever

else and it's just like really seriously. Come

on now. Yeah So they go on their assignment and

Tony goes in to try and just He's being a look

-look FDA investigator like to take a look around

and Pimple face I don't have to tell you damn

thing pig. My dad's a lawyer. It says you guys

are all a bunch of fashion I love this. I love

these pages. Oh, yeah Tony he's just like grabs

the bridges though. He's just okay. Here we go

and Well Tony sees this hot blonde and you know

his heart goes Twitter -pat and then he... Pimpleface

tells him to basically go F off and Tony calls

in a kill order on Pimpleface's family. Now what

is so funny about this is I know Tony... I know

Savoy is the fat guy and Tony is the skinny guy

here. Yeah. but but uh tony so tony calling in

this kill order so reminds me of farva did you

spit in my burger you better not spit in my burger

there's no spit in your burger sir oh my god

i didn't you know from super troops oh yeah no

i swear to god that scene and then later on when

they go through the drive -through when they're

all three sheets this is officer rod far you

know so You see Savoy has gone to check out Pepper's

apartment and You see a poor dead pooch with

a bite taken out of him shadowing kids Yeah,

so basically pimple -faced soils of self and

Tony is like got something to tell me and the

kid, you know, basically Tells him everything

he's like, please don't kill my family, sir You

know and he's like I was never gonna kill him

you idiot and for the record it's agent not cop

So to find this barrel of Like chicken substitute

or something and leads them to this sushi place

and Tony Eats the sushi and I don't know if he

got a flash or Whatever happened so the sushi

chef that hits something and like six Yakuza

in force come out from behind a curtain Yeah

It's kind of awesome. Yeah, we see Tony's do

it pretty good and then Savoy pimps in through

the window with a pair of sighs and Well He does

to these Yakuza what Blade did to the vampires

at the end of the first Blade movie. He jacks

them all up. They basically, you know, they've

closed the case and this is a good day. We end

this chapter on some guy in a cowboy hat with

a bunch of frogs crawling around his office and

his right hand is... Basically they they put

out a bounty of five million dollars on Tony's

head Yeah, that's not good Yeah And I love how

a lot of these a lot of issues that you end on

like a cliffhanger and it's a decent cliffhanger

It's not one like oh my god. What's gonna happen

next? It's like well shit. I wonder how Tony's

gonna get out of this pickle Nice I wonder if

pickles would be something that he could use

as another kryptonite for himself. Nah, he'd

probably get a hit, like a mafia hit or something

like that. Yep, just something like that. The

bodies buried underneath this vegetable garden

where the cucumbers were picked from. So we get

to chapter three and we see... The cover, at

least in the trade, the cover is of the blonde

that he fell in love with earlier. We don't yet

know her name. We'll find out here in this issue.

I don't know if I like the top -down view, but

she looks... Her legs look like they just will

not hold her up. just it looks too weird for

me on the cover yeah no it's uh it's an interesting

image you know it's a little strange and that's

much like most of this comic yeah but yeah so

we we opened this one with uh three days earlier

and everyone's reading the newspaper and then

puking their guts out and it's all because of

the blonde who we finally found her name's Amelia

Mince and I'm not gonna break my tongue trying

to say her food power she basically she works

as a food critic at the local newspaper but she

can write about the food so so vividly you can

actually taste it do we get a profile on her?

that's the page it's like You know meat oh yeah,

yeah like everyone's puking you see her walking

to work She is a sabo scrivener. That is the

best way that I can say it. Scrivener the V is

hard not soft. It's Frankenstein! That kind of

word. Yeah, that kind of word. apparently and

it says she's grown bored at her job and she's

only written about restaurants with a D rating

or worse from the Department of Health so her

boss is like in the office now and by the end

of the day Tony Chu will be hopelessly in love

with her and we go back to the FDA and you know

Tony's doing his job and Applebee's being a complete

dick And then Savoy comes up, and he's like,

there, there, my lad, you know, we're working

on this case, because they're still trying to

figure out where the yak is involved in this

illegal sushi place or whatever. And then you

hear Appleby puking his guts out, and Savoy is

like, looks like Appleby finally got to the food

section of the newspaper. God this guy and he

comes out you just see him like straight like

just this he exorcist puked on himself and For

some reason is to say that Amelia has to be out

of a job by the end of the day or Tony will be

fired Because apparently that's how the federal

government works in the chew universe. This is

how the federal government works Mm -hmm. I just

I don't Get what you puked on yourself. Really?

It's whatever this guy's a complete dick and

so Tony is like well who's Amelia mince and Savoy

gives him some infamy then Tony sees it's her

you know and just I love the smirk where Tony's

like it's her the girl I saw and then Savoy's

just got this smirk in his face read lad like

he knows Tony's in love with her but he's just

like do your job but So and an inner cut in this

story is Tony isn't in the hospital Talking to

what we're like it is Colby like he's pouring

it out to him and then we cut back to the story

where Tony's gone to the newspaper to talk to

Amelia and there's this creepy little Filipino

dude with Something in a box And he's like, it's

basically Milton from Office Space. No, no, this

guy is worse than Milton. Well, but to paint

a picture, he's like, but they have this fruit.

You know, and he goes up and Tony has like the

movie Daydreamers, like, I love you, baby. And

they start making out and he snaps to and he's

all like, ah, ah, ah. and then some armed insurrectionists

storm the place the government lies there's no

such thing as avian flu and Tony tries to do

his thing and he then he gets two more guns on

him and Amelia just starts reading what she wrote

that morning and it causes all these terrorists

to well Spews spew everywhere. Yeah, and and

I love the fact that Tony is kind of unaffected

by this Like he's just standing in the background

with this. He's affected. He's just affected

in the wrong ways. He's like, it's beautiful

Yeah, and then That's Applebee shows up and then

they see them have this argument and Tony goes

to like, you know Confess his love or whatever

take her out and turns out Amelia's just left

town Yeah, and then this guy in the bed wakes

up and it's not Colby's like Freaking me out,

man. Why are you telling me all of this? That's

that's how this one ends chapter 3 I really enjoyed

it I'm loving the story so far as I been reading

this. My initial disdain or distaste for the

whole fact of what Tony does has kind of gone

away. It's kind of in the background. So, you

know, layman's writing is is superbly well done.

And galore's art is just amazing. Yeah. Like

you. If you're not in love with the series by

this issue, I. would recommend you not read comics

because i mean okay maybe it's not to your taste

that i can understand that but seriously like

this is like the this is so damn funny i mean

what the hell so we look we move on to the next

chapter you know part four of taster's choice

where This opening montage of panels where Applebee

hears from a friend in the Baltimore office that

there's a five million dollar bounty on Tony's

head. And the only thing that keeps him from

cashing in is the metric crap ton of paperwork

involved in the death of an FDA agent, apparently.

I mean, but that's not, but you see this all

the time. This is a joke that is played all the

time in cop dramas, in cop comedies, in cop movies,

television, video games, whatever. Well, not

video games, but you see this all the time where

you have someone who really, really hates someone.

Let's, okay, a perfect example is Detective Lance

hating the hood in Arrow. and he knows he can't

kill the guy he can't do anything to the guy

unless he wants to just lock him up but if he

kills him that's a shit ton of paperwork he's

gonna every you know you know we see murder every

day on the news we see you know somebody killed

this person somebody killed that person you know

but we don't see the mounds and mounds of paperwork

that police officers federal agents Anybody has

to do once someone kills another person. Yeah,

it's a lot of fucking work. It's like what's

the point? Exactly. What's the point? But I mean

how it's prayed for laughs because you see like

this absolutely sunny smile on Applebee's face

He's like shooting stabbing no axe to the head

paperwork knife fuck Yeah, you know, yeah this

brief shining moment of personal glory and he's

like oh man so and then we go and we see that

uh you know where the hell is Tony Chu and you

know uh Mason and Tony have traveled somewhere

to the north and they're at some observatory

and there's dead bodies and Mason's like uh you

uh care to say what's going on here and Tony's

like I don't know although I'm about 90 % certain

up here is the Russian word for vampire. And

then we go to like two days earlier in Washington,

DC. And we meet a character. This like an Emmy

or a coroner who she comes later on in series

she comes back appears a couple of times. They've

gone to inspect the body of this senator. that

is supposedly died of a congenital heart defect.

And Macy's like, sure, he could have died from

that. He could have also died of a 0 .18 % alcohol

in his blood and half a pound of half -digested

chicken in his stomach. So they go in and the

coroner basically hates the FDA with the passion

of a thousand suns and has cremated the body

already. Yeah, but I love this yeah, but Special

Agent Mason Savoy of the FDA is not so easily

dissuaded and he shall have his vengeance And

why did you tell them what he does Mike because

this is so good I don't think I could ever stand

in a room with somebody that has ever done this.

I don't know, I don't know of anyone that would

ever actually do this. Oh, it's so good. I mean,

it's just, it's good. It's amazing for the comic,

but oh my God, is it dark. He, okay, Mason Savoy

takes the, the urn that she hands him with the

cremated remains of the Senator or whatever the

hell he, Senator? Yeah, Senator. He takes it.

She has a fan in her office here. That's going,

like, on turboprop. Uh -huh. And he puts the

jar up to the fan and dumps it, blowing the ashes

all over the place. And his final words, good

day to you, madam. No, no, no, no, no. You gotta

put some more, motherfucker. That is good day,

madam. Because then I love how Giller he puts

in the speech balloon. He's got the icicles coming

off of it. It's like, oh No, let me ask you this.

Do you think Gilroy did there not Gilroy? Do

you think Savoy did this? To Tony said he wasn't

gonna eat it. Obviously. Well, it's not Tony

wasn't he's not fond of munching on dead bodies

clearly but so well right but tony's not gonna

eat the ashes of the dead man do you think savoy

other than the obvious of you know pissing this

this medical examiner off do you think he did

this so maybe tony could like lick the air or

something oh it's so he doesn't actually have

to eat it's half of one because i mean it's something

we glanced over is it's been revealed at this

point that uh savoy is a cyber path as well because

he mentions is like do I need to repeat the speech

about the importance of our work and the unfortunate

necessity of the gift we share and Tony's like

fine so he licks like the ashes from around his

lips and he gets a flash of fire and sex and

stars and it's then Mason's looking at the file

and he's like well senator I Not going to try

and print out the Senator Hama. Wait a minute.

Larry's not going to like that. His first name

was Ernest. Oh man. Wow. He is really scared

stupid, isn't he? Paul, give me a room shot.

So they read the file and the Senator Hama was

the chair of the... Basically as the chair of

like the national space and aeronautics committee

basically they They provide funding for stuff

involving NASA and You know astronomy pursuits

and such like that. So they fly north or into

Russia to a international telescope And they've

you know, they've found this new planet It's

in the orbit of a red dwarf star, you know, it's

another one of those like info dump pages or

expository pages and so they fly and Mason turns

into that fat lady that leans onto you during

a long flight Tony is just like fuck you You

know, and it's so they go there and We have during

the flight we have this thing where uh Tony's

brother you just call him chef because chew chew

just No, it's chow -choo chow -choo It's saying

chow -choo. It just sounds like I'm talking like

a about a Pokemon. Oh my god All as I can see

now is and I hate to say this but I can see simo

hung playing this role That's good. Anyway, Chow's

just kind of looking into the same outfit that's

selling the barrels of fake or illegal chicken

parts to all these different restaurants that

we saw in the first part of the story arc. And

it's foreshadowing, kids. So they get to the

Russian North and they... They I love the the

helicopter pilot y 'all have a good time you

here, you know like this good old Russian boy

and they go to the International Telescope and

basically they it's set up like a nightclub in

there with like hookers and blow and Crap ton

of booze and every thing you'd need because They

get a metric crap ton of money to fund this place,

but they only need about three million So they

send it on Russian hookers and alpacas apparently

And I know it's not a rear but the the look that

that one Scientist has as he's brushing this

alpaca is like you bad boy. Oh My god you so

went there They basically find out that they've

been under orders just to stare at this newly

discovered planet for the last two years, and

that's it. Just keep an eye on it. And it's this

guy, the one scientist sober enough to talk to

Savoy and Tony, he's like, fine, I'll get you

the files. I don't care. Good times are over,

apparently. What the hell is this? And he picks

up the requisite four sticks of dynamite bomb

with a digital punch strap to it with only one

second left. And again, I have to say it, he

was only three days from retirement. and the

russian hookers are you serious did you just

seriously make a lethal weapon 2 bomb joke yes

i did and then you see uh one of the russian

hookers is apparently a russian hit woman because

she pulls out an ak -47 and well starts chopping

bodies and then you see I guess Mason Savoy has

many skills, as pimps often do, and he can speak

Russian. So he has an idea what's going on, then

apparently either this last scientist, who kind

of looks sort of like Kurt Russell from The Thing,

at least in terms of the beard and the hair,

is actually a suicide bomber, and she commands

Dr. Kvas to blow his ass up. and then she runs

out into the arctic north in nothing more than

one of those furry russian hats and a bikini

yeah we then we then go to uh tony asks what's

gonna happen to this placemason we then go to

24 years earlier atilis 738 which is the planet

these scientists were keeping for a while Right,

keeping an eye on. And this is the one part of

the book that I completely don't get. Because

there's no transition, there's just an explanation

of where they are, they don't say anything about

the characters that are right here, and all of

a sudden, we get an explosion to end the book.

A little fire in the sky! Yeah, and then tonight...

Because we select the end of the Altus 738s no

more I Like chapter 4 except for the ending because

it was a little weird it wasn't explained enough

for me I guess like they're watching this planet

watching this planet and what were they supposed

to be watching it for watching it explode really

seriously That's it. That's all it was for but

I don't get it So we get to chapter 5, which

is the final chapter in this trade and the cover

is Mason Getting ready to munch on an ear with

an absolutely Devilish smile on his face and

you see the reflection of Tony in the background.

Oh my what happened to Tony's ear? Could it be

that Mason Savoy is a bad guy? Yeah Bum bum bum

And the one thing I think we wouldn't at least

because I'm working off of My single issues which

were easier to find for me than my trades for

this one on the inside page of the individual

issues Where it's kind of like the Marvel comics

where they've got like the previously previously

thing they got a previous thing it's it looks

like a stained old menu with like creator info

on that and it's the previously in tune it gives

us a brief recap of what happened in the last

issue and then and I love how they say a strange

tip to the Arctic raises four more questions

than answers is it possible Mason Savoy knows

more than he's letting on and I think the appropriate

response would be Yeah, so and we get a Another

kind of recap introduction. This is Tony Chu

page, but you see that it's not going to end

very well for him And after today everything

changes Yeah So we see an FDA raid Then you know

Mason and Tony, you know both kind of pimp in

is like well what's in here Yeah, and I love

Tony's kind of gotten hardcore by this point

because he's like you what's the key code the

guy fuck you is wrong answer boot to the head

And then Tony's just like oh look blood dab dab

Yeah, you know it's like seven five nine seven

two seven two Yeah, and they get into this safe,

and there's a bunch of guns and chains chow chew

And he's like Cole tried to warn you. What are

you doing here? and then immediately and and

honestly i love this particular panel because

this is so much like discussions arguments screaming

matches that i've had with my own brother at

various points in our lives it's like because

tony's also you were buying black market chicken

he's like fuck you man i was trying to help and

it's just it's brothers and i love that part

and then And then Mason just goes, dudes, dudes,

chill. Because Mason is above all things, both

a pimp and a gentleman. And they go in, and Tony's

just, Chow is let out by Mason, and then Tony's

just taken a second, and then there is a... Vampire

dude. No, I don't think this is a vampire dude.

No, this is a different guy. It's somebody he's

trying to cash in on the five mil bounty. Oh,

that's right That's right until he's like who's

gonna make you rich and he's like you and then

Mason's avoid kills a motherfucker And in the

process Tony gets the the guy's blood and Mason's

blood all over him. Yeah and then you see that

this guy is the one that cut the finger off of

Evan Pepper, the health inspector, from the first

couple issues and Tony's just like, oh, it's

all gone now. And, you know, he goes home to

have a sleep and then he wakes up. And this is

like, oh, yeah. And then he goes to the goes

to the evidence lockup of the FDA and. He's wondering

why there's a vacuum -packed dead dog in this

one evidence box and you find that Outside of

you know Applebee and the coroner and now this

evidence clerk a Lot of people don't like these

people with the weird mental food based superpowers

Yeah, and he's all he's going off on those sick

cannibal fucks, and then he's like you've probably

never even a met oh Oh, shit. And all of a sudden

he's like, sure, mister. And then Tony's like,

no, no, not gonna do it. And he does it. And

then he's waiting for Mason. And it's revealed

that Mason is a bad guy. Well, what follows is

that He is a bad guy, but he's doing it for what

could be seen as noble or at least seemingly

noble reasons Right, but in Tony's view he is

he's a criminal. He's a bad Yeah, it's he's the

villain of this particular piece and Basically

he's the it's been into the where a chow had

his meltdown and Mason can exist as the government

is lying about the bird flu and there's this

greater conspiracy at work which kind of goes

on to form like the main backbone of the story

in this series and it's because and he find out

that Mason was involved because he killed Evan

Pepper because he thought he knew something about

what caused this bird flu And Evan had come to

Mason because he was being threatened by a Yaukaza

chicken smuggling operation. And then Mason's

like, well, it was a calculator. One life to

save many. And Tony's like, fuck you. I ate a

fucking putrefied dog. You're under arrest. And

then I love the next couple of pages where it's

done with no dialogue. And you see the fight

as Tony goes for his gun and Mason holds him

down and Mike Tyson's his ear Yeah, that's yeah

so it's Basically he holds onto the ear that

he's gonna you know threatens Tony's family apparently

he's got a big extended family is like I will

Cross off your family if you ever come after

me And then we get the first Mason Savoy, you

know, expository page. But basically, you see

while reading it that he lost somebody he loved

because of the bird flu that killed 23 million

people in the U .S. and 160 million around the

world. Mm -hmm. So he wants to know the truth

of what happened to like the love of his life.

So he's At best an anti -hero if not a straight

-up villain still a pimp. I Still think in Tony's

eyes. He is a villain. Well, yeah, I mean it's

He hasn't really to date. He hasn't really come

across Mason Since I mean Mason's part of his

part of the Tony's life, but unseen for the longest

time. Like he's operating from the shadows, but

he's always keeping an eye on Tony. And once

you find out how he's still involved, you just

shit, you know. So that was the end of Taster's

Choice. Overall, I really like it, I think it's

interesting, I think it's funny and hilarious

in certain points, and really gross and disgusting

in others. Which is the point of the book. Thus

the title. Yeah. I agree with you on everything,

though. It's just... I mean, I really do love

it. I think it's a great title, and this is a

comic. This and Cowl, which I don't know if it'll

be... When I say we, I mean the show. I'm not

necessarily sure it'll be you that does Cowl

with me, but... When we eventually get to covering

Kyle Higgins, Alex Siegel, and Rod Reiss's Cowl,

um... Honestly, Image at this point? Image and

IDW are my top two publishers at this point.

from the books that i've read from each of them

because um i'm not everybody knows i'm not that

much of a marvel fanboy i am and i'm not uh and

dc is just constantly constantly bombing my brain

so they are constantly letting me down so as

i've said many times before on the podcast since

about episode 50 or so i'm looking to branch

out and i'm really glad that i branched out to

layman and Gilory's chew because It's amazing.

I know I I probably came into the title I think

probably about eight issues or so into the run

where a friend of mine was just kind of going

off on it and because I'd seen the original like

the first the cover of the first issue is Tony

sitting at a dining room table holding a gun

on the reader There's a head with a knife in

it and there's bodies all around and you would

think it's gonna be this super dark super dark

comic and it's dark don't get us wrong folks

but it's also a lot of light too like there's

a lot of i don't know if it's intentional or

unintentional humor in the title and as time

goes on it just gets funnier and weirder and

more that poop insane and it's just like god

i love this comic Yeah, it is so awesome. So

we are gonna take a quick break and Come back

with volume 2 International flavor after this

it's action. It's drama. It's comedy It's to

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battle. All right, we are back and we're gonna

be talking about chew volume 2 International

flavor. I Love how they come up with these subtitles

or these story arcs like movie title almost Yeah,

I love this the back of the trade says civil

pathic detective Tony Chu able to get psychic

impressions from whatever he eats Has a strange

new case a newly discovered fruit which when

cooked tastes remarkably like chicken leads Chu

to a small western pacific island an island full

of secrets intrigue and murder presenting in

international flavor the follow story arc to

Chu's New York Times hot selling debut Taster's

Choice a new chapter in the twisted and darkly

funny series about cops crooks cooks cannibals

and clairvoyance um there was one of these um

oh wow you know I don't know why certain comic

companies go after places like IGN and and you

know that kind of stuff get their quotes and

whatnot yeah because like newsarama their quote

on the back of volume 2 is bland are you kidding

me this is anything but bland I'm fairly certain

they did that as a joke well uh... you know but

still alone the funny one is when i don't know

when the next time we'll do one of these episodes

reviewing volumes three and four yeah entry but

the funny one i was going to mention is is actually

on volume three it's by uh... that i know it

it's been one of the old g four people okay i

forget but anyway volume two international flavor

the front cover is tony chew and his new Robocop

partner or his old partner yes yes as we find

out find out yeah uh it was a little disconcerting

for me to find out that the first um the first

three pages are pink not because i dislike the

color which i do but it just it was a little

jarring um It's just just really weird so But

we get the first chapter this is issues 6 through

10 Right in this trade yeah, yes issue 6 through

10 and the cover for chapter 1 is John and Tony

Looking at what looks like to be an octopus fruit

No, we're not talking about a homosexual cephalopod.

It literally looks like a pineapple cross -bred

with an octopus. Yep. And this is the unholy

love child that resulted. But apparently this

is a thing when cooked tastes like chicken. And

not the first time I've heard of something like

this in comics, but that's another story for

another day So we open with a prologue set on

this I tropical resort island where they're building

a hotel and There's these workers come into the

foreman's office and they've got the Octo Apple

here. I Don't know Yeah, Octo Apple works So

they're like you're telling me this thing's edible

and then we go back to the FDA and we see uh

John Colby has become Terminator yes yes he has

and although I love the fact that the design

is ostensibly a switch of the Kano from Mortal

Kombat being on the left instead of the right

yeah but it's just him and you know Colby's not

too happy to see Tony and uh and threatens to

put a bullet in his throat and you know as friend

and partners are one to do and they're both rather

surprised to hear Appleby has made them partners

again and then we see you know the the traditional

expository base this is John Colby he's a cop

yeah and reconstruction yeah so basically he

got the the cybernetic implants because he didn't

want to look like more of a freak for the rest

of his life And the the long and the short of

it is is Tony has got a new ear Appleby went

out of his way to screw with Tony that respect

by getting him a different colored ear than his

natural skin tone He sent them out on a case

I cannot wait until we find until I find an issue

because I know you're already caught up on it

But I cannot wait till I find an issue where

Tony really Finds some sort of way to go after

and get revenge on Appleby Like, seriously, you

cannot wait for that. and it's basically like

tony's a good guy colby's an asshole and they

just work together because opposites track but

i love the lines tony's like i'm senior agent

i'm driving colby's like i'm supposed to get

into the passenger seat with an asian behind

the wheel and they're like you really are an

asshole and it's just like i've missed you too

buddy you know so they didn't spend the better

part of the storyline you know getting you know

back together and all that Right, so they go

to a bank and for some reason the FD the NYPD

is called in the F a and the clerk actually Points

out to tell you you're the guy that eats things

right the special agent. Yeah, why and then Tony

sees there's a pile of well shit Yes I'm not

eating that And then I love how Colby calls to

uh He calls Appleby says yeah, we're on it. Yeah,

he's eating it right now. Oh, yeah hilarious

Yeah, well by the end of the day sure. Yeah,

I just lied to our boss And then you see Tony

just losing his mind So I love John. He's just

like we're detectives, right? We're gonna detect

You know cuz it's nice to see well Colby might

be an asshole He is not a complete asshole and

wouldn't actually make Tony eat poop shit Yeah

excrement So basically he gets the NYPD to You

know, look you got to get all this information

to us stir the pot. Let's see what's going on

and he's like I'm FDA and the rules don't apply

to me. So then they go to D -Bear to basically

turns out D -Bear is an informant for the FDA

and he basically throws him out a window. Yeah,

pretty much. I love that defenestration And then

Tony's like what's gotten into you about four

million dollars worth of microcircuitry and he

goes out he's like so We cool and D bears like

yeah, we're cool. So they go back to work They

actually I have to comment on this page because

this is Is it this page? Where is it? Yeah. The

page where John breaks in and says, come here

you little bastard. I had to look at this, I

had to actually turn my book three different

ways to be able to see how Gilori has done this

because at first I thought D -Bear's head was

on the lampshade. It just doesn't look right

dude, it doesn't I don't know what it is just

a way the body Honestly, this is the only complaint

I have about the entire book it the positioning

of of D bears body compared to the positioning

It's like their legs run into each other and

it just it looks weird Yeah, no, it's the anatomy

sometimes Yeah quite like with Amy or sorry Emily

the the news Amelia the newspaper lady like on

that cover there yeah those chicken legs aren't

gonna support this body but yeah no I get that

so they go to a bar to drink because because

well it's just they're catching up they're celebrating

you know back in the saddle and then We proved

that it's not just a faceplate that Colby has

he's actually got a micro computer in his dome

That he hooks up to his smartphone And he's like

sitting there for a minute Tony's like And all

of a sudden he's got he's also got a holographic

projector in his one eye Tony's just It's awesome.

I know it's like Tony is remarkably well -adjusted

with all the weird shit he's experienced because

within like 30 seconds he's sitting there uh

-huh uh -huh uh -huh You know and then he's like

I love where he says one hell of a marina bill

for an unemployed ex -con because they're going

after this Eddie Frye who's a for like was in

jail for bank robbery or armored car robbery

and then i love colby now wasn't that better

than eating poo and then so they go to the marina

yeah they go to the marina they raid this yacht

and uh to celebrate the crooks not only are they

drinking they're gonna have like chicken gumbo

yeah Made with four pounds of the best black

market chicken money can buy. And then he sees

that the guy hasn't been paying attention because

Colby's got the gun to his head. I'll take a

piece of that action. This isn't chicken. And

all of a sudden it's the Octo Apple. That's how

we end chapter one overall compete, you know,

obviously you're you're reading them an issue

form, you know overall Six issues in still loving

it. The art is great. Sure. I had that one complaint

about the body positioning between John and and

D bear other than that Absolutely amazing. Yeah

It's it only it just builds from here folks.

Oh, yeah Really does I can't wait until we get

into more of these because it's just it's It's

a lot more awesome than I thought it was going

to be initially when I first heard about the

whole you know Premise of it, but chapter 2 has

you know a couple of jugs on it. Yeah And apparently

she works for the USD and Perry Association,

yep then just for some reason when i first saw

this cover i was thinking she was like a russian

spy or something no that's not us daria so that's

us um um us department of agriculture that's

what she is yeah part of an agriculture yeah

so we we get into this issue with the prologue

and up until the final panel this looks like

your standard drug buy Yeah, because you got

this yo yo yo got that shit right here got that

product and then it's eggs Hard -boiled eggs,

and then there's Colby Yeah, who? Curly is the

type of cop that Colby is essentially the Harvey

Bullock of the TV universe and Tony Choo is G

this is Gotham in another world I don't want

to think of Tony Choo as James Gordon because

I would think that James Gordon would never do

half the crap that Tony does Well, no, I'm just

saying, you know, it's the best allegory I could

come up with But yeah, so Colby busts roots these

drug dealers and then he picks up one of the

hard -boiled eggs off the ground You know five

-second rule And then we he gets a call from

I'm assuming some other FDA agent. And they found

the Russian assassin chick from the last storyline

who walked off into the frozen wastes. Yeah.

But that's not where Tony is. Tony is in Yamapalu.

Where do they come up with these names? Like,

seriously? Yeah. And apparently it's like this,

it's the island we saw from the beginning. It's

in the last issue and it's basically been remade

into like this tropical paradise. It used to

be like a naval communication center for the

allies in World War II. And I love this. It's

a premier vacation destination for surfers, scuba

divers, and because of enlightened laws concerning

the ownership, cultivation, and consumption of

chicken. culinary enthusiasts. So of course Tony's

going there with Chow. Yeah. And there's a reason

they're going there with Chow. It's because Chow

has decided to say, screw the U .S., I'm gonna

work here and work with chicken. Because Chow,

in the few instances he's been in the series

thus far, has proven to be the douche. He is

the entire bag of douche. Not in the level Applebee

is, but No, he should chow is He's a sympathetic

Unrelenting always failing in life kind of douche

Whereas Applebee is like, you know the entire

bag Well, he is but Applebee is more of like

I'm your boss. I'm the big man on campus. I can

do whatever the fuck I want. Kind of douche.

Sorry. And just when you say this, like I do

what I want. And the first thing that popped

in my head is from Nightmare on Elm Street. I'm

your boyfriend now, Nancy. Wow. Sorry. I couldn't

keep it to myself. Had to share. But anyway,

so yes. Like how they have like celebrities headlining

shows like Celine Dion in Vegas and all that

Chow has been hired here to be this celebrity

chef because Apparently the the law the the USDA

or the US Food and Drug Administration's poll

does not reach this far into the Pacific and

they're like fuck if we're gonna use chickens

And then we see a rat with a cyber monocle and

the lady from the front cover watching the feed

on her laptop, and we meet Lin Sai Wu of the

Department of Agriculture. She is essentially

an assassin secret agent and the employee of

the United States Department of Agriculture.

She's an accomplished martial artist, good with

swords, throwing knives, and sniper rifles, and

she has a trained cyber rat named Jelly Bean.

So we meet, you know, Lin Sai Wu here and then

we go on we see what's happening with Tony and

his brother and Chu is given the Royal treatment

and Tony at this point has had more than enough

of his brother's attitude and he's like There's

not enough room in there for me in that ego of

yours. So we go to see Chow goes to the kitchen

at the hotel and He's like, okay are all my ingredients

here? Well most of them anyway most what's that

supposed to mean where's the chicken he sees

the octo apple is what the hell is this it's

clearly i'm supposed to be working with chicken

here and you see tony's you know cabinet to the

hotel he's walking through you see the cowboy

hats uh henchmen's there you know for some reason

sees tony calls his boss just as tony gets onto

the elevator uh lindsay walks in in a dragon

lady dress With at least one of her two melons

threatening to pop out and decapitate somebody

This is okay outside of the cannibalism and outside

of the violence and the murder and the blood

guts and gore and the green puke all like That

boob doesn't not necessarily look like it's going

to fall out of the dress. It looks like it's

going to fall off her body Yeah, it's just you

know what me and my twin here have had enough.

We're just we're gonna go in a different direction

Thank you very much. Good luck in your future

endeavors But that I mean that's literally what

Guillory's always like clearly. She's a busty

woman We get it, but this thing looks like she

could like drop her chest on some unsuspecting

fool's head And he wouldn't be you know he'd

be singing with the choir invisible She pretty

much does that not on the next page, but the

page after that yeah So she gets in the elevator,

she takes out this old lady that was sitting

there and has Tony pinned to the wall in a move

that would do Cynthia Rothrock proud, like just

holding him with the high heel and the throat

like that. Absolutely. She's lost her, well she's

snapped her twig because... Sorry, that's my

cell phone. Uh, she's, she's worried that the

FDA is tracking her for some whatever reason

that you're going to take my collar, aren't you?

It's like, what? And Tony's like, no, no, we're

on the same side. And then apparently there's

bad blood between the USDA and the FDA. Cause

why would you pricks cooperate with anybody?

And, and then she's like, okay, I want to know

what's going on here. And I love that scene,

the next page where the bills are take the stairs

that everyone's just like. Yeah She's like where

were we evening the odds and while she was distracted

Tony got his piece loose and It's basically they

they agree to meet downstairs and there's like

a tentative truce and you know, I Think we can

work together, you know, no funny business And

I love And I love how he meets up with his brother

Just right there. Yeah, I don't want to talk

about it. I wasn't asking So Lin Sai Wu Comes

up to a unfortunate end yeah It's kind of sad

that we didn't get more of her character. I was

kind of looking forward to that and I mean, it's

she does go out in a Well, she she doesn't go

down without a fight No, but And then we get

our second defenestration of the series. And

except this time she doesn't survive and Tony's

sitting there waiting. The way she said goodbye

to Tony on the elevator, she's kind of flirting

with him. When you see Tony, he's kind of getting

a little mopey. He's like, aww. He was getting.

He was getting Freddie. Oh Daphne stood me up

again Daphne and Velma always going off together

Bad joke, I apologize So we go back to the hotel

and the assassin who's apparently a vampire has

taken Lin Sai Wu's laptop and then he devours

jelly bean And while Jilly Bean is not the cuddliest

-looking furry creature that I have ever seen

in comics, I still would not wish this fate upon

anything that works on four legs. You see the

look on Jilly Bean's face, he's like, I did not

sign up for this! So, I mean, that ends the second

chapter here, and I see as, like, when I look

through my single issue here, there's an ad for

Image United, which never finished, and I'm not

that surprised. Really? Never finished, huh?

Yeah, image comics not coming out on time. It's

not like they don't have a history of this Well,

you know, I mean Marvel and DC are probably more

apt to not I mean just look at forever evil Well,

I don't look at forever evil, but you know what

I mean. Yeah suffice to say So we go to the issue

8th in the third chapter here cover Basically

action moviesque Yeah, it's Tony with a wanted

poster of a rooster a Missing poster you know

it would have been cooler. I think if and Who

does the covers on this series is it John himself

or is it Rob that does them I believe? Guillory,

okay, it would have been cool if he had done

instead of the missing poster Carton of milk

Carton of eggs. No, no. Oh, that's so wrong.

That is like a thousand times so wrong. Carton

of eggs. No, no, no. Carton of milk, like in

the old days that has... Yeah. Have you seen

me? That kind of thing. It's always the most

depressing looking picture in those two. I know,

right? Yeah. So yeah, Tony's being... There's

these three... The tough -looking customers bearing

down on Tony's you know flashing this missing

picture to somebody flashing his badge You know

missing Pollo the king of cocks and Pollo is

a rooster There's absolutely no reason to think

otherwise get out of the gutter people Yeah So

so we get into the story and Tony's been arrested

by the police chief of the island because apparently

It's believed that there's been guys with fake

badges before so no one believes him that he's

a real FDA agent and He's also been arrested

on suspicion of killing agent Wu Right, right.

So he's like look. I'm just locking you up. We're

gonna confirm your ID and Don't get no trouble

and then there's this skinny little Asian dude

being Threatened by two seven foot tall looks

like they could be a member of the rocks family

Yeah, you know and we go and we find another

kind of sort of prologue that Miss mince is actually

on the island. Yes. She is she's taking a vacation

on this island for whatever reason and There's

the squirt squirrely little mayor or leader of

this island, you know, is permanently sweating,

always got a bad shirt on and looking shiftier

than Paul Heyman. I don't think that's possible.

I really, really don't think... If he's not shiftier

than Paul Heyman, he is right on that same bloody

level. I don't think anybody can be shiftier

than Paul Heyman. Mr.. But that's besides the

point then we go to a per log B where You see

Chow's trying to take off because you know he's

disappointed You know it's my contract called

for chicken instead. I got fruit and we find

that the octo apple is actually called a Galsa

berry, but I'm gonna stick with octo apple because

I like that better You like it better because

it's something you think that Doc Ock could have

whipped up Oh God the the octo Apple. What if

Doc Ock and poison ivy had a love child? This

silence you hear is JT's JT's brain just cracking

like an egg But anyway, so it's so Chow's trying

to leave and then he's held at gunpoint and Not

Paul Heyman here Did they actually name him?

I? Figured I think they've named him. I just

can't remember at this point, but Chow is basically

force -fed and octo -apple galsa berry whatever

you want to call it yeah, and Then we go to an

expedition dump page where we're given the lowdown

and what this thing is and Basically you find

out that there's this revolution brewing on the

island where they they've recently had outlawed

chickens because you know you farming the gulsa

berries is bringing them more money or bringing

them more renowned in the world and Then we find

Tony is flashing back to high school because

he's getting a swirly and dear god i hope they

flush first because he's still in the jail and

then the chief comes in and he straight up cattle

prods one guy and uh tony vents his frustrations

by savagely beating one guy and i would be i

would not say i'm not saying i'm against violence

that i'll just say it's like this little five

foot eight Asian guy is just taking out a pro

wrestler with like four or five shots. I was

like, well done, sir, you know Slow clap. Oh

god, Tony Chu is Rey Mysterio There you go. Hey,

I said like here the mayor of the island is Paul

Heyman Maybe so the the chief lets him out. He's

like, you know Letting him out. He hasn't confirmed

whether or not Tony's FDA yet and there he's

like saying yeah these guys are suspected of

killing this guy and he's like basically got

his blood in his hand so he like licks the blood

he's like yeah the body's buried here they were

why'd they kill him he's like over a rooster

and the chief is like son of a bitch and then

lieutenant or sergeant at the desk is just sitting

there reading like a romance novel or something

she's barely looks like she cares yeah about

what's going on and then they go and they find

the body and you see tony takes a bite and then

the chief gets in there and the chief seems like

a good guy but he's got this right kind of smile

looks like he's giving it up now exactly how

far to the north and how much security and tony's

like They busted and I just love this head over

the chicken. Nobody gets hurt and Apparently

poyo was kidnapped by these guys because he's

like a champion cockfighter Mm -hmm, and then

even more criminals bust in you know and It's

just crazy just craziness ensues No, well the

amount of bullshit that the chief spins on the

next page is akin to Rumpelstiltskin spinning

hay into gold Yeah, it kind of is You know, it

basically says that you know This guy is like

wired up like a cyborg and they're gonna drop

an FDA fighter Jets gonna drop like high explosives

and nuke this little house off the map and the

chief is like don't believe me kill us see what

happens and then they get away they go back to

uh excuse me they go back to the station the

morgue you know the chief leaves with poyo he's

there you know checking out i don't think he

actually takes a bite of uh because you see the

corpse of agent woo there And the chief has several

times made mention of that. It's a peaceful island.

There's no murders and there's like a dozen corpses

in there Yeah, Tony says something like peaceful

island my foot Yeah, and then you find out that

the chief played Tony that he's taken off with

Pollo Because apparently Pollo was like the toughest

rooster ever Yeah, and then again the sergeant

at the desk is like, oh, yeah, he's going to

Texas or Mexico. I don't care And you let him

go. He's still my boss. So Tony then finds that

the chief left him a surprise, which is the fruit

plant thingamajig. And Tony takes a bite of it.

And I don't even know what the hell we're supposed

to see. I guess it's the galaxy where that planet

was. Yeah, because I'm guessing at this point

this is an alien fruit. Again, not a homosexual

alien. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Exactly, live and let live. But yeah, this fruit's

clearly from another world and Tony basically

has an LSD trip of some type. And he's just like,

the color's far out, man. And just because I

said that I gotta say this, Dave's not here,

man. So we go to issue nine, if you're following

along with the single issues of the trade, part

four of International Taste Flavors. And we see

a cover where Tony has taken a bite out of presumably

a corpse's arm and is flashing on the vampire

gnawing on a Hawaiian female of some type. I

forget the proper term. And we see here's Tony

Chu in the introduction page. Pardon me. on the

introduction page we go in and uh we see i'm

just gonna what do you want to call the mayor

should just call them the mayor yeah because

there's no name that i can remember so you see

the mayor's come with some guys and you see uh

miss miss mince is working on a manuscript she's

working on a book and uh she's basically uh Wondering.

Okay, aren't these the are these creations that

shout you? Unfortunately, none of mr. Chu's signature

dishes are ready to be sampled. I'm told they

are forthcoming And she takes a bite and she

freaks out and she pulls a knife on him and runs

into the night Yep, and it's like which chef

prepared this meal the European guy the mute

and you didn't taste it she didn't get for our

governor okay whatever you want to move to the

compound after this and then he's just like this

is going to complicate matters and we go back

to the states and we see the all the I would

like to know uh how a dead body in a sewer and

a missing baby are the purview of the Food and

Drug Administration. Cause every corpse that

has shown up is Applebee is like, I've got the

perfect guy for the job. I'll send my best agent

over. Where the hell is Tony Chu? And you see

Colby is like been covering for him and Tony's

still... You know what that reminds me of? The

scene where Colby is covering for him while he's

on the phone with Tony. Yeah. Reminds me of Jeffrey

From the Beverly Hills cop movies when he goes

to call or when he's waiting on the call from

What the hell's a stupid idiot's name in Beverly

Hills cop two axes no no no Come on. Now. There's

no way in fucking hell. I'm gonna forget Axel

Foley that the dipshit the Judge Reinhold no

Lutz, Chief Lutz, that's what it is. When he

goes to call him, and he's like, yeah, yeah,

yeah, he's on this, and he's ducking down so

Todd won't see him. This entire scene reminds

me of. There we go. So Tony is, he's still on

the island, apparently he's missing a butt ton

of work. He's trying to figure out why the chief

went AWOL. He's led there's a morgue full of

bodies a stack of files on chefs including his

brother and a map of some sort of military compound

and that's then Colby's like he's got the backlog

of stuff and then they found Like they've got

the body back from like the Russian assassin

chick And he's like, yeah, it's uh, remember

that one said she was a servant of the vampire

is it turns out she's got marks her neck from

a vampire and Then Tony goes to inspect one of

the corpse and he finds out that the the vampire

has been here You know as he has a little snack

and I love the look on but but there's no such

thing as vampires And it's I love that that's

And then he takes like another two or three bites

and it's like the more he eats the more information

he gets and it's Tony's just like, you know,

he searches the the information he finds a picture

of mints and He basically decides to go investigate

this compound and he hijacks a truck and It's

like straight up. He's got like the bandoliers

and rifle bullets and a gun strapped and he's

got the all -black clothing and You see the governor

governor How pie Yeah, how pie something like

that yeah, and you find out that the the mute

French cook is a cyber cyber locuter Who basically

he can cook food? such a way that if he wants

to communicate a message if you eat it you will

understand what he's trying to say mm -hmm and

I gotta say that's pretty damn interesting that's

kind of a cool power yeah you know it's like

slipping a note out without slipping an actual

had the Had his food before and she freaked out

because he clearly put something in the food

that Illustrated that the governor is up to no

good as also illustrated in this expository pages

being that this guy Fentiros or Fentanyros Was

kidnapped and taken to this island. Yep And then

the the governor I mean how pie how high because

this guy is short. He basically gets the message

with the Fentiros saying, you know, his benefactors

from Europe are sending somebody to get me back

and the killing has just begun. And the governor

soils his brown shorts. Quite literally. Yeah,

he's like, you know, full alert. So the alarms

go off. Tony finds Chow and Chow I'm fairly certain

that the drug like this gulsa berry is like some

sort of drug or it Yeah, it's your mind cuz all

of a sudden chow is like this place is great.

This fruit is great It tastes like chicken, but

better You know and He's like governor as a visionary.

He's gathered the finest cooks on the planet

here giving us unlimited resources I'm staying

And Tony knocks him out. Yeah, that was an amazing...

Just, one punch! One punch, two! It's like Batman

and Guy Gardner, just, boom, down, let's go.

So then Tony finds Amelia and rescues her, they

escape from the compound. And then Tony, in like

one of the purest action movie moments in the

series thus far is like... It's like, uh, there's

one more prison bag. Fanteros Amelia says, yeah,

I'll take care of that. But a U S federal agent

is dead and I'm going to see her murder is brought

to justice. Click, click. And then he's going

back and it's like south towards the fire. Uh,

and then you see, uh, a sniper has it's like

a triple cliffhanger. You know, every page is

a cliff or every panel. Yeah, I was like, what

is going on? And then the biggest mind warp image

that the series produced thus far Yeah, I was

not yeah, that's I don't know what I was more

well we've got the you know the fire What the

fuck cliffhanger? I've got agent shoe in my sights

take the shot cliffhanger. I love how Gilory

did the the target on Tony and then we go to

a completely different scene to end this one

and Let's just say it plainly. Colby, in order

to cover for Tony, has seduced and slept with

Appleby. I'll say that again. Colby has shtupped

his boss. See, I thought they were just commenting

on the fact that he was gay. Now to find out

that it's Appleby, I'm even more mortified. And

for some reason, I'm thinking of this one scene

from Twins. Like, where Arnold... Oh, God, no,

don't you dare. I'll just say that's the first

thing that popped into my mind. And then we move

on to the fifth part of our tale today with...

Okay, as I said, that last image from the last

part four was mind -warping. This is straight

up just like, I want to get off the ride, Mommy,

kind of scary. where it's an image of, I believe

it's the vampire eating a bowl of borscht with

what - No, that's not borscht. Borscht or some

sort of soup or something with the - Oh no, that's

not soup. Stew? No, it's not stew either, it's

blood. Okay, I didn't actually think of that.

It's - Dude, you read the issue, right? Yeah,

I know. It's just - You see what happens in the

issue, right? It's the guy's blood with his eyeballs

in the soup. So - And, you know, this really

freaks me out because my kindergarten teacher,

uh, way back when in 1985, um, for Halloween

one year, she dressed up as a witch and she served

us eyeball soup. They weren't actual eyeballs,

but she made them to look like eyeballs. And

it freaked me the hell out. What can you do?

Yeah, what can you do? So, we get into this issue

which opens with a flashback to some months ago,

and we find that the man in the cowboy hat is

Ray Jack Montero, who is purportedly some sort

of rich Texan who's trying to sell people on

a chicken alternative, the frogs. Which would

explain Explain why? What's going on here is

basically has like this Jurassic Park like setup

because he's trying to shoot some sort of promo

in his office and then then Samuel Jackson until

we actually get the guy's name. That's just we're

gonna call the hand Sam Jaskin Bust in and says

that science team your science team has gotten

smaller again this chemist and geneticist have

been You know hooked have been swat swiped by

know me how pie the governor and Basically, who

is this guy is like, you know find him and we're

gonna make sure you regrets this day and we go

back to the night and you see there's the frogs

in their filth all over the office and You know

Sam Jackson and some mercenaries are on the island.

They've started the fire that we saw at the end

of the last issue and it's He's teamed up with

some of the revolutionaries is like they don't

want to fight they want a war for Pollo and Some

of these soldiers that have been... They started

a civil war over a rooster. The right to eat

chicken or the right to eat frogs, you know,

with whatever you want. Or the right to fight

with your cocks. He said it, I didn't. And then

you see the vampire... Why am I flashing to the

Beastie Boys? We have the right! One of the soldiers

fighting against the revolutionaries is left

for dead and the vampire comes and you know Has

a bit of a nosh and we see Sam Jackson's the

one that he'd drawn on Tony as Tony's like I

think Civil War just broke out and Yamapalu over

a rooster And then, you know, there... He's like,

yeah, hey, this is Chow Chu? Yeah, that's my

brother. How'd he get a broken jaw? Take cover!

Because Sam Jackson unloads on them. And then

he missed, he's taken off, so basically they

decide that Tony, she's gonna look after Chow

and Tony's gonna go get the evidence needed and

like get, you know, justice for Agent Wu. And

then you see that there is a little bit of a

romance there where Emilia's like trying to come

back in one piece and Tony's just like, yeah,

totally in. And they go and you see that it's

basically one bodyguard and the governor and

the bodyguards like, screw you, man, I ain't

getting paid enough for this. And the governor

goes into a room to get the Fenteros and you

see the vampires there. and the vampire's like

makes it very clear he's gonna kill the governor

and then Tony busts in with a gun in one hand

and a water pistol in the other presumably loaded

with some garlic scented holy water and they

have a brief flashback and the governor takes

out Tony he grabs his gun and then the the vampire

basis like you know what you're not even worth

my time and him and Fentira's leave And then

Tony is like, why did you do that? And clearly

the governor is completely given up and he pops

his own cap. And apparently the rampire is the

one that supplies the Russian assassin chicks

and bikinis. And I think Fanteros is either sprinkling

something into the man's soup or he's picking

some nose gold and adding it to the soup. Don't

know what do you think about that Mike is I don't

know man and Then we get a quick expository on

the vampire and how there's no such thing as

vampires and his setup and Apparently the vampire

is a cyber path Or some type of cyber path that

requires meat for his powers to work Tony's gone

back to work. He's Makes a date with Amelia and

we end with Seemingly that all the gulsa berries

have been destroyed on the island, but it's like

the end of Little Shop of Horrors She's got a

window box garden and there's one growing there

The end All in all I'm gonna say the second one,

you know international flavor Does just as much

work as the Taster's Choice did it builds the

world more it introduces more characters, but

we also have You know more mystery added to you

with this vampire. What's his deal? Is he connected

to the gulsa berry? Ultimately, what's gonna

happen with Tony and Amelia? So oh, yeah the

the the end of this is that That's Amelia, right,

at the end of it? Yeah, that's Amelia. And she's

growing the... Why is she growing this thing?

I'm sure I'll find out as I read further, but

it's like, okay, first we get the cliffhanger

between Colby and Appleby, and now we get this

thing? It's like, really, seriously, what the

hell is going on with this chick? Yeah. uh...

overall the chew volume two absolutely love it

love both volumes we are so doing more of these

episodes here in the poll bag uh... i do have

volume three i need to get volume four because

we are going to be doing these two volumes at

a time uh... i believe as of this recording they're

up to eight volumes completed i think volume

nine might be coming soon i don't know I'm not

looking at any information, ladies and gentlemen,

so. JT, where can the people find you online,

sir? Well, if you don't mind a little shameless

self -promotion, I also do another podcast with

a friend of ours, Ben, Comic Connoisseurs, once

a week. Check us out. And you can find me on

the Twitter, at JT from Saskatoon. All right.

You can find me, TF2 and Mike. You can also follow

Edgy, Cast Radio. That's going to do it for this

episode of the pull bag. Coming up next, I believe

it's going to be Ades, Baron, and I talking the

What Lies Within arc for Masters of the Universe

2013. That's issues 7 and 12, so that'll be coming

up then. Then after that, I don't know. So we'll

have to wait and see. Make your greatest game

into comics and we will catch you next time.

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