Bigger Than Capes

Written & Lettered by: John Layman
Drawn & Coloured by: Dan Boultwood
Publisher: Image

This issue does a lot to build on the setup introduced at the start of last issue, y’know time travelling wine? Yeah that’s what this arc of Chu is shaping up to be about. It’s definitely a new direction for the world as the series continues to introduce even more food based superpowers. This issue sees Saffron, Eddie and Grandpa Ong in Paris preparing their next scheme.

There’s a few call backs to the first issue of Chu as we see Saffron and Eddie preparing for their heist. It’s the kind of repetition we often saw throughout Chew, and while I enjoy seeing the stylistic similarities between the two series I do feel like the anchoring of Chu to its predecessor isn’t always to the series’ benefit. Chu is comfortably a standalone story, and while I appreciate John Layman’s writing style, I hope he’s willing to change it up enough to set Chu apart from what’s come beforehand. Other than that complaint, I would say that this is a really good issue, there’s a classic heist feeling to the proceedings with a few twists thrown in for good measure.

There’s a few aspects I’m really enjoying more as Chu develops, in particular Saffron’s endless array of criminal abilities and the constant teases at Ong’s past. The latter of which we still don’t know much about, but every little detail is surreal and intriguing.

Dan Boultwood’s art is on point throughout this issue, with a great range of character designs seen in the crew that Saffron and Eddie have assembled. Sure there’s some cliches throughout the members of the team, but I feel like that’s an inevitability in any heist crew line-up, and there’s a uniqueness provided by Boultwood’s style.

One aspect of Chu that is annoying me is that the new powers introduced aren’t really given much of a definition, which was always a feature of Chew. As the powers never fail to go in a weird and wonderful direction it would be nice to be given a little bit more information rather than simply seeing the effect.

I know I’ve made some complaints, but this issue is another fun instalment in Saffron’s story. I’m always open to a bit of time travel and I like that even now there’s new ideas being introduced when it comes to food and drink based superpowers. I’m looking forward to seeing where the arc will go from here.