"Chew: International Flavor" is another marvel for our taste-buds of wonder

The second TP of Chew - International Flavor - picks up more or less where the previous first issue, Taster's Choice, left of: with FDA Agent Tony Chu involved in another complex case of poultry involved forbidden cuisine.  Now our hero has traveled to a Western Pacific Island called Yamapalu, a place where his brother, Chow Chu, has gotten a contract by the governor of the island to prepare a new kind of cuisine for the locals: Galsaberry, a fruit that (more or less) tastes exactly like Chicken.  This endeavor will come with its own difficulties and dangers, as Tony will soon discover.

Following the standard storyline trend that sequels and consequent parts of any serial have to be "bigger and better", in International Flavor we meet many new characters.  First there is the return of John Colby, Tony Chu's original partner from "Taster's Choice", whose face was half-chopped by a cleaver, leaving him as a poor man's version of Robo Cop, his head half human, and half-robot.  There is also (a short lived) appearance by Lin Saw Woo, an ass-kicking employee of the Department of Agriculture, who meets her maker way too son when she is savagely killed by The Vampire, a villain that - I suspect - will turn out to be a major character until the end of this serial.  In addition to the aforementioned folks, at Yamapalu we also encounter the cockfighting rooster champion known as Poyo, and it turns out that he's wanted by more than just a few opaque people.  These, and many more, are additional characters that author John Layman and illustrator Rob Guillory fill the pages of International Flavor.

Unlike the first issue, which was introductory in its style of Chew's overall setting and mood, this follow up is much more grand in the bizarre, as we will learn that the Galsaberry will turn out to be anything but a simple poultry substitute.  Its origin may indeed be of alien nature, or so Tony Chu will suspect.  Also, the return of Tony's love from Taster's Choice, the blonde woman critic by the name of Amelia Mintz, is a refreshing twist, both for the readers and Tony Chu himself, who is still deeply in love with the enigmatic food critic.

There is no doubt that Chew is one of the most original comics out there right now.  Along with Sex Criminals, I'd put it on top of the list for anyone looking to escape from the all the common Superhero and Science Fiction fare.  It will surely place any fan who reads it on the edge of their seat, leaving them wanting more, just like a perfect desert after an even more perfect meal.
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