Chew vol. 10: Blood Puddin’

As the first epilogue to this volume makes abundantly clear, this is Tony Chu’s FINAL showdown with The Collector.  Easily identifiable as the series’ “big bad” from his first appearance way back in vol. 2, this vampiric cibopath is responsible for the single most shocking act in this series — the death of Tony’s sister Toni — as well as a lot of gruesome murders, dismemberments, and even one scarring.  With that kind of rap sheet, you’d expect his last clash with Tony to be the stuff of legend, right?  I’ll admit that what what creators John Layman and Rob Guillory give us is pretty good, it still felt like there was something missing.  That’s mainly because in order to defeat The Collector, Tony only has to do ONE THING.

Granted, once this one thing has been revealed you’ll be able to appreciate how well it was set up over the past few volumes.  Particularly in the way that it springs from the shocking cliffhanger from vol. 9 and eventually leads to a reconciliation of sorts between Tony and his former partner John Colby.  Still, it’s not really presented as that much of a challenge for our protagonist to overcome and basically allows him to steamroller over The Collector and his henchmen in the space of an issue.  Layman and Guillory make up for this, however, in the final exchange between Tony and The Collector when the latter tries to leverage his Knowledge of Things to Come over the former.  Tony then proceeds to let his nemesis know exactly what he thinks of that.  Then the eternal owwies begin.

This may be the most significant part of “Blood Puddin’,” but it’s not all the volume has to offer.  There’s the usual brand of craziness the series is known for — witness the wrath of the Jellassassins as well as Applebee and Cesar’s new cyborg enhancements — along with a surprising amount of human drama.  All of that is centered around Tony not only reconciling with John, but with Olive as well after he finds out what his daughter really thinks about the way he’s been acting through his powers.  It also leads him to do something you wouldn’t expect he’d be capable of when Tony comes face-to-face with Savoy again in this volume.  Though this may not be a perfect transition to “Chew’s” final act, it shows that the creators have things well in hand to deliver a satisfying wrap-up.

(And did you catch the latest nod to the final issue?  Forget the final page of this volume, the fact that Applebee is hating on what looks like a cardboard cut-out of Tony does not bode well for our protagonist.)