4. Chew #38 by John Layman and Rob Guillory (Image)
The third part in the Family Recipes story arc sees Tony and his daughter Olive dealing with family revelations - for Olive, she sees her dead mother and Tony's early days, and for Tony... well, the poor guy continues to be put through the emotional wringer. It's not all doom and gloom though as this issue follows up with one of the series' best characters who's barely featured for a while now - Mason Savoy! Mason's in Food and Drug Administration (FDA) prison and is looking to escape, Shawshank-style. That is, after he finds out more about the Bird Flu pandemic from a secret prisoner... John Layman manages to write an issue that's wired in to the overall series' main storyline without giving away any major details - a pretty impressive feat! He also brings Mason back into play, a great character who's been missed for what seems like a year at this point! The usual Chew shenanigans are fully present and correct with foodie-nutters galore like the Serial-Killer Chicken Colonels and the Licorice-Rope Fetish Club, with a great new food-powered character who acquires the powers of the candy he eats. Rock candy = rock form, taffy = stretch punch (Dhalsim-style!). Rob Guillory's art is at it's usual unique genius level with his design for the PasTransformer being a highlight and the fight scenes with Mason showing how a husky gentleman can fight as gracefully as any lean, muscled superhero. I also continue to love the little throwaway scribblings included inside the panels that add that little extra comedy to the issues. Chew #38 is another fun issue in a consistently good, original series that everyone who loves great comics should be reading!