Tony’s on a secret mission with the U.S. Navy to capture am important member of the Church of the Immaculate Ova. Not surprisingly, he gets more than he bargained for. Meanwhile,  John Colby tries to comfort a distraught Applebee, all while wrestling with problems of his own. Here’s the official description of Chew #33 from Image:

Tony takes on a load of seamen.

This review contains SPOILERS>>>

While fighting the CotIO in the South Pacific, Tony encounters someone who can help him (whether they want to or not) in his quest to find the Vampire, who killed his sister.

While Tony’s had a great sense of purpose over the last few issues, he’s lacked direction, as he didn’t know where to go. Threatening as the Church of the Immaculate Ova is made out to be, it feels like it’s mostly a distraction from the more important goal of revenge. It’s incredibly refreshing to see Tony leap into action once he has a good lead on the Vampire.

John Layman’s writing is as mercurial as always. In the middle of Tony’s fight with a ciboinvalescor (the guy gets drastically stronger when he eats) there’s a two-page interlude with Agent Poyo fighting a giant penguin octopus (“Pengthulu”) at the South Pole. The scene feels very apropos of nothing, but there are a few hints about it earlier on, to put it in better context.

In addition to the humorous elements he regularly draws for Chew, Rob Guillory also handles a lot of action scenes. That said, even though this issue has its share of talking and jokes (The Navy gets a lot of grief.), it feels like one of the most action-packed installments we’ve had in quite some time. Similarly, Chew has always been a colorful book, but Guillory and Taylor Wells really seem to make them pop this month.

We’re halfway through the “Bad Apples” arc, and it’s fast becoming my favorite in the series so far. Tony’s been kicking ass for a few months now, but it looks like next issue will really bring the pain.

3.5/5

Zac is worried that there may be something alive in his car. Follow him on twitter.