With the first arc finally ending I am gald to say that I have enjoyed this series. It’s fresh, original, unqiue, and downright a fun time to read. John Layman has introduced a whole new universe like it was nothing and the wealth of stories he could do here is vast. Add in some amazing artwork by Rob Guillory and you have one of the best indie books to come out. After reading this issue, I’m gald to report that this was fun times all around…..for the most part.

Let’s get the negative out of the way first: I could clearly tell where this issue was gonna go. For the sake of spoilers I won’t say what exactly happens, but the cover is a good indication where this issue goes. Mason is a great character and he was a good partner to Chu, but for some reason I saw this big reveal ever since he was introduced. Not why he would do what he did; but it just seemed kinda obvious there was more to Mason then what meets the eye. It kinda ruined the end a little for me because it felt ‘by the numbers’, but it didn’t hurt the issue that much for me.

The rest of the issue is still just a fun time to read. Layman’s sense of humor is down right dark and there are points in this where he makes Chu do very low things. What he does to the dog is sick but it comes back for a good punchline later in the issue. Then we add more to this mystery of the murder of Evan Pepper and the chicken storyline and Layman is definitely adding peices to what this comic is going to be about. There’s also a wealth of dark elements in here; like what Mason does to Chu in this.

In fact that goes more with Guillory’s artwork in this. He really sucker punched me with that two page splash towards the end of the issue. It’s violent and bloody which for some reason works wonderfully in his cartoony style. I think this issue is going to show that just because it looks like a cartoon, it certainly isn’t going to be a pleasant looking comic at times. Seriously, it looked like an issue of Invincible here then a regular issue of Chew. Guillory also adds a great amount of detail in the backgrounds and his fights look great here. It’s just too hard for me to explain why his cartoony style is perfect the way it is for this series. The best I could say in this instance is that: If Guillory did not do this title then I would think this series would fail. It would look like another bland comic series if it wasn’t for his artwork.

So even with the obvious left turn in the story, I enjoyed this for the most part. Layman is adding more to this universe and the mystery is starting to heat up. Guillory’s artwork continues to impress and this issue shows just how violent this series can be. The next big test for this series is where it’s going to go after the first. Considering how amazing these past four issues have been (still can’t get the first one mind you) I don’t think we need to worry about that.