Flambé (Chew)

Flambé is a graphic novel, written by John Layman, drawn by Rob Guillory, and published by Image Comics as the fourth volume of the American comic book series Chew. Set in the Image Universe, it follows Tony Chu, a Cibopathic Food and Drug Administration (FDA) agent who solves crimes by receiving psychic impressions from whatever he eats, as he deals with the FDA's waning power in the aftermath of Just Desserts.^[3]

Flambé
Date	December 2010 – August 2011
No. of issues	5
Main characters	Tony Chu John Colby Mason Savoy Mike Applebee Amelia Mintz Toni Chu
Page count	120 pages
Publisher	Image Comics
Creative team
Writers	John Layman[1]
Artists	Rob Guillory[2]
Original publication
Published in	Chew
ISBN	978-1-6070-6159-5
Chronology
Preceded by	Just Desserts
Followed by	Major League Chew

Chapter One was released December 22, 2010; Chapter Two was released February 23, 2011; Chapter Three was released April 6, 2011; Chapter Four was released June 6, 2011; and Chapter Five was released August 24, 2011. Additionally, after Chapter Three (Chew #18), the story jumps ahead to Chew #27 (the second chapter of the future story arc Space Cakes), released May 11, 2011, in a flashforward taking place one year later, before returning to the narrative of Flambé, making it the first volume of the series with six chapters instead of five.^[4]

The series received a universally positive critical reception.^[5][6][7]

Premise

Chapter One

These are strange times for Tony Chu: eternal strange writing in extraterrestrial script has appeared in the skies of Planet Earth and stayed there, circling the atmosphere. With the populace of the world heralding the end times, they no longer seem concerned about the laws of the FDA, and what was once the most powerful law enforcement agency rapidly begins to descend into irrelevancy. So where will this leave their best agent, Tony Chu?^[8][9][10]

Chapter Two

Bullied nerd Peter Pilaf unleashes his brainwashing recipe on the students of Francis Bacon High, where Tony's daughter Olive goes to school, as the International Space Station is mysteriously destroyed.^[11][12]

Chapter Three

In a joint mission with the USDA, Tony and John go on a would-be suicide mission to take down an apocalypse death cult, as Tony is entrusted with the FDA's new secret weapon.^[13][14]

Chapter Two (Space Cakes)

Further information: Space Cakes (Chew)

Delivered from future! We jump ahead to Space Cakes to show you where Tony Chu will end up nine issues and two story arcs from now, in Chew's special version of "One Year Later", as the chogs return to menace Tony's sister Toni!^[15][16][17]

Chapter Four

As E.G.G. seeks to assassinate anyone and everyone in power until the truth about the Avian Flu and Aliens is released, unleashing their manifesto in the middle of Chow Chu's comeback, Director Applebee pawns Tony Chu off to NASA for a very special assignment with his sister Toni Chu.^[5]

Chapter Five

In an end of an era for Tony Chu, on Applebee's orders, Tony and John infiltrate the egg-worshipping cult of The Church of the Immaculate Ova, as things go wrong.^[6][7]

Collected editions

Title	Material collected	Published date	ISBN
Chew: Flambé	Chew (vol. 1) #16–20; #27	November 8, 2009[18]	ISBN 978-1607063988
Chew: The Omnivore Edition: Volume Two	Chew (vol. 1) #11–20 (Just Desserts and Flambé), and #27 (Space Cakes)	December 21, 2011	ISBN 978-1607064268
Chew: The Smorgasbord Edition: Volume One	Chew (vol. 1) #1–20 (Taster's Choice, International Flavor, Just Desserts, and Flambé)	November 14, 2013	ISBN 978-1607068051