John-Layman

When Dan introduced me to Chew it was the odd premise that convinced me to give it a shot. The entertaining introductions to the powers and the prologues that have the reader wondering how it’s going to tie into the issue’s content intrigued me. (As did Guillory’s unique art style) But the biggest point in Chew’s favor was the fact that it had a finite end. Writer John Layman knew it was a 60 issue story and, as he reveals in the third Smorgasbord collection, he knew the ending he wanted right at the beginning. The fact that it would end raised the stakes because it meant no one was safe, no one had to be saved for generations to come. And, as I would discover, the fixed ending allowed Layman to engage in the kind of tight plotting that often eludes the never-ending comics. I’d like to explore this a bit further before delving into Chew’s themes. ...

On the first day of Baltimore Comic-Con I was able to score two awesome interviews - John Layman and Rob Guillory of Chew. In order to allow them to man their table, I conducted two separate interviews. In this interview we discuss the significance of Tony Chu’s race, Applebee’s hate for Chu, and John Layman’s favorite way to eat chicken. https://youtu.be/yjO7J3MY4wk While I’ve been waiting for the end of Chew to give it the full Comic POW! treatment, Dan and I did cover it a couple times early in Comic POW! history when we used to do the Weekly POW!s: ...

http://youtu.be/PczIkmgDcZM Dan is back for a Comic POW! Battle! Join us as we decide which is the better issue - Chew #31 or Saga Chapter Nine! Below are all the images used in the video: Daredevil #22 Chew #31 Chew #31 - Funeral scene Chew - Space Cakes FF Vol 2 #3 Saga #9 - Confused Saga #9 - Lying Cat Saga #9 - Lying Cat eats Saga #9 - Mama Sun Saga #9 - Messing Up Lightning Spell Saga #9 - My Partner Just Got Back from Sick Leave Saga #9 - Not Confused Saga #9 - Stalk is back Saga #9 - The Will and Slave Girl Saga #9 - The Will and Gwendolyn Saga Giant Balls Monster Yancy Street Gang and Ms Thing Yancy Street Gang

[caption id=“attachment_634” align=“alignright” width=“195” caption=“Detective Comics Vol 2 #13”] [/caption] I did not like Detective Comics under Tony S Daniel’s short run. It just wasn’t a good time for him. He had to assume the mantle on Detective Comics after Scott Snyder’s phenomenal run. And Snyder has also been going gangbusters on Batman. This was not a time for anyone writing Batman that wasn’t in the top tier. So I stopped reading after the first story arc. Then, a few months ago I heard that John Layman of Chew was going to be taking over the writer’s chair on Detective Comics. This was something that for the next two months I had an impossible time wrapping my mind around. ...

[caption id=“attachment_451” align=“alignleft” width=“195” caption=“Batman #5”] [/caption] Eric’s Book Eric: I have to say that this week there was no shortage of great, great stories. I almost chose Daredevil #8 for my entry this week because I thought Waid did such a great job on the writing. There were neat twists, great dialogs, and an overall fun plot that ties into the story Dan selected in Week 5. Dan: Plus it would have been a neat twist to see a book that I read and champion being selected by you instead. ...