''Major League Chew'', also known as ''Baseball, Hot Dogs and Apple Pie'', is a

graphic novel A graphic novel is a self-contained, book-length form of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and Anthology, anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comics sc ...

written by

John Layman John Steele Layman (born August 2, 1969) is an American comic book writer and letterer. Layman is most known for his writing published by Image Comics: ''Chew'', its spin-off/midquel series ''Chu'' ('' Saffron Chu''), the stand-alone ''Outer D ...

, drawn by

Rob Guillory Robert Guillory (born June 2, 1982) is an American comic book artist known for his art on ''Chew (comic), Chew'', published by Image Comics. He currently writes and draws ''Farmhand (comics), Farmhand'' published by Image Comics and writes ''Mosel ...

, and published by

Image Comics Image Comics is an independent American American comic book, comic book publisher and is the third largest direct market comic book and graphic novel publisher in the industry by market share. Its best-known publications include ''Spawn (comics) ...

as the fifth volume of the

American comic book An American comic book is a thin periodical literature originating in the United States, commonly between 24 and 64 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publ ...

series ''

Chew Chewing or mastication is the process by which food is crushed and ground by the teeth. It is the first step in the process of digestion, allowing a greater surface area for digestive enzymes to break down the foods. During the mastication proc ...

'', set in the

Image Universe The Image Universe (IU) is a fictional universe in which some of the stories published by Image Comics take place. It was introduced in the early years of the publisher, shared by the various creators who formed the Image partnership. The indepen ...

. After Tony Chu, a Cibopathic

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respo ...

(FDA) agent who solves crimes by receiving psychic impressions from whatever he eats, is kidnapped, his team sets out to rescue him, while Tony's daughter Olive is trained by Mason Savoy in honing her own abilities. Chapter One was released October 5, 2011, Chapter Two was released December 7, 2011, Chapter Three was released January 18, 2012, Chapter Four was released February 22, 2012, and Chapter Five was released March 18, 2012. Preceded by ''

Flambé Flambé (, , ; also spelled flambe) is a cooking procedure in which Ethanol, alcohol is added to a hot pan to create a burst of flames. The word means "flamed" in French language, French. Flambéing is often associated with the tableside presen ...

'', it is followed by the story arc '' Space Cakes''. The series received a universally positive critical reception.

Premise

Chapter One

On Mike Applebee's one good day, Tony Chu's first day and John Colby's last day, an issue of beginnings and endings emerges, involving cops, crooks, cooks, cannibals, clairvoyants and—meter maids!?

Chapter Two

Tony Chu has been kidnapped: ambushed, knocked out, brought to a remote location, and bound securely, by his girlfriend Amelia's ex-boyfriend Dan Franks, with his captor intending to feed Tony a menu of his choosing to find out what he can see, and therefore learn, as elsewhere, Tony's daughter Olive is kidnapped by Mason Savoy for the same exact reason but a different ultimate purpose.

Chapter Three

Force-fed the remains of the dead

baseball player Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

from '' Just Desserts'' as a part of Dan's tests, Tony involuntarily learns his life story. ''Chew'' #23 contains a brief

flashforward A flashforward (also spelled flash-forward, and more formally known as prolepsis) is a scene that temporarily takes the narrative forward in time from the current point of the story in literature, film, television and other media. Flashforwards a ...

to the events of ''Chew'' #60 (''

Sour Grapes The Fox and the Grapes is one of Aesop's Fables, numbered 15 in the Perry Index. The narration is concise and subsequent retellings have often been equally so. The story concerns a fox that tries to eat grapes from a vine but cannot reach them. ...

''), serving as an announcement of the intended end of the series.

Chapter Four

As Tony's and Olive's stories continue elsewhere, new meaning is brought to the term " Death by Chocolate".

Chapter Five

Tony Chu finds himself put up to auction, as his friends and family work around the clock to save them.

Statler and Waldorf Statler and Waldorf are a pair of The Muppets, Muppet characters from the sketch comedy television series ''The Muppet Show'', best known for their overly negative opinions and their tendency to Heckler, heckle people. The two elderly men fi ...

from ''

The Muppets The Muppets are an American ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an surreal humor, absurdist, slapstick, burlesque, and self-referential humor, self-referential style of Musical theatre, musical Variety show, variety-sketch comedy. Cre ...

'', Randolph and Mortimer Duke from ''

Trading Places ''Trading Places'' is a 1983 American comedy film directed by John Landis and written by Timothy Harris and Herschel Weingrod. Starring Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy, Ralph Bellamy, Don Ameche, Denholm Elliott, and Jamie Lee Curtis, the film te ...

'', and

Jay and Silent Bob Jay and Silent Bob are fictional characters portrayed by American actors Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith, respectively. They appear in the View Askewniverse, a fictional universe used in most of the films, comics, and television programs written and ...

from the

View Askewniverse The View Askewniverse is a fictional universe created by writer/director Kevin Smith, featured in several films, comics and a television series; it is named for Smith's production company, View Askew Productions. The characters Jay and Silent ...

make

cameo appearance A cameo appearance, also called a cameo role and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief guest appearance of a well-known person or character in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking on ...

Collected editions

References

External links

''Major League Chew''
at

{{Image Comics 2011 graphic novels 2012 graphic novels Image Comics graphic novels Fiction about cannibalism Food and Drug Administration