Chic

What’s to Love: We’ve all been Clarence at one point. He’s an optimistic, nine-year-old kid who sees the best in everyone and is happy to play the day away with his best friends, Jeff and Sumo. Writer Derek Fridolfs and illustrator JJ Harrison bring all the heart from the hit Cartoon Network animated series to our first-ever Clarence original graphic novel, and it reads like an extended episode of the show. Take a moment to relive childhood! What It Is: Clarence and his friends join the Rough Riders Scouts for a summer out in the woods. While looking through a cave, they discover a lost journal written by the notorious Black Buck The Pirate (an ancestor of Rough Rider Chicken founder Buckey O’Neill). It details his adventures on the ocean and where he buried his treasure. But he also warns of a phantom chicken that haunts the forest, and drove many of his crew mad. Now, Clarence and his friends are in a race against their rival, Joshua Maverick, to find the buried treasure, while avo

The final episode of the groundbreaking and historic Poyo trilogy: DEMON CHICKEN POYO. Hell wants him. Heaven won’t take him. Earth needs him. That was also the tagline for that godawful Constantine movie. But Poyo is so badass, he stole it from Keanu Reeves!

John Layman and Rob Guillory’s “Chew: Demon Chicken Poyo” #1 reveals what Poyo has been up to since his death in the “Chicken Tenders” arc. I didn’t think it was possible for Poyo to be become even more outlandish and over-the-top as a heroic figure, but the addition of a Ghost Rider-like flaming head and a new occupation suit the rooster well. The story opens with Guillory’s on-the-nose parody of cutesy kids’ cartoon imagery and colors, all toothachingly sweet. Layman then zooms out into a parody of “The Exorcist” film, which in turn frames a parody of Dr. Seuss’ “How The Grinch Stole Christmas!” The send-up of “The Exorcist” is spot-on, and Guillory’s drawing of little Lily-Marie Taters looks just like Regan MacNeil from the film, only less scary. Layman gives the possessed little girl food powers, Chewverse-style, and — in a self-referential twist — the book that can exorcise the demon turns out to be “Chew: Demon Chicken Poyo” #1. Layman and Guillory outdo themselves with the G

Bold, ridiculous and refreshing from the Frazetta-homage on the cover to the collection of Poyo pin-ups at the back, “Chew: Warrior Chicken Poyo” #1 is exactly what readers would expect from John Layman and Rob Guillory in a comic book headlined by their poultry powerhouse. Filled with sight gags and standard-issue Layman-Guillory humor, this story is a continuity-light romp through wild colored settings and even more eccentric characters walking the pages. In the fanciful land of Yöek, Poyo is faced with numerous vegetable threats that appear to be the work of a Groceryomancer. He is assigned a legion of warriors to fight alongside and — in typical “Chew” fashion — things go awry, leaving Poyo to fly solo. Some of his co-combatants manage their way through, but Layman and Guillory make no small work of having fun with the cannon-fodder characters, their situations and the outcomes. Comic books are an unlimited budget special effects-free playground, and Guillory celebrates that, w

Tom Beland’s “Chicacabra” is a charming, sometimes beautiful book that rather ingeniously uses its magical body-sharing premise to tell a tale about empathy. The protagonist Izzy is still reeling from the loss of her parents — her father dead, her mother dead inside — when she discovers a chupacabra in a boarded-up government test facility. Sensing a kindred spirit, the beast bonds with her and takes up part-time residence in her body. Now she has to navigate not only the struggles of high school and the weight of grief, but sharing her body with a mythical creature she can’t always control. Izzy and her family are the center of “Chicacabra,” and she anchors the story well with a strong sense of self and even stronger opinions. Beland creates a believable teenager who thinks she knows everything but can’t answer any of the questions that most bother her. Izzy flies into rages and tosses off judgments, a seeming stereotype of a hormonal young girl, but she always finds her way back t