The Beef #5

When I finished issue #4, I had commented that the chapter was a vast departure from the formula of the previous 3 issues. I also had hoped that this final issue would put things back on track. Unfortunately, that train derailed.

The issue starts with Ghandi, of all people, explaining the insemination and birthing process of cattle. It's basically bovine torture porn for about 9 pages. While it didn't put me off eating meat, it did make me more sympathetic to those 4-stomached grass feeders.

The last 15 pages of this issue returns to the story of protagonist Chuck. Turned literally inside-out once more, the production manager faces off against the Vodino family for the ultimate time. It's perhaps the most gratuitous fight to ever grace a comic book since the reign of Robert Kirkman's Invincible. Did they have Ryan Otterly doing the inks for this?

I was mixed at the ending. The Beef is a mini-series in which nothing is sacred. Okay, maybe the cows are... It's completely unpredictable and completely insane! But I really enjoyed it. 

Once again, do not skip out on the behinds the scenes pages on how this issue cover was crafted. It was very interesting. I would kill for a book on how to make creative covers if it was written and crafted by Shaky Kane and John Roshell. Their amazing techniques are that crazy good!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

The Beef #4

When it comes to miniseries, the next to last issue tends to be the weakest of the lot. That's one reason why I think this, the penultimate issue of The Beef by Richard Starkings and Tyler Shainline is so vastily different and unique from the first three issues.

Issue #4 of The Beef begins with a talking (and flatulent) cow. Not only does the bovine give the reader a recap of the the story so far, it also leads into a lengthy segment of the truths (and horrors) of the dairy industry. 

Being both a chef as well as product of a dairy farming family, and later working on a farm or two, I'm not shocked by the information. But I was quite surprised to see it here in such raw 4-colored glory. Or should I say 'gory?'

While I would like to say that farms are returning to more ethical practices, it's a slow road getting there. Giant corporate farms are just too in deep financially to ever change their ways. Plus, the average consumer is just too cash strapped to pay $5-7 dollars for local, humanely harvested products- especially on a regular basis. Then again, there are some pretty sneaky tricks that some farms will do in order to slide under the reigns of certain terms like 'free range' and 'organic.' 

For example, and this is one of my favorites- under USDA rules, a chicken only has to released from it's pens or cages for 1 hour a day in order to be declared a free range chicken. Don't blame our current administration on this loop hole. This is just one of many such bent rules that have been on the books for at least a decade.

The Beef #4 is most definitely a different change of pace from the series. But it was actually needed as I think this story really would be over in probably only 4 and a third issues without this giant interlude. Has the events and facts of the farting cow changed my ways of eating meat? Not in the least. But I greatly appreciate the efforts made to bring a serious subject such as food production ethics to the realm of comic books. 

Lastly, in terms of the cover, I really felt at first that the comic book cover of a comic book cover wasn't such a big deal. However, a great amount of effort went into it's development. Don't skip on the 'making of the cover' section in the back of this issue! It's very informative, especially for aspiring artists.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

The Beef #3

Our hero Chuck learns more about the new powers he has developed. And they involve being able to talk and control cattle. 

Oh, My God- Chuck. I just got the joke behind the name!

The third of five issues in this miniseries, the art was still amazing and the story was quite good. Only, there's a new narrator and his mental state is sorta out of whack and it made for some very uneven internal dialogue. Still, I'm really hooked on this series by Richard Starkings and Tyler Shaneline. And if half of the new food facts they presented about milk is true, I may be swearing myself off the stuff. 

I loved the cover and the extensive segment on how the carton for the cover was made by Shaky Kane was really interesting. The artist should publish a book with Image on these type of techniques as his art process is really interesting.

Lots of fun and still a little gross. I cannot wait for the next issue.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

The Beef #2

Years of eating cheeseburgers pumped full of questionable chemicals has finally come back to haunt Chuck Williams. Seeing his beloved Mary-Lynn about to become road pizza, Chuck's adrenaline and rage literally turns him inside out. He becomes like the Hulk only a whole lot uglier. 

Though the change wasn't permanent, it's attracted the attention of The Beef's owner Vodino. This sort of mutation is the type of thing that could cause trouble for the unethical meat processing plant. But it's also the kind of thing that shouldn't go unexploited. (Hey, The Beef could create super steroids out of Chuck's DNA for all we know.) Regardless of the outcome's positive and negative effects, Vodino has to get Chuck Williams out of the public eye.

The story continues to be very good. However, I had trouble understanding about 5-6 pages of the story. It was in Spanish and mine is not good. Too bad it wasn't in French- I know that language. 

I also like the art. I won't say that it's superior or anything like that. But I love how it looks like a cross between Beavis and Butthead and King of the Hill. Yes, I know that the same guy did both projects. But King of the King was a lot more polished that B&B. Tyler Shainline's artwork is both rough and polished. It's an interesting amalgam.  

Cool cover by Shaky Kane.

Can't wait for issue #3.

The Beef #2 debuted in print and digital mediums on March 28, 2018.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

The Beef #1

I am a professional sous chef and chef instructor (and life-long comic book collector), examine ways comic books, geek culture and food crossover. Today we’ll be looking at the first issue of Richard Starkings and Tyler Shaneline’s The Beef.

What’s Your Beef?

Published by Image Comics, The Beef examines the way food can affect a small town. The Beef is not only a local chain restaurant. It’s also the name of the restaurant’s slaughter house. It is the town of Mudsville’s main source of income and employment. For decades, the owner of The Beef has been a ruthless tyrant, by the name of Vodino, upon his employees and his neighbors. He’s also not afraid to run afoul of the Health Department or the FDA using chemicals to make his beef more addicting. His grandson, G-Row is the town bully, having grown up very little since his school days.

The focus of most of G-Row’s abuse is a young man named Chuck Carter. His father was maimed and later died working at the processing plant. Now Carter is following in his old man’s food steps, being his family’s soul breadwinner after his pop’s untimely death. Chuck’s daily diet has been the burger and fries at The Beef. Decades of chemicals and questionable sanitation appear to be causing havoc within his body. But how much havoc has been caused thanks to The Beef is anybody’s guess.

You are what you eat. And whatever Chuck has become from eating The Beef regularly will be explored further in the remaining four issues of this miniseries.

Welcome to the Jungle

This new series by Richard Starking (Elephantmen) and Tyler Shaneline (Liberty Justice) reminds me of the 1906 novel written by Upton Sinclair: The Jungle. The classic novel was written by Sinclair, a socialist progressive who wanted to expose the cruel labor practices of the meat-packing industry, especially towards immigrants. Instead, his depictions of employees falling into meat grinders and being made into sausages lead the public to demand change. Within a few months, Congress passed a series of acts that created the FDA and the departments that now oversee the inspection of meats and poultry.

Sinclair famously has lamented his unintended influence on government by saying, ‘I aimed at the public’s heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach.’

Throughout this first issue, Starkings incorporates factoids about the questionable chemicals in our food. I didn’t know until reading this issue and later fact checking that genes from certain fish have been spliced into strawberries in order to protect the plants from frost. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to eat tuna-fied fruit. But when it comes to The Beef, I think the opposite effect is going to take place.

The Heart of the Matter

Featuring art by A-Men‘s Shaky Kane, this book has an every-man feel to it. Readers could easily put themselves in the shoes of both the victims and tormentors to clearly see all sides of the story. Plus, the realistic packed meat tin on the cover, by Comicraft’s John Roshell, makes this story seem that much more real and ominous.

However, it’s the workers that are picking the berries that I think are going to resonate more with readers. There’s a young Dreamer named Mary-Lynn whom Chuck is in love with. She’s accosted by G-Row and nearly killed when a prank orchestrated by him goes awry. I really think in this current political landscape, it’s the treatment of the workers, especially immigrants both legal and undocumented, that might inspire readers of The Beef to step up for change.

I think through The Beef, Starkings and Shaneline are trying to hit comic readers in their stomachs. But considering how brutal he makes the Vodino family appear and how ultra-sympathetic I was towards both Chuck and Mary-Lynn, I feel that by the end of issue #5, the authors are going to strike at our hearts instead.

The Beef #1 debuted in stores and digital plat forms on February 28th, 2018.

The Beef #1
Writer: Richard Starkings, Tyler Shaneline
Art by Shaky Kane
Cover by John Roshell
Published by Image Comics.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Review was originally published March 1st, 2018 on outrightgeekery.com.