Flavor #1 Review

by Doug Warren on May 16, 2018

Writer Joseph Keatinge
Artist Wook Jin Clark
Letterer Ariana Maher
Colors Tamra Bonvillain
Culinary Consultant  Ali Bouzari
Publisher Image Comics

Years ago, I used to stay up late at night playing Fable II while my wife watched episodes of Chopped or some similarly veined cooking show, and in my sleep-deprived state, my brain must’ve merged the two, because reading Flavor gave me serious flashbacks to those nights.

Flavor is set in an odd world, where hundreds of chefs run to get the rarest of truffles, only found once every hundred years, and use weaponized pepper to sabotage the rivals.
Plus, being a chef seems to be a highly coveted and respected position in society that the government has way too big of a hand in. Case in point, our protagonist Xoo is an unregistered chef, which is a big deal. And though her parents live at home, she has to have an adult guardian come live with her to keep the kitchen open.

Also, in this government-controlled world of cutthroat cooking, one misstep to get to the top can be deadly. Yes, not only are the laws controlling cooking over the top compared to the world we live in, it seems capital punishment can also be carried out for culinary offenses.

The artwork is nice. Maybe a little simple, but stylistically it works with story and the feel of the comic. The muted and earthy colors add to it as well.

And I almost forgot. Xoo’s sidekick is her dog Buster. Buster is a good character. Tries to get her out of some jams. He’s worth a mention.

Flavor #1 did a good job of introducing this new world to the readers, but it leaves so much to be explained. It may be a few issues until we get this all fleshed out, but, it’s looking to be an enjoyable ride getting there.
 

Our Score:

7/10

A Look Inside