Comic book writer John Layman, known for his very weird, quirky stories, recently discussed his upcoming new series... and the main character happens to be an Asian guy. Chew is a police procedural starring Tony Chu, a federal agent who gets psychic impressions from the things he eats. Uh... what?

(I'm assuming Tony Chu is Asian. I don't have anything else to go on, except for the character's name.)

Chu is "cibopathic," which apparently means he can eat an apple and tell you what tree it was harvested from and what pesticides were used on it. Or eat a burger, and feel what the cow felt when it was slaughtered. Or he can on a murder victim, and see the victim's last moment, and the murder... and so on.

Weird. Really odd. But I'm intrigued. I suppose I could really go there and complain about stereotypes of Chinese people willing to eat anything. But I have the sneaking feeling that the only reason this guy's name is Tony Chu because it goes so well with the meaning of the title. Just a guess.

Here's a recent Newsarama interview with writer John Layman: John Layman on Debuting 'Chew'. People are already starting to compare it, in some ways, to Brian K. Vaughn's Y: The Last Man. Really? More here: New Y The Last Man Makes Cannibalism Sexy. The book, with art by Rob Guillory, debuts in June.