Almost forgot to mention this cool news out of Comic-Con... Circle of Confusion, the production company responsible for the upcoming AMC adaptation of The Walking Dead, is also working on a series based on John Layman and Rob Guillory's Chew: Circle Of Confusion & Stephen Hopkins To Develop TV Series Based On Comic 'Chew.'
This is significant because the comic book's almost-titular hero, Tony Chu, is unmistakably an Asian American character. Writer John Layman has even said that the character's look is based on actor Ken Leung. It's also a fantastically original story, with a crazy-ass premise that just might work:
Chew tells the darkly comic story of federal agent Tony Chu, a "cibopath" able to get psychic impression from the things he eats who is assigned to the most usual and bizarre crimes. "There are a lot of superhero comic books but there are not many food comic books," Layman said. "Food turned out to be a very universal theme embraced by readers."
Crazy, right? Like, the guy solves murders by taking a bite out of the dead body to get a psychic impression of how he/she got killed. Grossssss! It's dark, but it's a pretty fun book. Chew recently won the Eisner Award for Best New Series, and is up for a couple of Harvey Awards.
Okay. What it comes down to for me: this is another movie/television project where the source material features an Asian character, front and center. There is no getting around the fact that Tony Chu is Asian American. The damn title is a play on his name! When Chew goes into production, the character better not magically and conveniently turn into a white guy.
John Layman has said that if there's ever a TV or movie version of Chew, Ken Leung would be the perfect actor for the role. Well, here we are. He's a damn fine actor -- who wouldn't want to see Ken Leung starring in his own series? Let's make this happen, Circle of Confusion.
