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Most women in Chew look fairly average (e.g. Tony's sister Toni, Tony's girlfriend Amelia, Tony's daughter Olive, random passersby, etc.):

Chew 19 Cover

The women in the USDA, however, do not look average:

Chew 18 Cover

Has there been an explanation for why USDA agents are exclusively female (with the exception of John Colby, Tony's ex-partner who happens to be a cyborg), and all of the same "build1"?

[1]: They are also extremely tall.

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    tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Fanservice
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Commented Jan 21, 2012 at 0:10
  • I haven't read any, but I'd guess the author is trying to make a statement about government agencies.
    – Kevin
    Commented Jan 21, 2012 at 4:36
  • @Kevin it's just the USDA - Tony and Colby initially work for the FDA, Toni works for NASA, etc.
    – Ian Pugsley
    Commented Jan 21, 2012 at 16:12

1 Answer 1

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CHEW writer John Layman initially asked me to design the first USDA agent (Agent Woo from issue 7) as a busty character. At first, I designed her boobs to be bigger than average. Then, as the issue progressed, her boobs seemed to get bigger and bigger, almost as if they had a mind of their own.

Since then, the boobs have been a running gag, used every time we break out the USDA. They're the comicbook female stereotype. Coincidentally, the lifespan for said stereotype is pretty short, as USDA agents tend to be violently killed pretty often in CHEW.

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    Also, I pride myself on presenting the quirkiest, possibly true-to-life women in comics in CHEW. So the USDA presents the opposite view.
    – Rob Guillory
    Commented Mar 1, 2012 at 19:11
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    Holy crap, @RobGuillory! Huge fan! Fun to learn that this doesn't actually have an in-universe answer, lol.
    – Ian Pugsley
    Commented Mar 1, 2012 at 19:15
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    Awesome! Just think, if this was Wikipedia, this answer would be invalid due to a lack of citations, despite the fact you can't get more canonical than "from the horses mouth." ;)
    – Chad Levy
    Commented Mar 2, 2012 at 1:30
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    We just thought it would be hilarious if the USDA was made up of large-breasted females with cybernetic animal sidekicks. And part of the comedy is that we never explain why.
    – user5086
    Commented Mar 2, 2012 at 15:21
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    @ChadLevy On the other hand, now Wiki can cite SFF.SE. :)
    – reirab
    Commented Nov 8, 2017 at 5:17

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