Are you sure Viking 1 sold for that much? I've always seen them at $2.99. I never noticed a spike at all.
The difference between this book and Viking is that this book is well-written where Viking had some writing problems in the first few pages. With Chew, I've heard nothing but praise while the reviews on Viking are below average.
With that being said, I doubt the price will remain as high as it is now on Chew.
BTW, what store do you go to in Tampa? None of the stores here seemed to order any (like usual on new Image books). My copy of Chew I think was the only one that Demolition ordered.
We ordered and received more than 1 copy, but they sold out almost immediately.