An Underrated DC Comic Was Written By Beloved Chef And Travel Show Host Anthony Bourdain
by Devin Meenan · /FilmWe may receive a commission on purchases made from links.
The late Anthony Bourdain was a true renaissance man. A chef, writer, TV host, and more, his omnivorous outlook on food was reflected by how he approached life itself. So it's not really surprising that, before his death in 2018, Bourdain's writing took an unexpected path — into comic books.
In 2012, Bourdain co-wrote with Joel Rose the comic "Get Jiro!", drawn by artist Langdon Foss and published by DC Comics under the Vertigo imprint. A prequel, "Get Jiro: Blood and Sushi," was published in 2016. The comic is set in a future Los Angeles, "a world entirely dominated by food culture." "Chef warlords" dominate the city like culinary-themed gangsters, and the story follows sushi chef Jiro — someone who uses his cutting knife not just to slice fish but also the heads off of rude customers. His dedication and talent attracts said chef warlords, and Jiro is caught between two rival factions trying to recruit him.
Bourdain defined his writing legacy largely through nonfiction books covering similar topics to his food and travel shows. He became famous for a 1999 New Yorker article, "Don't Eat Before Reading This," an inside look at how restaurant kitchens work. That led to his 2000 memoir "Kitchen Confidential" (which inspired a short-lived Bradley Cooper sitcom), and the rest is history. Bourdain had previously written three fiction novels ("Bone in the Throat" in 1995, "Gone Bamboo" in 1997, and "Bobby Gold" in 2001). A comic like "Get Jiro!" was something new for him, but that's not to say he knew nothing of comics before writing it.
Anthony Bourdain fulfilled his childhood comic dreams writing Get Jiro!
"Get Jiro!" includes a dedication to Jack Kirby, the most important American comic artist who has ever lived. A co-creator of Captain America, the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, the X-Men, Doctor Doom, Magneto, and many more, Kirby shaped the Marvel Universe as we know it and that's not even the full extent of his work (but that's a topic for another time). Anthony Bourdain, born in 1956, was just the right age to grow up reading Kirby and Stan Lee's Marvel comics.
In a "Get Jiro!" Q&A with Bourdain published by Amazon, he talked about his childhood love for comics, calling himself "a serious collector of early Marvels." (Bourdain told Joe Rogan in 2013 that he later sold that comic collection to fund his cocaine habit.) As a child, Bourdain even wanted to be a comic book artist. "Sadly, my illustration skills — while decent — were not up to anywhere near that standard," he said during the aforementioned Q&A, hence him choosing a career of words and food instead of inking pencils.
Bourdain was also a noted cinephile (sample his Criterion Collection recommendations here). Film is a part of culture just like food is, and Bourdain's appreciation of world cinema definitely shapes "Get Jiro!" as much as his cuisine knowledge. Cited influences on "Get Jiro!" ranged from Yakuza movies to Akira Kurosawa's samurai classic "Yojimbo" to Tetsu Kariya & Akira Hanasaki's cooking manga "Oishinbo." Being a chef like Bourdain is all about making something new, fresh, and/or coherent from different ingredients.
How Get Jiro! fits into Anthony Bourdain's legacy
Telling a story like "Jiro!" is still a different challenge than food and film appreciation, granted. In a 2015 interview with Eater, Anthony Bourdain compared writing the comic to writing his own voiceover on his travel show "Parts Unknown."
"Writing 'Parts Unknown,' I know who is talking at all times. It's pretty effortless, it's me saying how I feel about things and what I experience. I find plot difficult. I like characters, I like atmospherics, and I like the details, what the room smells like. How to get the characters up a tree and then back down is tricky for me. It's fun because we're working within an established and understood genre; there are certain conventions that I really like and enjoy. That's why I did it."
You can see where Bourdain's interest in scene-building lies while reading "Get Jiro!" The comic lingers on food detail. Some whole pages are just wordless panels showing ingredients and/or preparation.
"Get Jiro!" is not necessarily a cornerstone of Bourdain's legacy, but that's more because it was an eccentric side project. People know Tony Bourdain from his life spent documenting the food of the world; for many, his travel shows like "Parts Unknown" were genuinely soul-enriching experiences. However, Bourdain's mark on television is getting a new chapter, because "Get Jiro!" is being adapted as an animated series on Adult Swim. That's not a bad ending for a kid who once discarded his comic book making dreams because he couldn't draw well enough.