Get Jiro Featured Reviews 

“Get Jiro!”

By | June 11th, 2018
Posted in Reviews | % Comments

As the world mourns the passing of chef and television host Anthony Bourdain this past Friday at 61 years of age, one little-known side of his life has seen a more mainstream light: his love of comics. Bourdain was a big comic book fan and collector in his youth, unfortunately selling that collection in the 1980s to pay for drugs. He rediscovered that childhood passion in 2012, with the publication of “Get Jiro!” a dystopian look at a world where chefs are celebrities and will kill to bring newcomers to their side.

(Please note that this is an 18+ book with adult themes and very graphic violence throughout.)

Cover Art by Langdon Foss

Written by Anthony Bourdain and Joel Rose
Illustrated by Langdon Foss
Colored by José Villarrubia and Dave Stewart
Lettered by Todd Klein

In near-future L.A., the culinary world is king, leading chefs to serve as crime lords fighting for territorial control. The Internationalists (the chefs that blend cuisines to take “fusion” to a new level) and the Vertical Farmers (Organic/Vegetarian Or Bust) are the two main warring factions.  And then there’s Jiro, a sushi chef who doesn’t play by these rules. Both Internationalists and Vertical Farmers want Jiro to swear allegiance to their side, but Jiro has other plans.

When “Hungry Ghosts” was published earlier this year, I was immediately intrigued with the name of the “No Reservations” and Kitchen Confidential star blazed across this cover. Anthony Bourdain’s first comic! After being corrected later by our editor (thanks, Brian), and falling in love with this series that blended an ancient Japanese tale of horror with gastronomic themes, I felt it a duty to add to my (very long) to-read pile Bourdain’s prior comic works. His recent death had me wondering how to pay tribute to this man that felt like everyone’s best friend, the person whose storytelling and zest for life made us want to try new things and meet new people with no fear. Would what we see on “Parts Unknown” translate to the page?

The short answer: yes.  Now, since one word does not a thoughtful review make (just like chicken stock does not make for a complete chicken soup), let’s add a little seasoning to the palate.

Bourdain has drawn endless inspiration from Japanese culture throughout his life, so it’s no surprise that “Get Jiro!” is based in the world of a sushi chef, a man with intense devotion to the finer points of his craft with a dash of snobbishness. Don’t ask for a California Roll with its fake crab stick at Jiro’s restaurant, otherwise you’re leaving without your head. This appears to be a common occurrence, as the LAPD remark “this must be the third time this month emergency service gonna be hosing out this parking lot.” It’s graphic and gratuitous violence, but it hammers home the seriousness of Jiro to his craft, as well as testament to his knife skills (that’s one clean cut to the head).

No Fake Crab Stick! Ever!
Just another day at the office

The first half of this book slowly builds the world of this near-future Los Angeles, and it shows just how masterful of a storyteller Bourdain is in working with text in a visual medium.  He knows when to let the words flow, and when to let them hold back to let the visual rule the day. Even in pages without a single bubble of dialogue, plot and characters advance that you’re drawn into this sinister world. The dedication at the front of this book is to Jack Kirby, and Bourdain has taken in all his years of reading his idol’s work to know what makes a good visual story. No doubt with a chef at your helm food will be the star of the show, and the preparation of meals is given attention, care, and time on the page as if you were watching a cooking show unfold within the pages.

The thrust of this plot doesn’t unfold until about halfway through the book, when Jiro, having met leaders of both the Internationalists and Vertical Farmers, picks a side. Or rather, doesn’t pick a side. Jiro’s decision has an end game, but what is it? In this second half, just as the first, pacing is thoughtful, neither dragged out unnecessarily nor sped up near the end to make the page count. You’re not left feeling empty when you get to the final page with unresolved plot elements, nor are you left overstuffed with 25 or 50 pages to go. This book is a meal you want to savor, and the way the narrative progresses ensures this.

Continued below

The Japanese influence carries over into Langdon Foss’s art, a flat cartoonish style that has undertones of classic Japanese cartoons like “Astro Boy” and “Speed Racer” but with a modern, and most certainly, adult edge. Jiro’s narrow, square face contrasts with those around him, drawing your eye to him on every page. He doesn’t show emotion often, only when it matters. Jiro is watching this game, controlling it. He is in the ultimate test of cerebral fitness, and if there is any emotion on his face, it’s that. (My fellow musical theater nerds will understand, and certainly appreciate, my references to a certain 1980s musical in those last two sentences.) There’s also great detail throughout cityscapes and large full page scenes – – chefs in restaurants, the opening pages decorated with fish and various sushi ephemera, a fish market – – the same level of specificity in wide-angle shots that wowed me in Mathieu Bablet’s “The Beautiful Death.”

At the fish market

Foss spares no expense in depictions of violence, and while it at first may seem unwarranted (such as the opening act where a request for a California roll causes one to lose his head), the presence of such violence has its place. Fight scenes have a kinetic, frantic energy about them, aided by Todd Klein’s bold, bombastic action lettering as needed. Even in places where no lettering is necessary, such as a gang fight in Jiro’s parking lot, there’s action – – a bit goofy, think “Tom and Jerry” over the top action, but never static. Our artists also give visual interpretations to those sensations that can’t easily be described or replicated.  Scenes in which Jiro experiences food through taste, smell, and sight have waves undulating in the background, flowing, twisting, turning. Combine those waves with a warm color palette from José Villarrubia and Dave Stewart based in pinks, reds, and whites (colors of the lips, mouth, and tongue) and for the first time, you can actually see what pleasant tastes would look life, if one could illustrate them. It’s a gastronomic experience on the page that isn’t just limited to attention to detail on the food, which of course does also receive the same care, love, and attention in artwork as it has in scripting.

The joy of a good meal

Reading “Get Jiro!” (and “Hungry Ghosts”) makes me long for more of Anthony Bourdain’s work in this medium, and then sorrowful that we will not have that chance for more. I raise a glass to this multifaceted man and thank him for his time with us on this world, however brief. His legacy is this work that shows his skill as a chef, his flair for storytelling that draws a reader in like a moth to a flame, and his renewed boyhood love of comics.


//TAGS | evergreen

Kate Kosturski

Kate Kosturski is your Multiversity social media manager, a librarian by day and a comics geek...well, by day too (and by night). Kate's writing has also been featured at PanelxPanel, Women Write About Comics, and Geeks OUT. She spends her free time spending too much money on Funko POP figures and LEGO, playing with yarn, and rooting for the hapless New York Mets. Follow her on Twitter at @librarian_kate.

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