Timeless Subject: Matt Wagner on Cooking
- Posted by Johanna on June 15, 2006 at 10:45 pm
- Category: LinkBlogging
Comic Book Resources has an interview with Matt Wagner in which he talks about cooking, with lots of good advice on how to get started plus a gazpacho recipe. Also included is an online reprint of Wagner’s story from Autobiographix in which he illustrates how to make Chicken Parmigiana.
I’m still wondering why there aren’t more comics about cooking, since it seems like it would be a wonderful visual match. Maybe that should be the first comic I publish — the Comic Cookbook.
June 16, 2006 at 1:31 am
Super-Salad! Spider-Manicotti! Porcupine Pete-balls!
OK, I’ve got that out of my system.
For now.
But really, I have no idea why something like this hasn’t been done already. Cook books constantly use sequences of photos to illustrate technique. Comics would be quicker and cheaper. And they have a long history (though perhaps only recently returned) of being used to educate process.
And if there is anything more hip than comics at the moment, it’s food. You can’t swing a tiny paper umbrella without hitting a dozen culinary targets. From Food Network sponsoring weddings to American Chef contests to murderous somaliers on CSI, it’s all over. I mean, how Pop Culture are you (if perhaps, fourteen minutes) to be the defendant on Law & Order?
This idea must be done! This idea will be done! The world shall know the succulent delicacy of Porcupine Pete-balls!!!
(OK, how post-fifteen minutes are you when you are riffing on South Park jokes?)
June 16, 2006 at 3:44 am
I always enjoyed it when Jill Thompson would insert a recipe in any given issue of Scary Godmother. I think a comic cook book is a swell idea.
June 16, 2006 at 7:16 am
Hey, I’ve read the DC Super-Heroes Super-Healthy Cookbook with its super burgers (use ketchup to draw an S on cheeseburgers) and wheat germ shakes (ick!). But not exactly what I was thinking of, thank you David.
Tom, yeah, exactly, those are great!
June 16, 2006 at 2:58 pm
Eighteen amazing volumes of Iron Wok Jan say hi.
June 16, 2006 at 3:34 pm
Yes, I’m aware. :)
But IWJ isn’t about cooking as much as competition. Their recipes are just weird, and I’m not sure how follow-able they are.
June 16, 2006 at 4:12 pm
IMO, IWJ’s cooking has a very Japanese pallete which makes it harder to appreciate the food (think of all the times the Japanese hosts of Iron Chef go “Oh! That sounds so good!” while American viewers retch). OTOH, when I purchased the last volume of Antique Bakery, the clerk stared at the cover for a moment and said “Now I’m hungry.”
June 16, 2006 at 4:47 pm
If I remember, Howard Chaykin’s American Flagg would occasionally have recipes.
DC’s Green Arrow comic referred to Ollie’s infamous Five Alarm chili years ago, though I don’t know if they ever published the recipe.
June 18, 2006 at 10:05 am
Johanna
I’d love to help put it together; I spent twenty years of my life in the kitchen, then coming home and drawing comics until three in the morning!
Indie Comics Recipes (no mainstream food!)
June 18, 2006 at 1:30 pm
I’d totally contribute to a cooking comic. Just saying.
I made Matt’s gazpacho (or, rather, used it as a starting point), and it is really good. The lime juice squeeze just before serving really makes a difference.