Daily Archives: June 14, 2012
One Punch Reviews #67: The Line
Did you know Anthony Bourdain has a comic published by Vertigo? It was a surprise to me. It’s called Get Jiro!, and he describes it as a “gourmet slaughterfest”. I suppose this sounds like yet another random mash-up to some … but to me, it’s a perfectly logical extension of a chef’s duties.
It just never occurred to me until now that chefs may be more desensitized to violence than the average person. While we get to experience violence from the comfort of our living room chairs, these hearty souls must deal with blood, gore, and viscera on a daily basis. Perhaps the most gruesome thing I’ve seen on TV was the original Japanese Iron Chef, where, on TV, they grab live fish, slap them onto a table, and gut them as the spark of life goes out in their fishy eyes. Chef’s view it all with a jaded eye, only thinking of how in death they will be transformed into something glorious. Then they chop it, fry it, and transform it into something that distances the eater from its violent origins.
That’s probably why the characters in Kevin Church and Paul Silvi’s The Line seem to be one foul outburst away from snapping and murdering someone in cold blood. But really, given their hectic conditions, who could blame them?
