Anthony Bourdain is perhaps best known for the globe-crossing culinary adventures he takes each week on “No Reservations.” His interests are about as varied as the cultures he’s visited: from show host, to Twitter star, to best-selling novelist, to TV show guest judge, to comic book author. You read that right, comic book author.

Bourdain’s love for all things comic seemed to begin in 2007, when No Reservations visited Cleveland. In this episode, arguably one of the show’s finest, Bourdain meets the now-deceased Harvey Pekar, the “poet laureate of Cleveland.” Their relationship was a special one from the beginning, as seen here.

After the episode filmed, Pekar and Bourdain both created comic book versions of their meeting.

After Harvey’s death in 2010, Bourdain posted an eloquent and heartfelt eulogy to the man who inspired his love for comic culture. It was picked up by foodies and comic maniacs across the web, quickly earning Bourdain a spot among the ranks of comic faithfuls.

Fast forward to 2012, where Bourdain first solo comic book, “Get Jiro!“, just debuted at No. 1 on the New York Times Bestseller list for hardcore graphic novel. The satiric book tells the story of an apocalyptic Los Angeles ruled by two culinary warlords. Bourdain calls it, “A world dominated by food culture.”  It’s star, Jiro, is a last-one-standing traditional sushi chef, determined to kill anyone in his path to the top of the food chain.

The novel was meet with applause at Comic-Con last week.

Tags: Anthony Bourdain, comics, jessethomas