New Spider-Man comic features cooking show sidekick

(2010 Marvel Entertainment)

In the latest adventures of Spider-Man, he takes on a sidekick from reality cooking show Top Chef, tackles a deathtrap octopus, dodges flying blenders and has a Jay-Z and Beyoncé sighting. All in 11 pages.

While it may seem strange to see a knife-wielding Top Chef contestant share the cover with the arachno-hero Spider-Man, the collaboration is a natural one for Marvel's senior vice-president of content development C.B. Cebulski who is a hardcore foodie, points out comicsalliance.com.

Spider-Man: A Meal to Die For , features former Top Chef: Las Vegas contestant Eli Kirshtein as Spidey's heroic sous-chef. In the story, they battle the diabolical plans of villain Mysterio at a society dinner in New York. Taking place inside a kitchen set up as if for a cooking show-style competition, Kirshtein whips up a culinary meal for Peter Parker and his date Carlie using the secret ingredient - octopus - when his own Spidey senses start tingling.

What began as a Twitter friendship grew into continuous tweet exchanges about their shared passions: comic books and food, Kirshtein said. But his front cover appearance actually started out as a lark.

"C.B. and I met on Twitter and began to talk about food and comics regularly," he said in a statement. "I on a whim, almost jokingly asked if he could get me into Spider-Man. With no hesitation he said sure. It's an amazing honor to be part of the legend that is Spider-Man. It's every kid's dream!"

Cebulski's Twitter feed alternates regularly between his love for food and comics. As a talent scout, the frequent flyer also chronicles his culinary travels through a food blog, Eataku.

"The more we explore the similarities between art and food worlds, the more we've discovered certain connections between chefs and comics, especially on a creative level ," Cebulski added.

The story is written Marc Bernardin and illustrated by Mike Henderson and Ale Garza.

Chef and cookbook author Vindy Lee, who lives in Los Angeles and Indonesia, was also immortalized in a comic book through Imperium Comics. She's also a former model.

The free digital Spider-Man comic can be read here.

http://marvel.com/digital_comics/issue/19952/spider-man_a_meal_to_die_for_2011_1