Yo! Burbalino #5

from Blackguard

28 pages, digest size, by Greg Farrell, doctormobogo(at)gmail.com + www.yoburbalino.com
One of my favourite comics, this issue begins with a modern fairytale, 'The Squirrel and the Dead Man', in which three brother squirrels each leave home to make their way in the world. To send them off, the mother squirrel bakes a loaf of nutbread and offers them a small piece with her blessing, or a large piece with her curse. Of course, two of the brothers choose the large piece, 'curses be damned!' as one says. And do you think these two greedy pigs will share their feast with the little birdies of the forest? And can they stay awake until sunrise watching over a dead body? How the hell is brother # three gonna deal with these temptations and challenges, eh? You must find out! This strip is so damn great the comic would be worth getting if it was the only thing in it.
But! There's another of Greg's terrific rap-style strips ('9:27AM'), this one dealing with public transport rage.
Greg reprints a of strip from a past issue: 'Six Year Old Me Vs. Four Year Old Black Kid' (from Y!B#4) along with another page from that same issue, a doomy trippy illustrated rap, both highlights of that issue so it didn't bother me, although made me wonder why he chose to do so.
Anyway, this issue, like past issues, comes highly recommended.

[Note: I feel like such a slack piece 'o shit asshole though - Greg sent me this issue and Y!B#6 months ago but they got submerged in my quicksand-like pile, so I only re-discovered them recently while moving house. ... Greg! A thousand apologies! Y!B#6 will be reviewed next!]