Yo! Burbalino #2
Poetry warning! OK, so most people probably don’t need that warning, but with a very few rare exceptions poetry doesn’t do a thing for me, and Greg packs this sucker with poetry. Comic stories in here include a creepily revealing dream (involving Greg’s mother, him popping out of a giant vagina (in the same panel no less), and his insecurities about his place in comics), an awkward reunion with an old friend, some slapstick with a bunch of people trying to move a box using a bicycle, the theft of his headphones from his work, and a phone call from his mother to tell him about his old dying dog that turns into an extended rant/freestyle poem about the state of his life in general. Oddly, even though I didn’t think much of the other poetry, I loved this last story. Maybe because it wasn’t the kind that tries so hard to rhyme that it comes across as forced and awful? Yes, that’s entirely possible. His other poems are weird as hell (dealing with eating dynamite, being flaccid after sex, tips for eating a horse, acne, a past Halloween, cheetah lover’s lament, and sweeping), so that makes them more readable in my eyes, but just barely. Greg, assuming these stories are meant to be about Greg and not some hypothetical fictional stand-in, complains a few times about being annoyed that he’s so preoccupied with the ladies. There’s an obvious solution here, and something that would make those poems instantly better: start a band and turn them into songs. Ladies will flock to him (based on personal observance and every television show ever), and poems that might sound like doggerel become deeply meaningful when sung by a heartfelt crooner. You’re welcome! So is the poetry enough to turn me off of the comic? Nope. The comic stories were fantastic, and that last one with his mom on the phone pushed the comic firmly back into the “worth taking a look” category. $3
