Kiko Machine Komix Blg. 5! Alab ng Puso Sa Dibdib Mo'y Buhay ni Manix Abrera

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So this is how it goes, from second grade up to summer after high school, there were really only two prominent laugh-out-loud-rolling-on-the-floor komiks for me: Pugad Baboy and Beerkada.

That was until Beerkada felt too stale and everyone's talking too much in English and I just couldn't relate anymore. Pugad Baboy, okay, I don't have much complaints, only that I don't know if the author's released any new latest issues recently. Or maybe I just haven't felt the longing to read those characters as of now.

Thank God for Kikomachine though. Something new and something politically progressive. It felt like a long, long time since I rolled on the floor.

Stories about a bunch of college students and then other weird─and I stand by this next adjective─profound shit. Like the previous issues, the characters still don't have names but are still memorable. And though, everyone pretty much talks the same way (rakenrol, asteeg), Manix Abrera manages to establish distinct personalities for each one of the main characters.

That aside, I really have to mention its politics. This is what moves it a notch higher from the previous komiks I was used to. Minus the language used, Beerkada and Pugad Baboy pretty much thinks the same way when it comes to social issues. Abrera, I believe, crticizes the stinkhole that is our society much more direct but manages it to be light and serious all at the same time. My favorite is his take on university administration's withholding of funds for the student university newspaper. The last panel shows a giant note that covers the characters that were discussing the injustice of such administration decision.

The giant note reads, "Censored topic. Bakit, sino aangal? Ha? Ha? - Admin".

You find these jokes side by side with correctly done puns. And contrary to popular belief, puns are funny. Especially when it's Abrera who cracks it. And of course, the oh-my-god-this-is-so-corny-it's-good ones.

"With great power comes great kili-kili. Kaya the greater the kili-kili, the greater the responsibility."

Laugh, goddamit. That's pure genius, I tell you.

This issue also features Bertong Badtrip, and funny but profound takes on old myths as well as inventing new ones, such as where did the saying "panahon pa ni kopong-kopong" came from.

8/10