Pirate & Parrot by Lukas Weidinger (Mini Kus! #93)

Pirate & Parrot is an extremely colorful, near Day-Glo, aesthetic melange of sea-faring pirates, sea creatures, prostitutes, modern cops, and coke smugglers that somehow manages to do everything from funny anthropomorphism, to comment on the nature of friendship, to examine the mysterious duality of man. Weidinger's narrative climax seems to be Parrot swooping in to swiftly save his newfound friend, but in the wild not-quite-fourth-wall-breaking thematic climax, the self-referential characters comment about their mercurial motives. It's a reminder that we are all somewhat multifaceted; we are all capable of being the lecherous Pirate AND the benevolent Parrot simultaneously, depending on the context and the psychological drivers at play, and that's something to be celebrated, to revel in. Weidinger wisely uses interesting perspectives and camera placement to alter the POV of the audience, and to emphasize how context can be everything. The oppressors become the oppressed, power dynamics shift, and the type of energy you expend today may well be visited upon you in the future.