Days In Review: Daytripper
The Vertigo series Daytripper ended last week with the release of issue 10, and my comics library is richer for having the books stacked together, a personal totem of insight. I've suggested the title to all my friends who flipped through my longboxes before selfishly taking an issue and begging for one more read-through before I could pass it on. What follows is a close reading of the entire series, an examination of its magical suggestion that life is beautified by the quiet moments of closure we experience every day. This write-up should help generate my own sense of closure with the book, which I haven't been able to erase from my mind since reading the last issue. I'm shaken by how much I relate to the story; Daytripper is a series to read on the fire escape, accompanying Brás with a cigarette while you both try to make something of the natural mysteries around you.
Daytripper is a labor of love, and twin creators Fabio Moon and Gabriel Bá make it known to the best of their artistic ability. It's a very intimate story, approaching its Brazilian setting with a form of pyschogeorgraphy that defines and becomes a part of its characters. Its opening issue is set when Brás is 32, the age of the creators when they first began writing it, and follows him through various days at different points in his life in locales that span the South American country. The twins' obsession with single panel shots of expressionary animals comes straight from their weekly webcomic, Quase Nada, and echoes the moral life lessons that their larger body of work encompasses.
Whenever the artwork calls for internal lettering, there's always something subversive going on with the story- digital screens feature the artists' signature brushstrokes in favor of digital lettering. Background magazine racks and truck logos have the recurring exclamation of FODA, which should warrant a look in your nearest Portuguese-English dictionary. Most of the art seems to come from the hands of the more detail-centric Fabio, though Gabriel's simpler, angular style blends in so melodically that it required those aforementioned read-throughs to develop any ability in distinguishing between the two. That's not to say that there aren't a few instances of artistic inconsistency- the later issues seem to abandon the earlier dependence on a narrator for no definite reasons, though the story still strives to tell of an intimate collaboration between brothers.
Thematically, the work covers a large swath of truisms and highlights various motifs that contribute to the richness of the tale. Riding the wind and being inundated by water are among my favorite recurring elements, but there's also a message about the nature of writing, the human need for companionship, and striving towards permanence. Issue 9 in particular ties together these parts as Brás goes through a mosaic-like dream of all that has occurred and will occur, and brings attention to memories, self-sufficiency and the betrayal of technology. Paramount to all this is the book's obsessive portrayal of love. From friendship to familial love, to romantic love that inherits a familial structure, to the awkward, unerotic moments of childhood love, Daytripper is an excellent portrayal of Brás's developing emotional maturity.
Moon and Bá are also notable here in the way they play with presentation. Each story is a self-contained glimpse of Brás at a certain age, released out of order yet developmental to the underlying narrative. The only exception is issue 8, where Brás is absent. Despite taking place within a specific point in the chronology, a story without him is not a story with a name. Look at issue 1, where Brás and Ana are married, yet we don't see her face until Brás first meets her in a later installment. Likewise, we're there at the birth of his son Miguel, but don't see him within that issue because Brás dies shortly afterward. And this heightens the story's re-readability; Knowing from the final chapter that Benedito left Brás a note just before dying is hugely touching, but it's even more emotional knowing that he dies in issue 4 just inches away from the most moving letter in comics since V for Vendetta's Valerie chapter.
Composing a timeline of events, despite having the main character die in every issue, forces the reader to accept the significance of life's greater moments. Some deaths are easy to brush aside. Suppose Brás didn't get hit by a truck, and life went on. Others, like where he comes to visit Jorge in the desert, only to be killed by his friend's jealous lunacy, implies that such moments are inconsequential. It's all about the life that's been leading up to these final moments, and the act of death itself, if allowed never to occur, would just encourage the extension of a person's pursuit of happiness. Daytripper wants you to lead your life without fear of death. It's very sad to say goodbye to Brás, but his story needs to end to achieve its meaning, from which we can all learn.
Rubber Justice
Posted to Review on 15 September 2010
· Comments (5)
Other stuff like this: daytripper, fabio moon, Gabriel Ba, vertigo
You are making me want to read this so bad. I assume there's a TPB coming or something?
There's a hardcover coming out next year, in April I believe. I really hope it sells well enough to merit multiple collected editions, though.
Ummm..i saw this one, but i think i mighta come in on issue #6 cause i had a hard time following it...
Anywasy, I think i remember the art being similar to "Greek Street" and was wondering if ya'll were gonna do a review of it, since one of the main character is a white closted gay detective in a relationship with an out black man, and it kinda plays a part in some of the issues....
Anywasy thanks for your time and I will definitly be giving Daytripper another shot!!! ^_^
TY,
Dre'
Dre',
Speaking for me, I read the first few issues of Greek Street and it didn't grab me but I didn't dislike it. I wound up sort of neutral. I unsubscribed after the 8th issue and decided to read it as trades in future. I never formed enough of an opinion on it, though, to write any reviews.
I am really stoked about the collected Daytripper and really wish it was coming out sooner!
Hola, Interesante, yo cotizaciуn en mi sitio mбs tarde.
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