Issue: Daytripper #3 – “28”
Release Date: February 10, 2010
Writer(s): Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá
Artist(s): Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá
Colorist: Dave Stewart
Letterer: Sean Konot
Publisher: Vertigo Comics
This series just keeps getting better as it goes — and it’s only on issue #3! What started out as a title that I had a passing interest in when I first heard about it (still haven’t gotten issue #1, though), after two issues this has become a “must read” series for me.
Seven years after the events in issue #2, Brás is at another turning point in the journey of his life. To tell more would kind of give it away, and this is a series you pretty much just have to read to know what it’s about.
Much like with my review of Demo, this comic is a perfect example of what comics can do that no other media can quite pull off. It’s when there’s a harmony between the writing and the art, where neither is given more importance over the other, that make for the most powerful and engaging comics. Daytripper is a title that does this and does it incredibly well. It might be because Moon and Bá are brothers and worked together on stuff for years, but these two seem to have an understanding of what they want to accomplish and how to get there.
Despite it being a series that follows the same guy through moments of his life, each issue I’ve read so far could be a standalone story. There could have just been one issue, and it would have been a satisfying read. The fact that it keeps going, and not just going aimlessly but going toward a intertwined final statement, makes it feel so far that Moon and Bá know what’s going to happen at each step. It doesn’t feel like they’re making it up as they go along and hoping things in the middle make sense and fit.
It’s probably because this story feels like a very personal story they’re telling. They use Brazil as their backdrop, a place they know well, and that helps to add a sense of authenticity to the events that take place in the issue.
This series hits me on a very personal level and has a lot of stuff that I find myself relating to. It definitely makes you take notice that every day could be that turning point in your life. You could die in the very real sense that you cease to exist in the physical realm. You could hit one of those moments in life where everything changes, and the person you used to be dies. I am completely enthralled with this story and wherever it’s going.
Rating: 4.5 / 5 Stars
