Pick of the Week
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Pulls
Size: 32 pages
Price: 2.99
Every issue of Daytripper is about the death of a man named Brás. I’ve enjoyed the craft throughout the run, but more than once, it’s crossed my mind that perhaps 10 issues is a few too many, since each is just a variation on a theme, and they don’t seem to be building towards anything specific. It’s not that the stories are bad; quite the contrary, but I felt like a got the point. In fact, that hasn’t changed, but the brothers Bá and Moon really blew me away in this issue, and I had no choice but to make it Pick of the Week.
As I said, every issue is a one shot story about a different version of the same man, and how he dies. It’s much less maudlin than you’d think, and at times, it’s even fairly uplifting. With that in mind, I suppose this is your spoiler warning for what happens in this one. Brás dies. But the thing that really hooked me with this story is that Brás wasn’t actually in it. In this take on his demise, Brás is away on a business trip, and we look in on his doting wife and young son, waiting for them to receive the inevitable news. Over the past issues, we’ve gotten to know Brás in a way. He’s not always the same person, but at this point, it works that he doesn’t even have to be in the story for us to know who he is, and have a connection to him. But I suspect that this was produced in such a way that you wouldn’t need that background either. His character is built in his absence. The love portrayed here between Brás and his wife, as well as Brás and his son is incredibly engaging. There’s no doubt that Ana loves him deeply, but I found the depictions of her being frustrated with him being gone, and the silly fights they start to have to be very truthful. At the same time, Bá and Moon have created the most romantic character I’ve read in a comic book in a long time. This stuff may or may not fly in real life, but in the ethereal world of this book, it all plays, and I can only imagine there are a good number of women who have fallen under the charms of men who can think up stories like this. In just a few short pages, we know all the salient parts of their relationship, and we know there is deep love there, and we know it started at a bakery.
Then there’s the case of Miguel, their son. It’s no secret that since my son was born, and I’m sure many, many fathers can attest to this, I’m a huge weeping mess. The way this kid is drawn is pure magic. He’s full of wide-eyed innocence and hope. The whole design exudes the best parts of childhood, and his adoration of his father. You know what’s going to happen from the very beginning, but it doesn’t make it any easier to take when the hammer drops. Even now as I flip through the final sequence in this book, I’m overwhelmed with a sadness for characters who aren’t real. But that doesn’t matter, because they tapped into the roots of my real emotions with surgical precision. The thing is, as the brothers have gone through these issues, they’ve gotten better and better. The first issues weren’t bad. They weren’t even close, but they’re getting better, stronger, and we all have cause to be concerned that Bá and Moon’s comic book power will soon be too much to contain.
After I read the story, I took a look at the cover one more time, and if I might exclaim… GOD DAMN that’s a great cover. The shadow of an absent father looks over a wife and son unaware of what’s going to happen and shatter their existence. With the cover and the interiors both, the loose artistic style isn’t realistic, but it evokes the reality of life. It’s so natural and lifelike, while looking nowhere near photographic. It’s an amazing example of how good cartooning doesn’t have to shoot for realism to be real. The artwork breathes life and the acting is all spot on. The fact that that whole story is admittedly melodramatic is balanced by the fact that the art works so well that it doesn’t matter.
There are times when I need to put away my post modern ironic detachment, but in order to do that, I need help. Great storytelling and art will do it every time. In Daytripper, they cut to the core of emotions, and while it should be getting old, there’s something in every issue to be impressed with, especially issue #8. Even if you haven’t read any of the other issues in the series, and even if you already think you know what happens, go read it anyway. Trust me on this.
Josh Flanagan
I know I can’t get away with reciting poetry to my wife.
josh@ifanboy.com
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josh is back on track after the anomalous sea bear and grizzly shark pick lol. But seriously, the one shot nature of this book makes a bit up and down but i’m excited every month and the art is gorgeous, can’t wait to read.
The dog but more so the fact that shes still wearing the wedding ring at the end killed me. This issue and the childhood one where Bras was at the grandparents farm really connected w/ me. The thing he says about the rain, it hit home.
I cant wait for issue 10 (I’m predicting that it’ll be his "real" death), it HAS to be glorious! and once it ends maybe more umbrella academy??? god I hope so
This book deserves this.
So pissed I have to wait till I get back to school to pick this up!
Trade waiting is so hard!
I actually think this is one of those books that reads BETTER in issues. Each issue is a separate story and as such has greater emotional resonance when read on it’s own. I find myself thinking about each story days after I’ve read an issue. I think it would be too easy to blow through a trade, read it all at once and miss out on the emotional payoff of each story.
Just my .02c. : )
Excellent to see this as pick of the week, well deserved. Every issue blows me away and I never really feel they’re repeating themselves. I listened to the brothers on an old Alter Ego podcast yesterday and, as @corpseed says above, they designed the series to give the reader an emotional payoff in monthly chunks. Possibly the best series of the year so far (?)
Definitely a 5-star book, but my PotW is Locke & Key: Crown of Shadows #6. It deals with themes similar to those tackled in the recent Daytripper, but in a much darker, long-term manner, showing what happens when grief turns ugly.
As much as I care about comics of yesterday, I’m really glad I get to read current comics that are of such high quality.
Finally..again..
Booooooo
I had predicted Super Hero Squad #7. Wrong again …
Man, I cannot wait for the trade on this one!!
I confess that this book is driving me crazy. There surely must be some point the creators are trying to get across by killing this man over and over again like Kenny on South Park; I have read each issue forwards, backwards, and upside-down trying to discern what that point may be, but so far all I have learned is eight different ways to be really sad. It’s certainly lovely. It’s certainly thoughtful. At the moment, though, it has told me eight stories instead of telling me A story; the chapters as a whole don’t seem to be building to anything, and the cumulative effect they have had on me cannot be what was intended by the authors.
I cannot imagine waiting for the trade where this book is concerned. If you read this entire thing in one sitting, make sure to have a spotter in the house to prevent you from putting your head in the oven.
I regret waiting for the trade on this one.
@Jimski Apparently they’re going to tie it up in the end with some massive twist. I’m certainly looking forward to THAT! However, I think you need to judge each issue on it’s own merits.. and not try and read it as one entire story. You yourself said that each issue is "lovely" and "thoughtful"… just let it be my friend. ; )
I thought the poetry was a tad lame and typical (maybe I’m hard on it because I LIKE poetry and am picky about it?), but other than that, yeah, this issue just continues the excellence of Daytripper. I’ve always loved these guys ever since Casanova, and they’ve just continued to evolve into awesome, awesomely unique artists, and pretty damn good writers as well. Can’t wait to see how issue ten ends.
I got a little watery eyed in this issue, and it really was the wide-eyed depiction of Miguel that did it.
There is certainly a bigger story in this series. If one excludes the final few pages of each issue, this is a pretty clear and straight forward story of Bras’ life with each issue taking on another piece, even if not exactly linear.
this was just.. warm..
This series is amazing. I still get my Vertigo books from DCBS so this issue will have to wait but it’s great to see the series get recognition. Just read #7 recently. I thought it was a bit weak compared to the others. Maybe because it seemed a bit far fetched. It still contributed to the story as a whole. Looking forward to reading this issue in a few weeks.
They can write and draw, well? I can’t even do one of those. This issue was great. Glad it wasn’t full on sad-fest like the last issue.
I agree @stasisbal and @froggulper, this and the last issue are probably among the least best of this series. The one that REALLY got me was Bras as a kid, dying after getting his kite caught in the powerlines… and after his Mom had told the story of how he was a little miracle, being born in a blackout. Oh man, that was some sad s#!t : )
My POW too.
I have no basis for my theory, but I think all of this is one story of one man’s life. It is just told out of order. And the deaths are not really the title character dying, but instead, metaphorical for a major change or decision that Bras has made in his life.
This is the only issue that I feel puts my thoughts on my theory in doubt because, I am not sure what decision or change in his life could have occured in this one… since he is really not in the issue that much.
What do you guys think?
This was an especially good issue, as it focussed on the impact Bras has on his family, rather than how he gets to the point where he dies. This kind of makes it more tragic than the other stories.
Poetry for women is my homerun swing.
@ medz
That’s my theory, too. I also agree that this issue kind of derails that idea.
Spoiler for issue #10:
A time travellers collects all the 10 Bras from just before they died and recruits them to be time cops.
Good one incredibledave
Matthew