With Daytripper finishing, I now have my pick for mini-series of the year.
From its beginning, Daytripper has been like nothing else being published by any comic company. It is the story of a life, Brás de Oliva Domingos's, told in different chapters that are each set at a specific age. They are not chronological, but rather skip through his life at different phases (at least until the ninth issue, which is quite different from the rest).
The story is magical realist in nature, reminding me of the best of Garcia Marquez in its casual weirdness and lyrical beauty. While Daytripper is about Brás, it is really about family and the bonds that help us through our lives. Brás has a complicated relationship with his father, which structures his life even after his father is gone. In this issue, at age 76, Brás is given a recently-discovered letter that his father wrote him on the eve on the birth of Brás's son. It helps echo and solidify the themes of this work, and helps provide a natural ending to the series.
While I've been impressed by the writing (which some might feel a little too self-consciously literary for a comic, but I'd disagree), the art has completely blown me away. Bá and Moon are incredible artists, and every page of this book has been beautiful.
Now that this comic is finished, I'm going to miss Brás and his family, and also his Brazil, which is a charming and beautiful place. This is one of those rare comics that has touched me emotionally, and has given me plenty to think about.
No comments:
Post a Comment