"Daytripper" is a modern existential tale of love, passion, life and death

Life sure can be fascinating, depending from whose point of view one looks at it.   In the hands of twin brothers Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba and their Daytripper graphic novel,  a man's existence is never as simple as it seems, consisting of heartache, uncertainty, and eventually, death.  It's a meditative journey through a life, observed in short vignettes where one's odyssey is different, but the ultimate destination remains the same.

Daytripper focuses on one Bras de Oliva Domingos, a writer of obituaries in one of the universes he occupies, but also a successful novelist in another.  Since the story consists of ten chapters, each one is a world of its own, and in each Bras' destiny differs from the others.  As an obituary writer, he meets an untimely death at the hands of a petty criminal in need of quick cash as he stops at a local bar to get a much needed beer at the age of 32.  Later, in an alternate story in which he is 28, he is run over by a van as he frantically crosses the street without looking, while chasing a woman he believes may be his true love.  He also dies as a young boy, as a middle aged man, and again as an old, gray haired father and husband.  In each chapter/vignette, his life story is heartfelt, relatable and even poetic, leaving the reader in a state of awe and wonder as they contemplate their own life decisions on a daily basis.

By lifting any traditional rules when it comes to their lead character's mortality, Moon and Ba create a universe that is melancholy as much as it is genuine.  Bras is an everyman, in a way, and his pains, thoughts and inner torment is something that everyone on this planet, male or female, should be able to relate to.  Reminiscent of Craig Thompson's best works, most notably Blankets and Habibi, Daytripper is a universal poem about life, love and those quiet moments of self reflection right before the big sleep.  It's an eternal tale, told as if on an endless loop, and it can be read in any order, without impacting the readers' experience.  Kind of like life itself.
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