Daytripper by Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá is my favorite book of all time. For evidence, just scroll up and look at this post’s thumbnail. I don’t really needs three versions of the same book, or do I? Daytripper is an award-winning (Eisner Award, Harvey Award, and Eagle Award in 2011) graphic published in 2010 by DC Comics/Vertigo. This isn’t a kid’s comic; it addresses crucial emotional and adult themes that we’re all going to face at some point in life. Daytripper is the type of literature that you’ll want to revisit over and over depending on which chapter of life that you’re on.
I first came across this hauntingly, poetic comic when I got stuck in Lower Manhattan in 2012 during Hurricane Sandy. Trapped inside with no power and no community for an unprecedented amount of time (hey this sounds like now!), I took solace in reading. At the time, I was in my early 20s and was a working partner at a startup with a very toxic investor. For example, the investor would helicopter around my co-founder and me, then berate us on our stupidity and for wasting his money. Needless to say, I wasn’t happy there. Then after 2 weeks in isolation during 2012’s most destructive hurricane with only my thoughts and an introspective book, I decided to pivot. When I finally got back to California, I left my startup and pursued a full-time career as a freelance photographer for the next eight years.
SPOILER ALERT (not really)
In Daytrippers, we follow the life of Brás de Oliva Domingos. We also watch him die over and over in every chapter. Brás perishes at different times in his life. We first witness his death at age 33, then somewhere in the middle at age 11, and the book continues to time skip. This form of storytelling gives us a bird’s eye view of his entire life: his past, present, and future. The writers make clever use of showing us the quiet moments Brás’s life to ask bigger questions.
The experience of reading Daytrippers is what the reader brings to it. On the surface, it’s a surreal, dreamlike story of a writer’s life. But if you’d like and are open, the comic unravel life’s bittersweet truths that will strike you in the heart.