Review: Daytripper #6

Bras has to write obituaries for all the victims of a plane crash, all the while fearing that Jorge might be amongst the dead.
 

The Good

I haven't read any issues of Daytripper before this. I have no idea if this is part of a continuing storyline or if it's an anthology of "told-in-ones." Regardless, I could follow everything that was happening here and enjoyed it a lot. It's a touching conceit to follow Bras as he must keep a clinical distance from the airplanes' victims deaths while still keeping warm enough to give their obituaries the necessary sentiment. The twist at the end regarding one of the main character own "obits" tied the whole thing up very well, thematically. Also, Moon and Ba really hit on the heartbreaking of nature of survivors following a loved one 's death - - how any bit of information can be comforting and how they desperately need something like an obituary to give them closure and peace of mind. I wouldn't necessarily call this "slice of life", since the circumstances are still extraordinary, but it's still an interesting, and moving, look at an essential part of life that you frequently forget about.
 
I'm not sure who did what, exactly, but Moon and Ba's art has great style and character. It's down-to-Earth with enough of a cartoonist's flair and I really liked the color palette, which made the whole thing evocative of life in Rio. I think the best compliment I can give is that I really felt like I was stepping into another part of the world reading this.

The Bad

While this is well-done, it isn't especially as memorable, but that's not really something to fault here. The tough thing about doing reviews is that I won't necessarily rate something like this lower because it's done something wrong, just because it hasn't impressed me as much as other offerings of the week.

The Verdict - 3.5/5

This is a great example of what Vertigo can offer. It's been a while since I've gotten to read any novels that were just straight dramatic fiction, without any genre adjectives, so this was a welcome change of pace. While this wasn't as memorable as other Vertigo stuff like The Exterminators, it's still worth my recommendation to anybody looking for comics with a more literary bent.