Daytripper

Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá’s Daytripper is a magical walk through a life. The non-chronological narrative ends each chapter with the death of the protagonist, Brás. Initially disorienting, the text quickly engages readers with the story of the obituary writer while keeping them on their toes since they can’t be sure of the rules of this world. Flipping through days of Brás’ life, readers are encouraged to think about how we give time and life meaning. Death is both real and imagined throughout the text. The end of each chapter leaves the audience to decide where the “truth” of the narrative ends and where  the imagined ending begins. Clearly, Brás doesn’t die at the end of each chapter, but how much should the audience trust what comes before the death in that case? 

Moon and Bá blend the graphic form with magical realism and post-colonial concepts, making the text work on several levels in the classroom. I can’t hide the fact that this is one of my favorite books on its own, but I also really love teaching it. It works well as a cultural text because it embeds issues of race and history through it’s use of Iemanjá, the hybrid ocean goddess worshipped by indegenous Brazilians and Africans brought to Brazil through the slave trade, in Brás’ life. Brás is mistaken as a foreigner in the tourist-tread city hosting the festival to Iemanjá. He’s confronted by his Whiteness and privilege traveling with his Black best-friend, Jorge. While the moment is fleeting, discussing how race functions in Brazil and the use of a goddess worshipped by historically enslaved people throughout the novel gives plenty of room for students to consider the issues in the undercurrent of the text. 

The artwork of the piece is engrossing through watercolor style that increases and decreases in saturation depending on the realism, magic, and mood. Students quickly pick up on the visual queues that mark the text. I think the piece is a great introduction to graphic novels, especially for skeptics of the form. It draws on literary traditions and works through motifs of death, love, parental relationships, and self-reflection. There are some graphic novels that seem to use visuals as incidental - merely a bonus to the text. Daytripper doesn’t work this way. While I can imagine the story working as a traditional novel, it would lose some of the beauty and symbolism in a different medium.