Issue ten invalidates most of, if not all of, issue nine. Daytripper ends exactly the way I figured it would… Brás is a happy old man. Because Moon and Bá spend the second half of the series goofing around, they miss out on the most interesting parts of the story. Like, where’d the sister go (she finally gets mentioned here)? Or, where’d the half sister go?
The series isn’t misogynistic, but it’s something–it doesn’t recognize women as being as valid characters, only men.
Worse, the whole point of this issue is some letter Brás’s dad wrote him about being a dad. We never got to see Brás as a dad. I don’t think he had a single scene with his kid until this issue.
Daytripper is a lovely effort from a couple guys who draw beautifully.
On some levels, they write well.
But not on the most important ones.
I found Daytripper an interesting experiment, with some very nice moments. Funny, I didn’t even notice the attitude towards the female characters until you mentioned it. Guess that says a lot about me. During the series I was tipped early about the “imagined” deaths as Bras turns out to be an obituary writer. I just figured he was making up scenarios of himself as a means of self reflection about his life, and happy to go along with the ride. I guess in ways you can compare this formal exercise with writers like Morrison. Not necessarily successful in its execution, but who else is doing this stuff, and are comics the better for it?