Daytripper

Vertigo Box 4, here we go!  (I think this box is pretty much all the Vertigo I have left that isn’t Sandman, Fables, Preacher, or Swamp Thing.  (What a Mount Rushmore of comics, just from Vertigo alone!))

Daytripper 1-10

As good as I remember.  Such a beautiful match of concept, art, and writing by Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba: Tell the life story of a man.  In each issue, he dies at a different point in his life.  And with each death, his life has different meaning.  The lives he touches, the things he accomplishes, the amount of untapped or spent potential; It changes with each scenario.  It’s astoundingly poignant.

But what I think it reinforces most is that there’s never a good time to die.  There will always be regrets, missed opportunities, and could-have-beens.  There’s never a good time.

This gets about as close to Pure Joy as possible without actually making it across.  The last couple of issues don’t quite get there in terms of wrapping it up with the same elegance as the rest of the series.  It’s a little too neat, too expected.  Perhaps because it gets as close to “a good time to die” as one could hope for.  While lovely, and and how everyone would hope to go, it’s too easy in a series that forces you to face harsh realities.

 

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Really good