What would you say is the most important day in your life? Well your birth, obviously; the day you crawled into the world. A miracle of nature ready to enter into life and what we call the grant human comedy. But immediately after your date of birth, what becomes your most important day, or some might say second most important day? Death would be pretty high on the list for most people along with marriage and the birth of their own children. But that's what it's all about, isn't it? Life and death, or life and continuing life, as the whole process keeps "perpetuating itself through the sands of time," as a Mr. Sam Eliot would describe it.

And the epic Brazilian brothers team of Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon bring to us just that in their treatise about life, reflecting its ups and down, strikes and gutters. Known for their art work on Casanova and the Eisner award winning, Umbrella Academy, these two are absolutely magnificent when telling a tale. The artwork is truly unique, taking us from the bustling city Sao Paulo to the glittering beaches of Salvador. 

One of the other big reasons this work stands out among the multitude of comics out there, is that I've truly never seen anything like this before in the comics medium. Sure I'm new to the format and just getting started, but Daytripper stands out. A comic dealing with a Brazilian slice of life, featuring one man without any type of super heroics going on; who ever heard of it? There are so many super heroes out there that we often forget about the literary gems that also exist in the comics world. I defiantly plan on reading their other work set in Brazil, entitled De: Tales, for another bit of "stepping outside your comfort zone" reading.

But along with the writing, the coloring on this book would have to be my favorite. Dave Stewart does a wonderful job gifting us with a splash of color from start to finish. 

In the ten-issue miniseries Daytripper, we are the privileged viewers into the life of Bras de Oliva Domingos, a depressed obituary writer, who dreams of more for himself, as he struggles through life and trying to break free of his father's literary shadow in the first few issues. The audience trips through the most significant days in his life, everyone ending with his death by the end of the issue. We see what is most precious to Bras'; his lovers, his friends, his family as they also come to terms with what really matters in life.

This work deals with life at its harshest. No matter how much we plan, we can never cease to be surprised by the unexpected events that change our lives forever. Living every day as if it were your last certainly resonates with this work. But overall I think the underlying message of this work is hope. Hope for a better life for our futures, hope for much better lives for our children's futures. Because at the end of the day, though our lives are very meaningful and precious to us, we have to let them go someday and go back from whence we've come. But life always continue on, fighting for its right to exist in the vast cosmos.

If you haven't picked up Daytripper, by Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon you are doing yourself a great disservice, not only for your mind, but for your heart. And though the series reaches its conclusion in a couple issues, it's never too late to go back and find the previous singles or to wait for the completed trade that I'm sure will be read for decades, and hopefully centuries to come.