Last year, I’m sure you must have heard of a pair of brothers by the name Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon. You really should have if you didn’t. Why? Because last year, the duo came out with the phenomenal Daytripper, a meditation on stories, life and death that absolutely blew away critics everywhere (ourselves included). Of course, the duo are known for many great comics. There are two volumes of Matt Fraction’s Casanova, and Gabriel Ba worked on the two volumes of Gerard Way’s Umbrella Academy – all of which belong in your collection at home.
However, before all of that, back when the team was “the next duo to watch for”, there came a little collection of slice of life stories called De:TALES – Stories From Urban Brazil. That’s what I would like to talk to you about today.
Click after the cut to find out why.
I suppose it’s fair to say that in this world, in our life, there are many things that go quite well as mere slices. For example, sometimes nothing hits the spot like a nice slice of pizza. Other days, who can ever resist a nice slice of cake? (Don’t lie – you can’t do it either.) And just as delicious and without all the calories, there is nothing quite like a slice of life comic. These comics take a look at our lives and reimagine them in unique ways that help to change or influence our outlooks and refine our own histories in unique and quaint ways that help you (the reader) realize the vast enormity of the world we live in, and perhaps our role in the greater game. A lot of people don’t view them in as grandiose terms as myself, but that’s ultimately what it has always boiled down to for me: if I read a comic that is based on nothing more than the daily interactions of it’s narrator/creator, I’ll often times pick and choose at things to relate to which in turn makes me reflect on my own life. That’s ultimately the greatest accomplishment any form of media can have on you – if watching, reading or listening to something allows you to enter yourself into the equation of said media, then it’s really the ultimate form of flattery towards whatever creator is involved.
Such is the case with De:TALES, to put it lightly. De:TALES is a collection of short stories by Ba and Moon that see the duo writing, illustrating, or writing/illustrating in alternating forms. The stories contained within are all meditations on the nature of dreams, memories, life, love, happiness, sadness, life and death. If Daytripper is a story about stories and their impact in creating and maintaining life, then De:TALES is all of the above without the final message. The running theme of De:TALES is simply “life is beautiful,” and considering the talent behind the book it’s a very easy message to convey.
Ba and Moon are very underrated in terms of their storytelling ability if only because they haven’t had as many chances to truly shine on their own. Yes, we have Daytripper now, but when De:TALES was released originally in 2006 we did not yet have Umbrella Academy and Casanova – which came out originally in 2006, and I say this next bit with all due respect to the fantastic comic that it is – was not very popular or widely known to the extent that it was a cult hit and the second collection of stories was never even collected. We know the names Ba and Moon now, when we all should have really know the names back then (and I too am guilty for originally missing this graphic novel, which I ended up finding in a used bookstore one day after I’d already read the original Casanova hardcover and the Umbrella Academy). Ba and Moon are able, both as writers and artists, to capture the magic of life in all it’s forms: fleeting glances with a pretty girl in a park, having a night out with your friends, seeing an old friend long lost to the sands of time and lifeitself. All of these things are beautifully represented in this collection of only tangentially related stories which can be picked up and read at any time and enjoyed repeatedly over and over again.
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Most importantly, though, it shows the earliest (published, I think) form of collaboration between the two. I would argue that anyone who even tertially enjoys comics has to appreciate the artistic stylings of Ba and Moon (because really, anyone with eyes should love this), but it’s not that often that the two work intrinsically together like this unless on a special project like Daytripper. They’re often busy working on their own things, with Ba currently working on Casanova: Avarita. However, their art is some of the finest and most kinetic in comics. Ba and Moon’s art both jumps from the pages of their respective stories, and it’s amazing to see that happen in a book that doesn’t feature fancy superheroics, fast cars, or dimensional hopping. This book just is; like life, it’s the simple and boring world we live in, lit up and given life based on what we make of it. That’s the ultimate metaphor of the stories, in a way; stories, like life, are what you make of them. It’s all about how you tell the story, and all things considered there are few storytellers who can be so fantastically on point with their work as Ba and Moon.
The long and short of it is quite simple: Daytripper was just nominated for two Harvey awards, so if you somehow haven’t read it by now then go to your local shop and get it. However, while you’re there, there is a much smaller and just as good collection of a different yet similar nature that you can/should grab and enjoy as well. Obviously somewhat off the momentum of the success of the aforementioned Daytripper, Dark Horse has reprinted De:TALES in a nice hardcover version that should be fairly easy to find everywhere (or that you can buy right here and now if you like). If you’ve enjoyed the twins work in any of their assorted titles and adored Daytripper as much as the rest of the world, De:TALES is assuredly a nice addition to your collection.
