These are comic book short stories by the incredible Brazilian artist/writer twins Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon. While it doesn't measure up to their stunning graphic novel "Daytripper", this is still a brilliant book showcasing their talents of writing and drawing contemporary Brazilian society that comes to life as you read it and dances across your mind as you turn the pages.
The stories are a mixture of fact and fiction. In the opening dream sequence the two are young men standing before a door that leads to their future. A pixie and a talking bird stand before it urging them on despite neither man knowing what the future holds for them. The book takes this beautiful beginning and leads the reader through a series of vignettes that are purely marvellous.
The story of a man and a woman who meet in a bar and fall in love, told in wordless panels. A man and woman meet in the street and spend the day together, getting to know one another - but things take a turn for the extraordinary in the end. In a surreal story of a man going to pee in a bar toilet, he meets his past and present self as parallel worlds converge at the urinal. The story is drawn by both artists showing the subtle differences of their art and approach to comics as the story replays twice.
The book feels very much like a young man's book with most of the stories revolving around burgeoning relationships and love. The brothers merge this theme with their more ethereal stories in the best story of the book "Happy Birthday My Friend", where a dead friend's ghost is resurrected on his birthday. Ba and Moon masterfully show the different relationships each character had with the dead friend while celebrating all that we take for granted, making the reader hyper-aware of life seen through the eyes of someone who no longer has it.
The stories pop with energy and the reader will feel their heart swell as they read the book, so overwhelming is the joy and beauty of life portrayed on these pages. Fabio Moon's art is amongst the finest in comics. While "Daytripper" was a revelation, especially when Dave Stewart coloured it, here in black and white Moon uses the light and shadows to create the colours in your mind. He is without doubt a true master of his art and the stories without words will burn themselves into your soul.
I can't recommend the work of these two artists more highly. "Daytripper" is their masterpiece (so far, they're still in their 30s!) but "De:Tales" is a fine book as well foreshadowing many of the themes and ideas found in their later work. “De:Tales” is a superb comic book that deserves as big an audience as possible, it is simply a must-read.