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Blast (Comic Book)

 Blast (Comic Book)
type
TVTItem
 Blast (Comic Book)
label
Blast (Comic Book)
 Blast (Comic Book)
page
Blast
 Blast (Comic Book)
comment
Blast is a 2012 comic by French indie cartoonist Manu Larcenet. The story follows the doomed journey of Polza Mancini, a homeless drifter and former writer who's being held in police custody for unspecified crimes. At the behest of the detectives questioning him, Polza begins to recount his life story to them. It all started when he experienced what he calls "the blast," a vision he had of a world without morality or social guidelines. Enamored by the idea of a life without restraint, he decides to abandon civil society to live hedonistically on the fringes of human civilization. What follows is a dark and esoteric character study of a man who's willingly forsaken his humanity to become a beast.There are four books in the series, which are titled as such: 1. Dead Weight 2. The Apocalypse According to Saint Jacky 3. Head First 4. I Hope the Buddhists Are Wrong
 Blast (Comic Book)
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2023-04-14T14:57:19Z
 Blast (Comic Book)
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2023-04-14T14:57:19Z
 Blast (Comic Book)
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DBTropes
 Blast (Comic Book) / int_1133e720
type
Fat Slob
 Blast (Comic Book) / int_1133e720
comment
Fat Slob: As mentioned above, Polza deliberately strove to be filthy, unrefined, and hedonistic while wandering the countryside.
 Blast (Comic Book) / int_1133e720
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 Blast (Comic Book) / int_1439161f
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Heroic BSoD
 Blast (Comic Book) / int_1439161f
comment
Heroic BSoD: Polza undergoes this when he first experiences the blast. He comes out of it a changed man.
 Blast (Comic Book) / int_1439161f
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 Blast (Comic Book) / int_1869b4b1
type
Unreliable Narrator
 Blast (Comic Book) / int_1869b4b1
comment
Unreliable Narrator: It's quickly established that Polza tends to withhold information, consciously or otherwise. In the first book, it's revealed that Polza was truncating slightly while discussing the circumstances surrounding his brother Trolezin's death. Polza merely says he died in a car accident. The detectives later reveal to Polza they know he'd been driving the car... and that he'd been massively drunk that evening.
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 Blast (Comic Book) / int_18d15922
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Title Drop
 Blast (Comic Book) / int_18d15922
comment
Title Drop: Happens in each book at one point or another.
 Blast (Comic Book) / int_18d15922
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Blast (Comic Book) / int_18d15922
 Blast (Comic Book) / int_1c6ded94
type
Wicked Cultured
 Blast (Comic Book) / int_1c6ded94
comment
Wicked Cultured: In spite of being a homeless alcoholic, Polza is very poetic and articulate. Given that he used to be a writer, it makes sense for him to have such an erudite demeanor. His tendency to philosophize at length annoys the detectives.
 Blast (Comic Book) / int_1c6ded94
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Blast (Comic Book) / int_1c6ded94
 Blast (Comic Book) / int_319e4a2f
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Even Evil Has Standards
 Blast (Comic Book) / int_319e4a2f
comment
Even Evil Has Standards: For all of Polza's vile and amoral behavior, there are certain actions that are too far for him. At the end of the second book, Polza is horrified when he stumbles across Saint Jacky having just raped and murdered a young woman. Polza is visibly shaken and ends up with lingering traumatic memories of the event. In the fourth book, Polza is similarly shocked at discovering that Roland is a serial rapist rather than a mere peeping tom. Having been raped himself, Polza understandably doesn't take this revelation well.
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 Blast (Comic Book) / int_4e7c4536
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Wham Line
 Blast (Comic Book) / int_4e7c4536
comment
Wham Line: A few across the entire story. In the second book, Polza discovers that his associate Jacky has just stabbed a young heroin addict to death. Jacky tells him "she's not my first." Carol delivers one in book four when she tells Polza about the true nature of Roland's legal troubles.
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 Blast (Comic Book) / int_4f6bd2da
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Nature Is Not Nice
 Blast (Comic Book) / int_4f6bd2da
comment
Nature Is Not Nice: This is part of why Polza loves the beauty of the natural world. Rather than romanticizing it, he appreciates how uncomplicated it is in its harshness and brutality.
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Blast (Comic Book) / int_4f6bd2da
 Blast (Comic Book) / int_51300dbf
type
Fat Bastard
 Blast (Comic Book) / int_51300dbf
comment
Fat Bastard: Polza's weight is drawn attention to multiple times. It's not just that he's fat, but he's also shown to be a disgusting slob. He doesn't bathe regularly, he wears the same clothes for days on end (which are frequently stained by his own blood and filth), and he eats with his mouth open while literally cramming food down his gullet. Decency is one of many things Polza left behind with the blast.
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 Blast (Comic Book) / int_5d5cc3fd
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Through the Eyes of Madness
 Blast (Comic Book) / int_5d5cc3fd
comment
Through the Eyes of Madness: Whenever Polza experiences the blast, the world around him is depicted as crude, brightly-colored scribbles that look like they were drawn by a child. It's suggested that this is how he's perceiving specific objects, animals, and people. What he and the reader don't see are the violent murders he commits while in this trance-like state.
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 Blast (Comic Book) / int_61b132a5
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Sinister Schnoz
 Blast (Comic Book) / int_61b132a5
comment
Sinister Schnoz: Polza has a long and beak-like nose, which is contrasted by the roundness of his head.
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 Blast (Comic Book) / int_62434fe2
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Sanity Slippage
 Blast (Comic Book) / int_62434fe2
comment
Sanity Slippage: This is a possible explanation for some of the more bizarre things Polza sees (or thinks he sees), such as the dream he has about Carol Oakley long before meeting her. Polza is remarkably candid about it.
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 Blast (Comic Book) / int_6d332aea
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Driven to Suicide
 Blast (Comic Book) / int_6d332aea
comment
Driven to Suicide: Polza does this after learning that he killed Carol.
 Blast (Comic Book) / int_6d332aea
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 Blast (Comic Book) / int_72a6bff0
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Eloquent in My Native Tongue
 Blast (Comic Book) / int_72a6bff0
comment
Eloquent in My Native Tongue: At one point Polza meets a Serbian day-laborer named Bojan. Despite barely being able to speak French, he's routinely referred to as a "poet" by the other workers and is shown to be surprisingly erudite if the translating they do is to be believed.
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 Blast (Comic Book) / int_7374ab13
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Once More, with Clarity
 Blast (Comic Book) / int_7374ab13
comment
After Polza survives running across a busy highway, he experiences the blast. A full-page illustration shows a humongous moai sitting on the highway with a single car approaching in the distance. We see this same panel again in the epilogue but with Polza standing by himself to the right of the moai. The lone car shown earlier is revealed to be a police cruiser, which was responding to a call about a dazed man wandering around on the highway. Polza murdered the two officers responding to the scene while he was in his trance.
 Blast (Comic Book) / int_7374ab13
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 Blast (Comic Book) / int_79503ae9
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Stout Strength
 Blast (Comic Book) / int_79503ae9
comment
Stout Strength: Polza is surprisingly strong and fleet-footed in spite of weighing three hundred pounds. Throughout the story he's shown to have no problem hiking long distances, sleeping in the wilderness for months on end, and outrunning people chasing him. He's also strong enough to have repeatedly beat people to death with his bare fists without doing lasting damage to his hands.
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 Blast (Comic Book) / int_7eebe99c
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The Alcoholic
 Blast (Comic Book) / int_7eebe99c
comment
The Alcoholic: Polza has a long-standing drinking problem that's taken a toll on his physical and mental well-being. He somehow hasn't died from liver failure even though he drinks straight gin everyday and routinely has life-threatening nosebleeds because his blood can't coagulate. Polza rationalizes his constant drinking as a tool for self-discovery on his journey, an idea the detectives are immediately skeptical of.
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 Blast (Comic Book) / int_851dda8f
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Humanoid Abomination
 Blast (Comic Book) / int_851dda8f
comment
Humanoid Abomination: Instead of a nose, Polza's father is inexplicably drawn with a massive and gnarled beak. He's the only character in the comic drawn like this and no one draws attention to it. Near the end of his life he barely looks human, with the beak and his emaciated body making him look like an inhuman monster. Polza acts with appropriate fear and trepidation whenever he has visions of his father coming back to haunt him in this form.
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 Blast (Comic Book) / int_898ff050
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Villain Protagonist
 Blast (Comic Book) / int_898ff050
comment
Villain Protagonist: Polza is a gleefully amoral and self-interested man who feels no shame for any of the horrible behavior he gets up to.
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 Blast (Comic Book) / int_89b8822f
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Go Mad from the Revelation
 Blast (Comic Book) / int_89b8822f
comment
Go Mad from the Revelation: The eponymous blast is an unusual take on this trope. While the blast compels Polza to adopt a dark new worldview, he's not even remotely shocked or horrified by what he sees. If anything, he's overjoyed about the revelations he experiences.
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 Blast (Comic Book) / int_8e20979
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Wham Episode
 Blast (Comic Book) / int_8e20979
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Wham Episode: The epilogue. It reveals that Polza was a serial murderer and that he left a trail of bodies during his travels
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 Blast (Comic Book) / int_916c72b3
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Rule of Symbolism
 Blast (Comic Book) / int_916c72b3
comment
Rule of Symbolism: Birds and especially owls are a recurring motif throughout the story. Polza visually resembles one because of his nose and he's routinely shown being fascinated by the birds he encounters in his travels. It's possible that the owl shown at the end of the epilogue is a reincarnated Polza.
 Blast (Comic Book) / int_916c72b3
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 Blast (Comic Book) / int_93399c3c
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Patricide
 Blast (Comic Book) / int_93399c3c
comment
Patricide: The epilogue reveals that Polza murdered his father, which is what exposed him to the blast in the first place.
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 Blast (Comic Book) / int_957e5fc2
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Villainous Breakdown
 Blast (Comic Book) / int_957e5fc2
comment
Villainous Breakdown: After he learns that he murdered Carol, Polza has a truly apocalyptic break-down. A series of disturbing memories flash before his eyes, culminating in red-tinged images of Carol, Trolezin, and his father, all of whom died by his hand.
 Blast (Comic Book) / int_957e5fc2
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 Blast (Comic Book) / int_95b7c400
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Faux Affably Evil
 Blast (Comic Book) / int_95b7c400
comment
Faux Affably Evil: Polza swings back and forth between being this and Affably Evil. At times he seems like an intelligent, witty, and thoughtful man who has a deep appreciation for nature. But more often than not he shows himself to be a smug and detestable scumbag on top of being violently unstable.
 Blast (Comic Book) / int_95b7c400
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 Blast (Comic Book) / int_96d2ce42
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In Vino Veritas
 Blast (Comic Book) / int_96d2ce42
comment
In Vino Veritas: Polza references this trope in the second book while discussing how alcohol has helped him discover who he really is deep down.
 Blast (Comic Book) / int_96d2ce42
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 Blast (Comic Book) / int_970c8a84
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Big Fun
 Blast (Comic Book) / int_970c8a84
comment
Big Fun: In a twisted sort of way, Polza often acts like this during his travels. He repeatedly shares his gin with the friendlier people he comes across and makes lively conversation with them. He's very wry and jovial while talking to the detectives, which they rightfully find unnerving. Saint Jacky comes across like this as well initially, given that he's an eccentric and cheery drug dealer who lives in a make-shift underground bunker.
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 Blast (Comic Book) / int_9d12bbc1
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Foreshadowing
 Blast (Comic Book) / int_9d12bbc1
comment
Foreshadowing: When Polza happens upon Jacky standing over his most recent victim, Jacky ominously tells him that "we're the same." After Polza survives running across a busy highway, he experiences the blast. A full-page illustration shows a humongous moai sitting on the highway with a single car approaching in the distance. We see this same panel again in the epilogue but with Polza standing by himself to the right of the moai. The lone car shown earlier is revealed to be a police cruiser, which was responding to a call about a dazed man wandering around on the highway. Polza murdered the two officers responding to the scene while he was in his trance. At one point Carol is applying make-up on Polza's face to make him look like the grim reaper. She jokingly brings up a trite saying about how "you don't put on makeup to hide your face, but to reveal its secrets." Polza is a serial killer. His secret is that death follows in his wake. While living with the Oakleys, the police visit the household to ask questions about a murder in the area. Polza and the Oakleys assume that the murder in question was performed by Jacky, who they likewise assume has blamed Polza for the crime. As it turns out, the police were investigating the deaths of the officers Polza murdered on the highway. Polza was indeed the culprit. Throughout the narrative, Polza is haunted by visions of his skeletal, emaciated father. Polza seems to feel an unspecific sense of guilt and dread whenever he thinks about him. If the epilogue is to be believed, Polza first experienced the blast after strangling his father to death while he laid in his hospital bed.
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 Blast (Comic Book) / int_bbf11c0
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Genius Bruiser
 Blast (Comic Book) / int_bbf11c0
comment
Genius Bruiser: In addition to his intelligence, Polza is a lot stronger and more agile than he looks. At one point the detectives describe him as being more like "a cornered animal that would do anything to survive than some obese couch potato."
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 Blast (Comic Book) / int_cb70651c
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Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane
 Blast (Comic Book) / int_cb70651c
comment
Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: It's not abundantly clear what the blasts are. Polza theorizes that the blast is a gift placed upon him by the universe for becoming a "moai." Putting aside Polza's quasi-mystical musings, it appears they're either seizures or psychotic breaks from reality. They're usually triggered by significant stress, injury, the use of potent drugs, or unpredictable emotional stimuli.
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 Blast (Comic Book) / int_d52d28b6
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Hypocrite
 Blast (Comic Book) / int_d52d28b6
comment
Hypocrite: Although Polza portrays himself as being proudly amoral, there are moments where he's morally outraged by the things he sees (not without good reason though).
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 Blast (Comic Book) / int_e542d80a
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Gonk
 Blast (Comic Book) / int_e542d80a
comment
Gonk: Most of the characters qualify as this but Polza especially is bizarre and unappealing to look at. It's not just that he's a morbidly obese man who makes unnerving facial expressions, but his proportions are rather odd-looking. He has a tiny head on a huge, broad-shouldered body, which almost makes him resemble a bird perched on top of a moai statue. The exaggerated way the characters look is sharply contrasted by how realistically their surroundings are drawn, making the world they inhabit feel even more eerie and threatening.
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Dark and Troubled Past
 Blast (Comic Book) / int_fed93e1b
comment
Dark and Troubled Past: Polza is implied to have one at the outset of the narrative. It's increasingly delved into as the series progresses.
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Blast (Comic Book)

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Blast (Comic Book)
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Comic Books of the 2010s / int_5ed0955c
 Blast (Comic Book)
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Eloquent in My Native Tongue / int_5ed0955c
 Blast (Comic Book)
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Stout Strength / int_5ed0955c