History ComicBook / Blast

* AmbiguousDisorder: Polza already seemed disturbed and unstable before he discovered the blast. He's extremely anti-social, and he routinely abuses booze and drugs. It's briefly mentioned that he'd already been arrested several times prior to the events of the story, with the charges ranging from indecency and drunkenness to assault, the specifics of which are never detailed. In spite of all that, Polza is remarkably lucid in recounting his life story. This leads the detectives interrogating him to doubt that he's as "crazy" as he's letting on.

-->--[[VillainProtagonist Polza]] [[StrawNihilist Mancini]]

* BigFun: 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.

* [[spoiler: DrivenToSuicide]]: [[spoiler: Polza does this [[DespairEventHorizon after learning that he killed Carol]].]]
-->"[[TitleDrop I hope the Buddhists are wrong.]] [[spoiler: I hope I never come back]]."
* EenieMeenieMinyMoai: Moai statues are a recurring symbol in Polza's delusions. He sees them as a representation of his own determination and resolve in the face adversity. It's possible to interpret the moais as a symbol of how detached Polza is from the rest of humanity when he experiences the blast. He ceases to be a man and becomes a cold, grim-faced chunk of stone that regards the world before him with silent contempt.

* {{Foreshadowing}}

* HeroicBSOD: Polza undergoes this when he first experiences the blast. [[GoMadFromTheRevelation He comes out of it]] [[FaceHeelTurn a]] [[TheUnfettered changed]] [[StrawNihilist man]].

* [[spoiler: {{Patricide}}]]: The epilogue reveals that [[spoiler: Polza murdered his father, [[GoMadFromTheRevelation which is what exposed him to the blast in the first place]].]]

* {{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 [[NightmareFace 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, [[UncannyValley making the world they inhabit feel even more eerie and threatening]].

->"I was suspended between earth and sky, brought into the world for a second time. I was weightless... [[FatBastard me!]] It was all so clear. I saw the world as it truly is, not as I had percieved it. And not only was I part of it, but I was of its very nature... its origin. I glimped a limitless world, cleansed of all morality... and it was magnificent."

* AmbiguousDisorder: Polza already seemed disturbed and unstable before he discovered the blast. He's extremely anti-social, and he routinely abuses booze and drugs. It's briefly mentioned that he'd already been arrested several times prior to the events of the story, with the charges ranging from indecency and drunkeness to assault, the specifics of which are never detailed. In spite of all that, Polza is remarkably lucid in recounting his life story. This leads the detectives interrogating him to doubt that he's as "crazy" as he's letting on.

-->"Is that what he told you? [[spoiler: My dad didn't go to prison for oggling women. He also raped them]]."

* GoMadFromTheRevelation: The blast is an unusual take on this trope. [[StartOfDarkness 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.

* EenieMeenieMinyMoai: Moai statues are a recurring symbol in Polza's delusions.

** 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 lone van approaching. [[spoiler: It's later revealed that this was a police cruiser and that Polza murdered two officers responding to the scene while in his trance. The epilogue shows the same panel [[OnceMoreWithClarity but with Polza standing by himself to the right of the moai]].]]
** At one point Carol is applying make-up on Polza's face to make him look like a skeleton or maybe the grim reaper. She jokingly references a trite saying about how "you don't put on makeup to hide your face, but to reveal its secrets." [[spoiler: Polza is a serial killer. His secret is that death follows in his wake, as if he's the grim reaper.]]

** Throughout the narrative, Polza is haunted by visions of his skeletal, emaciated father. Polza seems to feel an unspecific sense of guilt and horror whenever he thinks about him. [[spoiler: If the epilogue is to be believed, Polza first experienced the blast after murdering him.]]

* GoMadFromTheRevelation: The blast is an unusual take on this trope. [[StartOfDarkness 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 ''thrilled'' about the revelations he experiences.

* SinisterSchnoz: Polza has a comically long nose, which is contrasted by round, stone-like head.

* UnreliableNarrator: 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 death of his brother Trolezin in a car accident. The detectives reveal that Polza was the driver and that he'd been massively drunk that evening.