Human Diastrophism, also known as Blood of Palomar, is a graphic novel by American cartoonist Gilbert Hernandez. It appeared in serialized form in the comic book Love and Rockets in 1987–88, and it first appeared in collected form in 1989 in The Complete Love and Rockets, Volume 8: Blood of Palomar. The story tells of a serial killer in the fictional Latin American village of Palomar, and the political and social implications of the insular villagers' growing contact with the outside world.
Background and publication
Love and Rockets was an alternative comic book begun in the early 1980s showcasing the work of the Hernandez brothers: Mario (b. 1953), Gilbert (b. 1957), and Jaime (b. 1959). The stories featured sensitive portrayals of prominent female and multiethnic characters—especially Latinos—which were uncommon in American comics of the time.
A version of Gilbert's Luba appeared in the first issue, but the character as she was to be known first appeared in his Palomar stories as a strong-willed, hammer-wielding bathhouse girl, and makes her way to the center of political and social happenings in the fictional Latin American village of Palomar. Hernandez gradually took advantage of serialization to broaden his narrative scope; the stories became longer and more ambitious, and Hernandez delved more deeply into the backgrounds of his characters and their community, and sociopolitical issues.
Human Diastrophism appeared in Love and Rockets 21–26 (July 1987 – June 1988, and then in a revised and collected form as part of The Complete Love and Rockets, Volume 8: Blood of Palomar from Fantagraphics Books. The story has since appeared in a number of other collections, including the third Heartbreak Soup volume from Titan Books in 1989, titled Human Diastrophism: A Heartbreak Soup Graphic Novel; the Palomar: The Heartbreak Soup Stories in 2003 from Fantagraphics; and in 2007 the fifth volume of the Love and Rockets Library from Fantagraphics, titled Human Diastrophism.
Synopsis
The story weaves several narrative threads in the fictional Central American village of Palomar. An archaeological excavation team that arrives in Palomar brings a forgotten former resident, Tomaso, who begins serial killing. Among the victims are a Swedish archaeologist, the mayor, and his wife.
The schoolteacher Heraclio introduces modern art to the aspiring artist Humberto, whom he finds secretly sketching the locals. This flood of ideas overwhelms Humberto, who feverishly redoubles his artistic efforts. He sketches Tomaso's attempted murder of a local girl, but keeps this discovery to himself. Police discover the sketches and realize Tomaso is the murderer, but a local man, stricken with grief over having murdered his own children, confesses to Tomaso's murders as well. Humberto confounds the investigation by refusing to testify, asserting his "work speaks for itself".
Growing personal anxieties lead Luba, the owner of Palomar's bathhouse, to verbally and physically abuse her eldest of her four daughters, Maricela. Among the archaeological workers, Luba finds Khamo, with whom she has twice had sexual affairs. The pair begin another, cut short when Khamo falls for another woman. At the height of her frustrations, Luba hands over her youngest three daughters to their unknowing biological fathers: Guadalupe to Heraclio, whom Luba had seduced when he was a teenager and whose wife is expecting their own first child; and Doralis and Casimira to Khamo.
Tonantzin, who has a reputation as shallow and sexually promiscuous, has become politically conscious and devotes her energies to preparing for nuclear Armageddon. She takes to dressing in the manner of her indigenous ancestors, which alarms her friends and draws the disapprobation of the locals. Her sister Diana discovers letters to Tonantzin from a prison inmate, Geraldo, who had once held her hostage, and which relate an apocalyptic political vision. She learns Maricela had read the letters to the near-illiterate Tonantzin, and had forged many more of them after Geraldo turned to Christian topics, as she and her secret lover Riri are attracted to Tonantzin and wish to keep her coming back. The pair run away from Palomar to escape Luba's abuse and the prejudice the village would have against their affair.