Manu, could you tell us more about Blast?

I wanted a change. I didn’t want to continue the path of Ordinary Victories. I wanted to do a slower narrative with more pages, more silence, more white space. I felt this urge when reading Japanese manga works, such as those by Jiro Taniguchi, where sometimes entire pages are filled with close-ups of “silence.” It creates a certain atmosphere. I wanted to achieve this Zen atmosphere, to allow more time for reflection… There is very little text.

Could you sum up the story of Blast for us?

The concept revolves around a guy who is held at the police station for two days where he tells his life story. So for 48 hours, the guy who is there for doing something brutal talks about himself, his story… It’s about change. How does one act when one feels bad in our society? What is our alternative? Ultimately, I don’t know. But in any case, throughout the four volumes I talk about the things that concerned me at that time. You see a multifaceted character who goes through the last six years of his life. You see him change. I don’t like characters that don’t change.