Palomar (comics)

{{Short description|Graphic novel by Gilbert Hernandez}}

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{{Infobox graphic novel|

|title=Palomar: The Heartbreak Soup Stories

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|publisher=Fantagraphics Books

|date=2003

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|origpublication=Love and Rockets

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|origisbn=1560975393

|writers=Gilbert Hernandez

|artists=Gilbert Hernandez

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Palomar (subtitled The Heartbreak Soup Stories) is the title of a graphic novel written and drawn by Gilbert Hernandez and published in 2003 by Fantagraphics Books ({{ISBN|1-56097-539-3}}). It collects work previously published within the pages of Love and Rockets (volume one). Palomar is the fictional town in Latin America where all the stories presented are set.{{Cite journal |last=Glaser |first=Jennifer |date=2007 |title=Review of Palomar: The Heartbreak Soup Stories |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/30029805 |journal=MELUS |volume=32 |issue=3 |pages=264–267 |doi=10.1093/melus/32.3.264 |jstor=30029805 |issn=0163-755X}} Palomar was included in Time magazine's Best Comics of 2003 list.{{Cite magazine |last=Arnold |first=Andrew |date=2003-12-18 |title=Top 10 Everything 2003 - TIME |url=https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2001842_2001833_2002059,00.html |access-date=2024-02-03 |magazine=Time |language=en-US |issn=0040-781X}}

Plot

Set in the titular fictional town in an unnamed Central American nation, Palomar follows Luba, a businesswoman who works at the town's movie theater in order to care for her seven illegitimate children. The comic has drawn praise for its portrayal of female characters and Latin American culture within the often-misogynistic comics industry.Brett Burns, Love in the Time of Comics: The Intersection of Gender and Latino Culture in Gilbert Hernandez's Palomar, Diss., (University of Georgia, 2005), accessed December 20th, 2022, https://getd.libs.uga.edu/pdfs/burns_brett_t_200508_ma.pdf The comic notably defies stereotypes about Latin Americans, with the titular town and its residents rarely conforming to stereotypical perceptions and not being treated as "foreign."Poblete, J. (2023). Los cómics en un país tropical: Palomar de Gilbert Hernández. Revista Iberoamericana, 77(234), 177-193.

References