There is a heated discussion going on in the german PANINI messageboard concerning translations. Especially yours truly has been getting some flack because I posted a link to one of my earlier posts. I didn´t do that to spite anybody but I just wanted to say : " Hey, guys, that dude you all find so excellent is a pretty crappy translator. Don´t believe me ? Read this. "And now the old arguments are brought up and people are called traitors or spiteful because of envy. But I already knew that before posting. It´s not the first time this discussion took place in the PANINI messageboard or any other comic related messageboard in Germany. And the result will be the same as all the other times. There are certain regulations the translators have to fulfill, the company doesn´t want to pay for quality work and it´s the best possible under the circumstances. That may all be right but if that is your line of argumentation then you have not read my post. I don´t know what you read but surely it was something other. Because nowhere in this post do I say that ALL GERMAN TRANSLATIONS ARE BAD, it´s just this one guy who keeps screwing up. Now I could have ignored the fact that 90 % of the translators are doing a good job and you have to be careful before buying german comics that you don´t get the 10 % but then what´s the whole point in writing ?
All longtime readers will remember an earlier post with the title WHAT ABOUT GERMAN COMICS ? where I elabotated a little my reading habits concerning german comics. And it´s just the truth that....yes, I used to read a lot of comics in the german version....and no, I don´t do that anymore. So it´s my duty to not leave it at that cryptic remark and tell the reasons for it. That´s the first time mentioned it and being the positive guy I am I thought I could leave it at that. Which clearly was not the case. But before my brother bought the comic that I analysed in the blog I had no reason to make an indepth post about it which was partially because I have often gotten criticism for writing bad things without detailed proof about what was so bad. Not this time.Now some people may say that I´m only jealous because somebody has a job I would like to have. Now, that´s just ridiculous because for one I´m not that kind of guy. In fact I´m a fan of many translators like Steve Kups and I also give them props for good work. And second I don´t write this blog to kiss ass or get any medals so anyone who has a problem with what I write can go bark up a tree for all I care. The thing those people don´t understand is that the bottom line is not the fact that someone has a job I would like. There are tons of people who have jobs I would like to have. The guy who puts oil on Vida Guerra´s butt for the photoshoot. The guy who helps Janet Jackson squeezing her boobs into her tight outfits. The guy who gets to test the quality of Haagen Dasz icecream. The guy who gets to film Halle Berry´s nude scenes. The artist at Marvel or some other comic company who gets tons of comics for free although ( unlike myself ) he has the money to buy them.
BUT the fact is that all those guys have one thing in common : they don´t suck at their work. And if they do I don´t know about it. Because I don´t know if Vida Guerra´s butt is oiled the wrong way or if Halle Berry´s nude scenes are filmed totally wrong. I´m no expert in these areas and I never had any reason to investigate any further. But what I know about is comics. Especially the ones I read may it be in the original or the translated version. I know them both and can make a professional analysis. And it is not that I do it because someone has a job I would like. I also would like to have many other jobs like you can see above. It is more the fact that somebody who is obviously the least qualified has a job I could do better without even trying. I have made a few translations myself and I can tell you after a while you can see the difference if somebody has tried very hard...or not.
Now other people may think : Live and let live. There is one guy who constantly screws up the german versions of american comics, so what ? That´s not what this blog is all about. Sorry. I don´t cut no slack and I don´t beat about the bush or write half-truths. What do people think what goes into this blog ? There is a lot of consideration and thought about what I post and what not. I´m not writing my posts to show everybody how great I am by bashing other people. I´m not writing my posts to spit out venom and tell everybody what comics suck. I started this blog to be a more positive voice and to talk about all the great comics that are out there that I just love to read. About how great it is to read comics and what wonderful stories there are just lying and waiting to be discovered. There have been tons of cases where I decided not to write about certain topics because it would just get people angry, myself in trouble, it would not change anything and in the end I would have only wasted my own time and the time of my readers.But I also started this blog with the premise of providing a service for readers namely informing and entertaining. And the part of informing includes for me to warn readers if they are about to waste good money on a bad comic. I´m writing the truth as I see it because that is the only thing any of us can. I mean, can any of you write the truth like somebody else sees it ? Not me. If you want anything else there are enough hateful or sugarcoated blogs out there.
So I will keep on writing about the topics I deem important without any regard if somebody else may find it worth his time. Maybe the are people out there who don´t care for a comparative look at various GREEN ARROW series or who don´t want to know which comic magazine is the best in my opinion - WIZARD, COMIXXENE or DOLMEN. But I don´t think they are readers of my blog.New to the blog ? Everything you need to know about TALES FROM THE KRYPTONIAN :
I WILL NEVER SURRENDER OR YIELD TO DESPAIR !
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