The steps to follow for a foreign comic to be read in our country continue
Process of making a foreign comic in Spain
What is a comic? The literal definition tells us that, deriving from the homonymous English word, said word refers to the succession or series of vignettes that allows a story to be told, in addition to also alluding to the magazine or book made up of several of them, whose usual Spanish synonym is usually be cartoon.
If you are a regular reader of this website, you undoubtedly also go to your nearest comic book store (or, until recently, the kiosk) with some frequency to enjoy the new adventures that your favorite characters live each month. However, despite the extensive existence of Spanish comics that we have within our reach, the reality is that other countries have eaten up the land and we consume, for example, more American than national comics, especially from publishers such as Marvel y DC.
However, no matter how many comics you have read throughout your life, have you ever stopped to think about the process a foreign copy goes through from the moment it arrives at the Spanish headquarters until it falls into your hands? Earlier, we already talked about the announcement, proposal and realization phases, at least from the point of view of Panini Comicsbut other important phases of the process remained to be mentioned, which we will detail in this article.
Translation
Typically, each headend has its own assigned translator. In the specific case of our analysis, we have santiago garcia in charge of everything directly related to Spidermanwhile Uriel Lopez takes care of The Patrol – X y Gonzalo Quesada of urban characters like Daredevil. Whenever possible, we try to ensure that the selected translators have had many years of stability in said positions, some of them since they Comics Forum will take care of Marvel.
Although the most common thing is that the proper names of the characters tend to always be translated in the same way, which is why there is a vademecum that is constantly updated, the truth is that there are certain exceptions in this regard. However, every time a new term appears in a comic, the person in charge of translating said header must communicate it and, as a general rule, the decision made by him is accepted, which is added to the aforementioned document so that all the publisher can access it.
Labeling
Although we try to make this part of the process as similar as possible to the original, the truth is that its implementation has changed over time, so it has not always been like that. At present, a comic that has been labeled in a low box, in the country of origin, will do so in an identical way in Spain. However, some pages with specific characteristics require that a designer or the head of art of each studio be the one to label some specific texts. We usually find these cases in the credits pages or in the splash with the titles of the adventures.
However, when it comes to a co-edition of classic material, the interior signage of the comics is usually left in the original language, since, in the past, it was labeled in black, but it was lost in design and originality, so indicate the translation with an asterisk, at the bottom of the bullet, helps in the final quality of the product.
In the case of the lettering on the covers, although they try to resemble the original design as much as possible, sometimes it has been necessary to maintain a certain flexibility, since some elements that are difficult to move are different from the American ones. The most obvious case is that of the header titles, since, when translating them into Spanish, the studio’s head of art must do everything possible to make it as close as possible to the original logo.
Maquetación
In this phase of the process, which is carried out in a packaging studio, the design of the headers is agreed upon so that it is exactly the same in all the countries in which each comic from the publisher is marketed, with the obvious exception of language. . In the case of Paninifor example, compilation titles as specific as Marvel Gold, Marvel Saga o marvel library are clear exceptions.
Correction
This part of the process consists of two phases, since each comic is corrected by a study in charge of it, to later be reviewed again by people outside that department, who look for what are known as “invisible errors.” A copy that has already passed the first phase should not have spelling or syntax mistakes, but they appear more frequently than would be logical, especially in indexes, credits and allusions to outdated comics. Looking for the highest possible quality, in the case of the covers, a total of four corrections are made, six hours apart.
Printing
The revised and properly corrected product is taken to the printer, which, a few days later, delivers a digital print of it, called a plotter, from which, after a final check, it becomes the comic that will be delivered. to the distributors three weeks later, to go on sale in another two more, which will be when we can buy it and enjoy it.
