NEW FRENCH GIRLFRIEND
So, Paris is soon to be all abuzz with love for Douze Raisons de L'aimer by Jamie S. Rich and Joëlle Jones.
Joe Nozemack brought by some copies today, and I decided to do that trendy thing and take a picture of them, simultaneously showing off my new digital camera and that I'm a published author in France.
I have to say, I'm pretty thrilled. The book is a tad bit larger than the U.S. edition and hardback. I only got three of them, so no sharing. Sorry. I guess German and Brazilian editions are also on the way. I am not sure if anyone knows good ways to find foreign editions of U.S. books, because I am pretty sure there is a Spanish Dark Horse Book of the Dead I've never seen, and there is also a version of Sexy Chix that Joëlle and I really want to find. (Colleen Coover posted the vastly superior cover on her journal here. Glenat is publishing it, but I can't find order info on their site.) Oni takes care of us, though, it's just these anthologies that we never see (nor get paid for...ahem).
The reproduction of the art is awesome, and it amuses me to see certain phrases in French. I can kind of make out what it originally said by reading the balloons in a bad accent. Needless to say, Reason Huit threw the translators for a loop. That's where Gwen tells jokes. I used Babelfish to sort out what she says over there.
1. What did the leper say to the prostitute? You will take your foot.
2. What is the #1 advantage of a nymphomaniac compulsive eater? She is always ready to pass the pan.
3. What is the most common means of contraception in the world? To be gross and ugly.
Compare and contrast to the original version for the humor. I don't even know what the second one means. Is that some French idiom? And the third one is so much softer than the harsh joke she tells in America. I understand the need to change some things culturally, but are domestic violence jokes actually appropriate in Europe, and so people would say, "Oh, that's not so bad. Why's Evan upset?" I'm not mad, it makes me laugh. (Besides, there are some mangaka who may have read one of my rewrites on their books and wondered what the hell happened. I can just imagine Kou Fumizuki putting a line from Ai Yori Aoshi into Babelfish to find out what Tina means by "Beer O'Clock.")
My favorite line of the whole thing to see in French, though? "Mes nichons serant durs et je pourrai couper du verre avec." Haw haw!
Sadly, the best joke they could have pulled didn't happen. The ends scene goes to black and you see the single word "Fin," my nod to my beloved French New Wave filmmakers, and a bit of pretentiousness on my part. (It even says so in the script: "because I'm a pretentious fuck.") How hilarious if the French version had translated it back into English? "The End." Like a John Ford western!
Anyway, cheers to the folks at Treize Étrange for the effort in putting the book out. It looks smashing!
Current Soundtrack: Dot Allison, We Are Science
Current Mood: giddy 
e-mail = golightly at confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * ComicSpace * Last FM * The Blog Roll * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon
All text (c) 2007 Jamie S. Rich
6 comments:
The hardbacks look amazing! And a little pretentiousness is ok every once in a while :)
Congratulations! That's awesome!
you're pretentious all the time.
When I am looking for foreign editions of books, I just ask people I know in those countries. I bet you've got fans all over that would be willing to, say, trade two French editions for a little Joelle sketch, or something they can't get readily from America. That's what I used to do with all of my German and Mexican comic books. They were so much more stunning, cover wise, that it was well worth it. I think I got some books signed for them since they couldn't make it to a convention and it all worked out.
insert obligatory French New Wave/Jerry Lewis joke here.
I don't have any idea if this would always work, but what about ordering from the country-specific version of Amazon? That's how I picked up the Albert Hammond CD before it came out here. It's hella expensive and it takes a long time, but it seems effective.
For example:
http://www.amazon.fr/s/ref=nb_ss_w/402-5854760-6630536?__mk_fr_FR=%C5M%C5Z%D5%D1&url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Douze+Raisons+de+L%27aimer+&Go.x=0&Go.y=0&Go=Go
I already thought of Amazon, but there is none for any Spanish speaking countries that I can see.
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