My comic store's DC delivery was delayed by a day this week which means that, unfortunately, reviews will be pushed back to the beginning of next week.
So instead I present to you a pretty cool Christmas gift one of my daughters got for me this year.
Here are two comics from the Middle East. Silver Age reprints of Action Comics but in Arabic!
The seller told her that many of these were destroyed in some of the more anti-Western times over there. But that might be apocryphal.
Regardless, as someone who loves seeing comics in other languages and formats, this was a very cool gift to receive!
Of course, I was even luckier to have the actual comic of one of them. Action Comics #316 is of some import to Supergirl history. In that tale, Zor-El and Alura return to Kandor (after having lived on Earth for a bit). And the Danvers, who had moved to Kandor, return to Midvale.
As you can see, the comic in Arabic is a little smaller than the actual comic.
And since reading there is right to left, this cover feels like the back cover to me, the staples being on the right.
But wait there's more!
As you can see, since the reading is from right to left, the pages and panels are reversed.
And perhaps the best thing I discovered?
Well, I am lucky enough to know someone who speaks Arabic and sent them a couple of panels to confirm the language.
Supergirl in this comic is translated to 'The Mighty Beauty'. How fantastic is that?
It is Supergirl-centric, of some importance to her tale, and a comic in another language. But most importantly, it was a gift from my daughter. She knows her old man very well. I will cherish the gift and the memory forever.
4 comments:
What a treat, just fascinating. I didn’t know the direction of reading for Arabic comics, I guess they just had to flip the printing plates over. You are rightly proud of your Mighty Beauties.
Ironic that you should get a prime example of the soapiest, most sentimental most melodramatic narrative period in Supergirl’s Silver Age, “two sets of parents!!” It’s straight out of “The Secret Storm”.
All of which tells me, that soap, sentiment & melodrama are universal qualities and can be enjoyed by anyone the world over…anyway HNY!
JF
I have my own copy of Action Comics #316. It comes near the end of Leo Dorfman's best period on Supergirl which effectively ends three issues later with her graduation from high school. There are still some classic Supergirl stories ahead in Action Comics but never as consistently as in the golden period between the great Jerry Siegel serial which reveals her to the world and her exit from Midvale.
Yeah its the weirdest irony of the Silver Age Supergirl, having two sets of parents effectively meant Kara had no sets of Parents at all, no sooner than Zor El and Allura show up alive then all four seemingly vanish from the storyline. This is pretty much “day one” for Supergirl’s most chronic affliction, her slipshod and unstable supporting cast.
The irony is, they’ve resolved this issue by pretty much enrolling her full time in Superman’s supporting cast, I’d be miffed about that had I not seen her depicted as a would be school shooter, A Red Lantern and the docile enabler of a alien tween.
HNY
JF
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