Well there's a first. In a staggeringly gutsy move, a Russian comic book fan has contacted the creator of Skullkickers and asked if he would provide textless copies of the comic, to make it easier for him to translate it into Russian and pirate the series across the internet.
What he says does make sense, though; with no translation of Skullkickers available, the only reasonable way for Russians to read it is by wiping the comic clean and re-writing the dialogue from scratch. What I want to know is, why hasn't the comic book industry thought to do this themselves?
Manga is by far the best example to look at; despite a strong fanbase in the west, manga publishers often take months to translate and release English language copies; in the case of Fullmetal Alchemist, Viz Media played catch-up for a while after obtaining the rights to the series several years after its original publication, then slowed the pace until US volumes were coming out at a steady pace, a little over a year after Japan. When teams of unpaid amateurs are buying, scanning, emailing overseas then scrubbing, translating and re-writing mere hours after release, it seems incredible that the actual, paid translators aren't able to bash out an English copy in a week, even accounting for quality control and general bureaucracy.
I've long used the rampant piracy of manga as a prime example of the folly of failing to secure a narrow window for international releases, as well an excellent argument for allowing fans more participation in the things they love. Why turn up your nose at free labour? By all means give us professional, localised releases, publishers, but in the space between international releases, sell the blank slates and let the fans fill them themselves; they sure as hell aren't going to stop doing it if you don't, and recognising their efforts brings the potential for greater profits, a better relationship with readers and a stronger, more enduring fan base. And isn't that what we all want?
What he says does make sense, though; with no translation of Skullkickers available, the only reasonable way for Russians to read it is by wiping the comic clean and re-writing the dialogue from scratch. What I want to know is, why hasn't the comic book industry thought to do this themselves?
Manga is by far the best example to look at; despite a strong fanbase in the west, manga publishers often take months to translate and release English language copies; in the case of Fullmetal Alchemist, Viz Media played catch-up for a while after obtaining the rights to the series several years after its original publication, then slowed the pace until US volumes were coming out at a steady pace, a little over a year after Japan. When teams of unpaid amateurs are buying, scanning, emailing overseas then scrubbing, translating and re-writing mere hours after release, it seems incredible that the actual, paid translators aren't able to bash out an English copy in a week, even accounting for quality control and general bureaucracy.
I've long used the rampant piracy of manga as a prime example of the folly of failing to secure a narrow window for international releases, as well an excellent argument for allowing fans more participation in the things they love. Why turn up your nose at free labour? By all means give us professional, localised releases, publishers, but in the space between international releases, sell the blank slates and let the fans fill them themselves; they sure as hell aren't going to stop doing it if you don't, and recognising their efforts brings the potential for greater profits, a better relationship with readers and a stronger, more enduring fan base. And isn't that what we all want?
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