Hi, I'm a french Judge Dredd fan. Yes, there's some !
I registered on the forum primarily to ask this question : your sister company Mongoose Publishing is about to translate in french some of their games, including Traveller, game system for which Mongoose is making supplements about Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog. I hope to have them all one day in french !
Have you considered translating the "files" in french ? There's a market here for "big black-and-white books", judging by the success of the "Savage Sword of Conan" line in bookstores.
There has been some publications years ago, but it's a shame that the french public never had a chance to proprely read the Dredd stories. I collect all the "case files" and they're great read. The art is awesome and pretty timeless.
Well, just a wish from a fanboy, fingers crossed for the future !
I'd imagine now we are working along the lines of the European market (with "album" collections of the stories, was that Pat Mills' plan all along, it just took the market a while to catch up with him) it would make sense to throw a few into the market and see how they go, especially with Pat Mills' work as he has his own series over there.
It has been done before as I've got some French comics I picked up over there that had a translated Judge Dredd story (I'll dig them out and throw some names in).
I'd assume it comes down to selling the rights in different territories (as opposed to Rebellion doing it in-house, although if they are interested in that I'm sure I could twist my Dad's arm to do the translation ;) ) so it'd depend on who showed an interest and that might depend on the potential market (I wonder if an online petition where people could register their interest might help with that last hurdle?).
With a Judge Dredd film in the works, a push under way for the American market and a big stack of books ready to go, there can't be a better time to do this than now (and someone is missing a trick if they aren't already in negotiation over the rights).
That's a pretty good idea - our speciality stores (or at least the better ones) carry translations of the finest French, Italian and other European graphic novels & collections. And of course all the manga on the shelves is also translated and re-lettered.
I can imagine the likes of DC/Marvel thinking "English only" but Britain's always been culturally more in tune with manland Europe than North America, so what's to say a well-chosen selection of Rebellion graphic novels being translated, perhaps through partnership with a European publisher?
Pat Mills, for example, is working in European comics these days so there's certainly a market for his style of writing there too (and in America, as Marshal Law proves).
Emperor makes an excellent point by reminding me that European style albums were part of his original plan for 2000ad. Somebody at Rebellion should really think about doing something about this, just because other publishers are perhaps short-sighted, that's no reason for them to be.
Quote from: mikegloady on 11 July, 2009, 07:26:04 PMI can imagine the likes of DC/Marvel thinking "English only"
Actually. due to their popularity. these markets are ones the Big Two actively chase. I know Marvel (through Panini?) has done a number of projects with European creators which ended up translated into English for the American market and it is the reason some eyebrows were raised over the sacking of Francine Burke (http://www.bleedingcool.com/2009/07/09/francine-burke-leaves-dc-comics/) (DC's international licensing manager) as some suspect it is the foreign deals which might keep some titles afloat.
Yes. And "Scourge of the Gods", one of the better Marvel "imports", was French. Marvel and DC need the European market more than you'd think, because they just don't have power over the American Market like they used to. Right now, independents and foreign comics are extremely trendy in the States and Marvel especially is trying to capitalize on that. Ha, comic book circles back home, it's almost shameful to admit Marvel or DC is your favorite company...!
Great idea! With so much back material I'm sure that if a deal could be made, it'd be a real long-term money-spinner.
Speaking of which, I have a few mid-80s French Marvels left over from my brief spell living in Paris. They fall into the "won't ever get read again, aren't worth selling but can't bear to bin" category. if anyone wants 'em, drop me a PM and they're yours for postage costs (3 issues of "special Stange" featuring The Xmen, Longhsot and "la Chose", plus a pocket-size "les Fantastiques" featuring the FF, Spider-woman and Spiderman)Perfect if you've got a comic-loving sprog who's learning French!
(http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd359/anaconda888/specialstrange001.jpg)
During the years we were pretty well served in french with Marvel mainly, which was published since the 70s, in Fantask, Strange, Titans, Nova and a bunch of other magazines by the publisher Lug (now Semic), based in the south of France. We had that other publisher, Aredit, the one who tried Judge Dredd at the time if I'm not mistaken. Aredit also published Marvel and DC titles, but their collections lacked any real coherence. Instead of publishing the series in order, they picked stories seemingly at random. Also there was no dialog between the publisher and the readers, no real interaction in the pages. I'm convinced that's one of the reason only Lug stayed healthy and the other publishers have ceased business at the end of the 90s.
Marvel eventually revoked the Lug licence, which was given to Panini Comics up to this day. They more or less followed the Lug/Semic format, except for one thing, they have begun to produce books for mainstream bookstores, instead of magazines only destined to the newstands. This has proven to be a smart move.
Anthologies featuring an year's worth of comics are regularly released, sometimes related to a new film (Iron Man or Hulk for instance). Spider-Man is 18 volumes strong now, New X-Men also. French readers are used to that format. And granted, the Stallone movie was not that great, but it probably has helped to make Dredd a better-known character in France.
I had more of these reprints than I thought, all seeming to date from 1980-1982:
Sunny Sun #32 - contains Supercrack (Dan Dare from 2000 AD, possibly the best translated name - unless he had some secret powers we never knew about) as well as a few others that I don't recognise: Mosquito (superheros, giant apes and dinosaurs) and Brigade O.V.N.I. (in which the UFO of the week are balls of fire, not an STD). Also has a text piece and a text story.
Collection Super Force Album #4 - a nice thick pocket book with Force X (MACH 1), Rollerball and Starblazer - it is actually 3 in one collecting 9, 10 and 11 repeating the formula, except in 11 where MACH 1 is replaced by the very first Judge Dredd stories (50 pages, including the "censored" helmet removal).
Collection Super Force #14 - similar line-up as #11 (46 pages of Dredd).
Collection Super Force #3 - same again but MACH 1, Invasion and Starblazer
Big Boss #26 - nothing that stands out here, largely a collection of tales of wild peril (cloudmen attacking, petrified animals coming to life, animals made of eletricity plyons going on a rampage and some Egyptian gods with rayguns).
Super Heros #13 - a couple of Flash comic books and a Wonder Woman back-up
La Creature du Marais #3 - 3 x Swamp Thing stories by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson
Batman #43 - 4 Batman stories and a Superman/Robin team-up (with some crosswords and puzzles thrown in).
Les Geants des Super Heroes #4 - Len Wein and Jim Starlin's Superman vs Mongul story (I believe this is the characters first appearance from DC Comics Presents) with a Dr Midnight and... some sci-fi short story.
Mustang #70 - nothing I recognise and it might be original stories
Green Lantern #110 - apparently 3 reprints bound in one, an early GL story, a text piece and a real history war story
Les Jeunes Titans #1 - I'd have to check but I think it is #1 and 2 of the classic Wolfman/Perez run on the title, with a Green Arrow back-up.
Again, things I'd probably not throw away any time soon but some classic stories from top notch creative teams (Judge Dredd, Swamp Thing, Superman, Teen Titan) and if anyone wanted them (for educational purposes perhaps) they can PM me.