English As She Is Speaked (Or Writed)...
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Roy Thomas was one of Marvel's best writers and editors, possibly even the most important after Stan Lee. When I first read his X-Men tales back in the late '60s, they were published in a b&w UK weekly periodical called Fantastic, which removed the credits from the splash pages. Therefore, it wasn't 'til years later that I discovered Roy's tales were not scripted by the same writer as the earlier X-Men stories, so masterfully had he continued in the style Stan had set when the Marvel Age was first aborning.
Recently, while reading Roy's afterword in the first Dark Horse Conan volume from 2003 (which reprinted Roy's Conan issues at a time when Marvel no longer had the license), I noticed he said that he sometimes 'winced' when he re-read some lines in CTB #1. I presume he's referring to dialogue like 'Without yon wooden bars, the ceremony begins...' 'Without'? Had Roy been Scottish he'd probably have written 'outwith', which we Scots use as a synonym for 'beyond', 'through', or 'outside'.
Interestingly, a 1994 UK reprinting (above) changed the word 'without' to 'beyond', and the aforementioned Dark Horse reprint (below) substituted 'through' for 'without' (at Roy's request I presume). Perhaps I'm imagining it, but I also seem to recall seeing it changed to 'outside', though maybe I'm only remembering what I thought would read better after reading the tale way back in the '70s.
Anyway, I've reproduced the three different versions of the panel so that you can see them for yourself, should any of you be interested. No, don't thank me, it's all part of the (free) service. Now someone bring a wench to my room, by Crom, I've got some ironing that needs done!
4 comments:
I always found it entertaining that US writers would use what was in effect Shakspearian language on the dialogue for Thor and other strips to give the effect of an old world language . I think "Outwith" is a brilliant word but I don't think anyone uses it apart for us Scots (maybe Northern Irish folk as well) . Nice lettering.
Yeah, the lettering is by Sam Rosen, McS, one of my very favourite letterers - if not my TOP favourite (after myself of course). Did you get around to buying the Conan Epic Collection yet?
I think using Shakespearean lingo in the Mighty Thor was also supposed to convey gravitas and godliness. Logically they should have been speaking Old Norse.
Well, logically, the Stone Men From Saturn should've been speaking their own language, CJ, but readers are considered smart enough to assume foreign or alien languages are translated for their benefit. And no doubt we're supposed to assume that Old Norse, when translated into English, is best conveyed (especially in the case of gods) by using Shakespearean-type (or King James Bible-type) lingo to, as you say, convey gravitas and godliness.
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