There are many books, essays, and studies about the translation of prose literature, poetry, and technical and legal documents; each with techniques, philosophies, problems and solutions appropriate to its particular area of concentration. Very little has been written, however, about the translation of comics.

This may be because many feel that comics lack the cultured subtlety of prose or poetry, or the practical relevance of technical or legal documents, and hence are not worthy of formal study.

Or perhaps this is due to the general perception that comics are only a textual narrative accompanied by pictures, so that when a translation is made, it is satisfactory to treat the work as though it were simply a standard work of prose. But this is not the case. Comics are no more simply a work of prose than they are simply a collection of unrelated pictures.

Comics