Terry Moore's work only partially exists in French, and this is not an editorial accident: it is the direct consequence of his model.An author who publishes himself has no rights transfer service to approach foreign publishers — each translation is the result of an initiative from the other side. It is therefore necessarycheck what exists before starting a series, and knowing that switching to the original version during the process poses a problem of connecting chapters.
This is by far the most concrete difficulty that a French-speaking reader encounters in this bibliography, it regularly discourages those who engage in it without knowing it, and it is almost never explained anywhere - we notice the holes without ever saying where they come from.
This article describes the situation as it is, explains precisely where it comes from, and gives the method which allows you to compose a coherent reading despite the gaps - including when you have to switch from one language to another in the middle of a series.
Why a fragmentary translation
It would be easy to see a lack of interest from French publishers. The reality is more mechanical.
A publishing house has a department responsible for selling the rights to its catalog abroad. It is a profession in its own right: presence at professional fairs, ongoing relationships with foreign publishers, presentation files, negotiation. An author who publishes himself alone has none of this.
The translations of his work therefore result from a movementreverse: it's a foreign publisher who discovers a title, is interested in it, and takes action. This assumes that someone, somewhere, read the book and liked it enough to take on the project.
This mechanism explains everything else. Translations are sporadic because they depend on individual initiatives; they are interrupted because an editor who changes lines or personnel abandons the project; and they do not cover the work uniformly because no one has ever presented it as a whole.
What this actually implies
Check before you start
On a long series, knowing how far the translation goes avoids discovering in the sixth volume that there will be no seventh.
This is the most profitable reflex in this bibliography.
Cutouts that don't fit
A French publisher groups the chapters according to its own format. A French volume can cover what two original volumes separate, or the reverse.
A connection to be made if we switch
Going from translation to the original version during the series requires knowing exactly where you left off — in original issues, never in volumes.
Titles never translated
Some of its series do not exist in French, and there is no indication that they will be. Reading them implies accepting the original version.
The method that works despite the holes
It is based on the same unit as everything else in this bibliography, and that is what makes it simple.
Reason in original numbers, never in volumes.The range of chapters that a volume contains is identical in all languages: it is the only data that crosses the border without being distorted. A French volume and an American volume which cover the same issues contain the same story.
This one rule settles everything. It allows you to know where you are, to resume in the original version without gaps or duplicates, and even to mix languages within a series - which is uncomfortable to read but perfectly viable to complete a story.
Finally, it allows any ad to be evaluated in ten seconds, wherever it is located: regardless of the publishing house, the language of publication or the rank of the volume displayed, all that matters is the list of chapters that the object actually contains.
The reflex before starting a long series.Count the volumes published in French, and compare to the total number of chapters in the original series.
If the gap is significant and the French publication has stopped for several years, consider that the translation will not resume. You will then know straight away that you are reading a beginning, and you can decide to start directly in the original version.
Two markets that cannot be compared
A point of valuation deserves to be stated clearly, because it produces misunderstandings in announcements.
A translated volume belongs tobook trade. What decides its second-hand price is the wear of the spine, the presence or absence of the title in the publisher's catalog, and the mood of the moment. A volume that the house no longer reprints sells better than a volume that can still be ordered — without the quality of the content being taken into account.
The original booklet circulates in aworld of collectorswho judges on other criteria: what edition, what condition, possibly a dedication. The two circuits ignore each other, and transposing a number from one to the other makes no sense.
On this precise bibliography, a particularity is added: certification practically does not exist, even on the original fascicles.Neither market therefore has an enforceable rating system., and everything is based on both sides on the seller's description.
A mechanism that applies to the entire independent segment
What this article describes is way beyond this author, and recognizing this helps navigate the whole of foreign independent comics.
All self-produced works face the same obstacle: they have no one to sell them abroad. A publishing house catalog circulates at trade fairs, is presented at meetings, and is accompanied by translated files. At best, a single author has a website.
This results in a systematic bias in what reaches us translated.It's not the best that crosses the border, it's what was carried by someone.A remarkable work without a lawyer remains invisible; an average work championed by an enthusiastic editor arrives.
For a curious reader, the practical consequence is encouraging: there is, in this segment, a significant gap between what is available in French and what exists. Accepting the original version opens up a much wider catalog than what the shelves suggest - and often less expensive, since this production escapes the price movements caused by adaptations.
Should we switch to the original version?
Yes, if the series interests you
On a title whose translation has stopped, this is the only way to know the ending. And this author's English is that of everyday conversations, without jargon.
Yes, for titles never translated
Several of his series only exist in the original version, including some of the shortest and most accessible.
Pay attention to shipping costs
The deep market is American, and international shipping can exceed the price of copies. Grouping orders is more profitable here than negotiating.
Establish the connection first
Before purchasing the first volume in the original version, note the last chapter read in French. This is the only information that matters.
What the translation changes when reading
A remark on the text itself, which applies to this author in particular.
His writing relies heavily on dialogue, and on a register of ordinary conversation - people who have known each other for a long time and speak to each other as such. This is what gives most of the pleasure of reading, and it is also what is least resistant to the transition from one language to another.
The valves based on a rhythm, the silences, the sentences left hanging: these elements require considerable translation work, and the result varies according to the translators and the periods.
This does not mean that the translation distorts the work — it conveys the story perfectly. But a reader who has a decent level of English will find herea case where the original version brings more than usual, precisely because the language does more work there than in an action story.
Where to find the original version without breaking the bank on shipping
The main practical obstacle is not the price of the copies but that of their delivery, and a few reflexes clearly reduce it.
Group systematically.A transatlantic shipment costs about the same for one volume or for five. Buying from a seller who offers several titles by the author, and taking them all at once, saves more than any negotiation on unit prices.
Favor European sellers when they exist.They are fewer in number and often a little more expensive per unit, but the difference disappears as soon as you add shipping and possible import costs.
Accept average states on read volumes.A bound volume intended to be read can have the spine marked without this changing anything. Reserving the condition requirement for the few issues intended for the collection allows the overall budget to be reduced substantially.
These three reflexes completely change the order of magnitude of the project. Completing a complete reading in the original version then becomes comparable, in total cost, to purchasing the same translated volumes at the new price in a French bookstore.
What to record on a bilingual collection
A library that mixes languages requires two fields that others do not require.
La langue et l'éditeur.Otherwise, the same title covers objects in your list that have neither the same price nor quite the same content. It is this pair of fields that prevents us from repurchasing in English what is already sleeping on the shelf in French.
The chapter range, again.It takes on its full usefulness here: it is the only data which allows us to compare a French volume and an American volume, and therefore to know what is really missing.
Let's add, for a collection intended to last, the state of the translation at the time of purchase - how many volumes appeared, on what date was the last one. This information is out of date, but it explains years later why the collection stops there, and it avoids searching indefinitely for a volume that never existed.
Questions fréquentes
Because an author who publishes alone has no rights transfer service to approach foreign publishers. Each translation therefore results from an initiative from the other side, which makes them sporadic and dependent on individuals rather than an overall strategy.
By comparing the number of volumes published in French to the total number of chapters of the original series. If the gap is significant and the French publication has been interrupted for several years, it is better to assume that it will not resume and decide accordingly before starting.
Yes, provided you think in original numbers. It's uncomfortable to read but perfectly viable to complete a story whose translation has stopped, and it avoids having to repurchase in the original version chapters that we already have.
Like any second-hand book: the condition of the spine, the fact that it can still be ordered new, and the interest of the moment. A volume that the publisher no longer reprints finds a buyer more quickly than a volume available everywhere. Nothing to do with the criteria which govern the original fascicles.
Less than the average for the medium. His writing is based on ordinary conversations between people who know each other, without technical jargon or genre vocabulary. This is even one of the cases where the original version brings the most, the language doing more work there than in an action story.
A bilingual library requires two more fields
The language and the range of chapters: without them, we buy back in English what we have in French.