Rocky: The Big Payback

I came at Rocky from the other direction - having learned Swedish years before, I was looking around for good Swedish web comics and found Rocky through Dagens Nyheter. I've been a big fan ever since. Martin Kellerman's sense of humor is uproarious and I can't help but laugh in recognition of Rocky's "Why *me*, for @%#!'s sake?!" anger at trying to get by in the modern world. He may live in Sweden, but the situation he and his friends get themselves into perfectly mirror the experiences of the twenty- (and thirty-) somethings living from check to check in any major city around the globe. It's one of those rare mainstream comics that are worth reading again and again - for episodes like "Rabbit Goes to the Country", individual strips, or even the stage business Kellerman plants in many of the strips behind the ongoing conversation. Martin Kellerman deserves every bit of exposure he can get in the English-speaking world. Now for the technical bit. If you're not a translator like I am, you can probably skip this and not miss too much. I met the translator of this book at SPX 2006 in Bethesda MD, where I bought this book and talked to him briefly about the project. He doesn't speak Swedish - he grew up speaking Danish, but since he works for Fantagraphics they chose him to do it. For any serious translator, this should raise a big red flag. It shows in the work. Among other gaffes, there are several strips where he mistranslates "granne" as 'grandparents' when it means 'neighbors'; he inexplicably changes "Costa Rica" to "Malta"; and in one strip ("Say something sexy in Swedish") he alters the original text. These are all errors any translator who is serious about the profession really should strive to avoid. For someone like me who enjoys Rocky in both Swedish and English, this takes away from what is otherwise a spectacular work. Fantagraphics folks, you should consider hiring someone who actually works in Swedish to English for the forthcoming volumes. Just so you know, I'm easy to find.

It was a big surprise to see an English translation of Martin Kellerman's Rocky, a strip which was a big part of my learning to speak Swedish many years ago- and one which for me felt long overdue, given the difficulty of getting Swedish graphic novels outside of their native country. It's also a great introduction to the Swedish adult comic scene, which took me by surprise when I first travelled there, as it is as vibrant and sophisticated as any similar publishing scene in the world, and adult in every sense of the word, not just the adolescent sex-and-violence you see ever-so-frequently in other so-called 'adult' comic scenes. Which isn't to say that you won't find sex and violence here- far from it- but you can also expect to see witty characterisations, rib-busting laughter and insight into the twisted lives of the universal twentysomethings by the bucketful. Plus it saves me from having to translate word-for-word this great strip to Australian friends who generally don't speak Swedish- officially one of the world's most impractical second languages. From a technical perspective, it's great too- while it took me awhile to get used to Rocky et al speaking (American) English, the translation does a great job of conveying the humour of this series, something that's often lacking in other comic translations. All in all, I cannot recommend this graphic novel highly enough, although if you've got the time and the inclination, learn Swedish and dive further into the Swedish scene- you won't regret it. Probably.