Travel the World With These Comics in Translation

Comic books are popular around the world, and sometimes, comics from other countries make their way to the United States thanks to the wonders of translation. An imperfect yet incredible and necessary art, translation allows us to enjoy stories that would otherwise be closed to us. Chances are that if you’re a big-time comics fan, you have already read at least one comic in translation. Manga and manhwa — or comics from Japan and Korea, respectively — are both extremely popular here in the U.S., and classics like Persepolis and Tintin, both originally published in French, have become international must-reads. It goes without saying that it’s a big, wide world out there with comics in so many languages to discover. Let’s look at five graphic novels translated from five different languages to help you expand your horizons even more! Aya: Life in Yop City by Marguerite Abouet and Clément Oubrerie, Translated from French by Helge Dascher This is the start of a series of graphic novels about the lives of three young women coming of age in the Ivory Coast in the 1970s. It was a time and place full of rapid changes. Their everyday adventures and troubles make for highly entertaining and r...