Sharing a love of superheroes, two comic superfans also share
a similar story. Through love and hard work, they find
themselves chasing dreams while translating American comic
stories into thier native langauges.
TRANSLATOR’S NOTES
Q&A
Editorial Novaro: 1981
D999. I’m drinking a nice cold glass of Stella Artois
beer. What are you drinking? What’s your full name,
how old are you and when was the first time you saw a
superhero from America?
by Gustavo Medina
For a sixteen-year old fan, walking into Editorial
Novaro, the publishing behemoth that housed the
largest offset printing plant in Latin America was quite
an experience. The parking lot leading to the main
entrance was guarded by giant trash cans featuring
the characters of Robert Hargreaves´s Mr. Men series,
the stars of a series of mini-books produced there
for the Spanish-speaking public. Luis Novaro had left
behind his job as editor of La Prensa and now had offices worthy of Perry White´s Daily Planet. There were
countless corridors filled with rows of cubicles occupied by workers engaged in editing, typesetting and
other tasks inherent to the world of publishing.
All novice translators were entrusted, as their first
assignment, to work in children’s magazines such as
Chiquilladas (Lil´ Archie) or Flamita (Hot Stuff). Surely,
this kind of comic book
was easier to translate,
at least according to the
publishers.
Once their first assignment was delivered,
novice translators had to
wait for the verdict of the
elderly, honorable Novaro
copy proofreaders. Their
Gustavo Medina and the “King” Jack
recommendation often
Kirby.
Page 3
Continued on page 4
VC. I am drinking one nice cup of fresh...water,
Matt! My name is Vassilis Chilas, I am 45 years old
and my first contact with the superhero genre was
39 years ago when I read my first Phantom story
written by Lee Falk and drawn by Sy Barry in a, yes
you guessed it right, early Kabanas mini book! For
many Americans, the Phantom doesn’t count as a
real superhero because he doesn’t have superpowers, but for me this is the first character with all
So in this photo circa 1978, as a 9 year old boy, on the island of Paros I
think, with my mother by my side, I’m holding two books. One being a
Mickey Mouse magazine that featured among others a Paul Murray story,
and another one that is definitely a Marvel Kabanas’ book but I can’t
tell which one. In those days I always protected the valuable Marvels by
covering them ݥѠ