When an opportunity to reach the English speaking audience for my Japanese comic strip came along in the mid 90s (with King Features of New York no less), there was obviously a need to translate the stories back into their original language from the bird scratchings they were currently in. This would prove to be the least of my problems.
As mentioned in previous reports, the 4-panel layout is set up differently for either side of the Pacific. The Japanese prefer to read their funny pages from top to bottom/right to left. Stateside, the funnies are consumed from left to right and horizontally. Bottom line; it meant that I would now be required to RE-DRAW and RE-STAGE each and every episode of my sample submission for New York in order to address that flaw in story progress. Talk about a repeat performance.
Eventually I knuckled down and completed the task of making old cartoons new again. Twenty four dailies and four Sunday features. With a sigh of relief, I posted the altered artwork off to the syndicate for approval. When the drawings returned from their holiday in the Big Apple about 6 weeks later, I found that each strip had been personally rated and commented on (in pencil) by the editor at the time, the late Jay Kennedy. Almost all were deemed acceptable - although he made it clear that he didn't care much for the lawn mower episode. (See earlier blog entry: Amputated Human Digits.)
In the attached letter, he requested that I submit ANOTHER 24 dailies and ANOTHER 4 Sunday features of the comic strip 42 Plain Street for further consideration. Another week or two of knuckling down to re-draw (not trace) and re-stage another batch of old episodes that I thought I'd sorted out long ago when they were first sent across to Japan years earlier.
Eventually, these pages too, were returned to me; each with Mr. Kennedy's thoughts/suggestions jotted in pencil below the panels of my artwork. Some suggestions helpful, some just odd. However, in the end there would be no final closure for the characters of 42 Plain Street. No request from King Features for a third submission. No final evaluations offered on what they had thought of the strip so far. Not a pass; but not a fail either. I was left in the foggy state of limbo.
Perhaps even now, after all these years (12) they just haven't managed to reach a unanimous conclusion regarding my strange but true cartoon series. They can't quite decide whether to syndicate or not to syndicate. And I dare not bother them with any enquiry, lest I come across as impatient and pushy. More than likely, even without an official word of rejection, my efforts in duplicating the episodes into the English reading format have probably been for naught. But it seems like a funny way to run a business, to leave their prospects dangling like that. For decades at a time. Oh well, it wasn't a total waste of time - at least my sister is finally able to read 48 dailies and 8 Sunday features from her brother's library of Japanese comic strips. But she hasn't passed over any final opinions on them yet either.
Work, work, work. Then overtime. That's the world as I see it lately and it ain't a pretty sight. I'm starting to feel like the father character in this particular cartoon panel - at least with his obvious cartoon state of mind. While Jack (above/yelling) may be upset about his misplaced car keys, I'm working on trying to find the last few weeks of my life. Days and weeks have vanished in a blur of too much work and not enough free time.
Thwarted and annoyed am I. Recent attempts to live the serene, peaceful life have been foiled due to a seemingly endless work schedule. There's barely enough time left in the day to rest up for the next day of work - let alone trying to fit another pointless blog entry into the mix. (And pointless blog entries are my thang.) The only hope I have is that the same satisfying sense of closure Jack discovers at the end of his comic strip (below/in English/click to enlarge) will be waiting for me when MY current 'lost keys' moment passes into history.
