Some Latin comics

[Iáson]

At this link is a collection of original comics in Latin, which I drew and wrote at various dates.

They are, I fear, swimming in errors. Every time I read them I find new ones, and ideally I would proofread it a few more times, but at this rate I decided I should either give up on them or put them up warts and all. (For that matter, the art is not very good, and the picture quality breaks down in places.) If you see any particularly egregious ones and have a moment to tell me, please feel free, and I'll edit them at some stage in the future, but equally don't feel obliged to if you do read them.

At any rate I hope some of you might find them amusing.

They may not make that much sense if you haven't read Aeneid 1, the fairy tales of the Three Little Pigs and Snow White, and Herodotos 3.40-2. And even if you have, they may still not make much sense, even accounting for bad Latin.

If I get time I'll put up an English version at some stage.

 

[Dantius]

I read the first one. I quite like it. Very nice artwork as well.

 

[Godmy]

Awesome, Iáson! I read the first one... you paint nicely, I can't imagine how one person can paint all of it.. yet I know that comicses exist and people really do this kind of stuff, it's just an interesting experience for me to meet such a person And the story is also quite interesting and well thought, a mystery right to the end. I also quite praise your rich use of the vocabulary (I also really liked the way you used the word "naufragrium" ) and your Latin, very legible!

In the first story, I found some things which are either potential mistakes/typos or things you haven't noticed while proofreading (some macrons either missing or redundant), so, while reading, I kept making notes which I will copy paste here:

Spoiler

- pagina 6: first "sive" has macron, the second "sive" doesn't
- pagina 6: "utrum māsne" the "ne" should be redundant after the interrogative "utrum" (it it seen sometimes though when utrum first introduces the question and the choice then follows with "-ne + an")
- p.6: on the bottom, maybe a macron to "e" in "optimē"? (the question mark there is intended or an exclamation mark was?)
- p.7: "fabricatis" not used deponently - I see it's possible, but I can also see it rather with poets, usually it should be the active perfect participle of the dep. fabricor... but I suppose this is not too important But you use the dep. normally on page 17... (with the present stem though)
- p.7: totam orbem -> totum (in Czech the corresponding noun is feminine, it used to confused me on those grounds for some time, I remember... ;P), it's correct though on the bottom of the same page
- p.7: "incolas infensas" - I would say (despite the word being the "common" gender) that in case a group of women is not targeted, the default plural (or even singular) should be masculine here...
- p.9: "totam mensem" -> totum mensem ^ it seems that the gender mistake almost always happens only with "totus" ; )
- p.11: "virgo eram" - I wonder if in this case "fui" wouldn't have fitted better given Latin's use of the perfect tense...
- p.12: "praesente heroi" -> "heroe" if indeed abl.abs. intended here...
- p.12: on the bottom "quid facērem" <- that macron
- p.13: on the bottom "effūgere" <- the macron (if present stem)
- p.14: I did this mistake often before somebody made me aware of it: on the bottom "veramne quem?" <- the "ali" can be subtracted only if it's the conjunction "nē", the interrogative particle -ne doesn't count... (and phonetically, by the length, it's different), so then "veramne aliquem?"
- p.14: "quem librōs vendentem" -> "quam librōs vendentem" then, if puella
- p.15: the clause "amplius annōs trīginta invenīre" seems to lack the finite verb, I suppose "cōnor"? (unless some historical infinitive, although if "I've been looking for" is to be expressed, then that would be present in Latin...)
- p.16: "lumina" -> "lūmina"?
- p.17: "res perīcolās" do you mean "perīculōsās"? (or it's some word I have no idea of )
- p.17: "īnfēlix" -> īnfēlīx (I think you provide also hidden quantities, right?)
(-p.17: "gesse" is syncopated "gessisse" right? never thought of this one being possible, but I suppose it's a correct "derivation" given the rules, a new plausible form for me to discover then )
- p.18: "infamia... ferrent" "infamia" as adj.neutr.acc.pl. of "infamis, e" or did you mean "infamiam ferrent" (since the latter is attested... but maybe the former too and I don't know about it, or you simply made it that way; or not )
- p.18: "dēmīsērunt" <- I wonder, if it's not with the sense "down" as in "bring down" or "let down", wouldn't "dīmīsērunt" be more suitable in here?
- p.18: "hanc machina ... dederunt" -> machinam?
- p.18: "periculum" -> "perīculum"?
- p.19: "cogitātīs" -> "cōgitātīs"?

But again, congratulations, I liked it!

 

[Godmy]

(I also liked how you painted a kind of indeterminate world in an indeterminate age: it feels on one hand very ancient, fairy taily and medieval, on the other hand, so many stuff of the modern world, some outright sci-fi... perfect! )

I read it on my 24" monitor turned into a portrait (vertical) mode, so I could see the whole page in once (without zooming out), so that enhanced the experience ; )

 

[Godmy]

And now I also understand that your avatar is probably original, your own painting, right?

 

[Godmy]

If I get time I'll put up an English version at some stage.

No, don't An exclusive Latin content is what Latin needs now... Let people learn Latin to read certain stuff, no translation.

 

[Iáson]

I kept making notes which I will copy paste here:

Thank you, these are really useful! I have made the corrections in my transcript and will upload the corrected version when I get a spare moment!

optime was meant as a vocative. Does it seem unidiomatic? gesse is sadly my error, rather than from gessisse: I knew the root was *ges and for some reason decided to form an athematic infinitive.

I'm really glad you liked it!

No, don't An exclusive Latin content is what Latin needs now... Let people learn Latin to read certain stuff, no translation.

At any rate it will be a good while before I do so as it takes several days just to paste in all the text... by which time I may have done some more exclusively Latin ones, sī dī faveant...

 

[Godmy]

I'm glad my corrections were somehow useful! I'll get to this probably later (and I'll also check the vocative thing, but I'm sure I just misread it in which case I apologize)...

 

[Jandar]

I like the stories, but did something go wrong during an update? Pagina 6 (libraria 3) and 7 are now identical. So are 8 and 9, and several others.

 

[Iáson]

I like the stories, but did something go wrong during an update? Pagina 6 (libraria 3) and 7 are now identical. So are 8 and 9, and several others.

Ah, thank you for letting me know! Yes, it was a mistake that crept in when I updated some of the dialogue errors.

 

[Pacifica]

What? We'll never know who the libraria really is?!

She tells interesting stories, though, especially the one about the forbidden books.