Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Up and Away

I forced my part-time assistant, Michael Kraiger, to read 40 issues of "Superman Adventures" to see what was appropriate to reprint in the Middle East.

He wandered into my office about an hour into the project.

"Is this offensive?"

In issue #11, Superman is lifting up a rescue boat to the burning oil rig so the workers can jump on. He speaks.

"You know what they say...if you can't bring Mohammed to the mountain..."

I stared blankly at Kraiger, having no idea if that was offensive. Clever use of the phrase but offensive? Maybe...maybe not...what's the worst that could happen if it IS offensive? Oh you know, angry people, me getting fired, my company getting in trouble.

"It's just in the lettering? Not in the art?" Where the hell did that phrase come from?

"Yeah."

"Send a note for the translator to change the words." Don't risk it. Take it out.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Smart move. I'll guaranty that phrase never originated in the middle east. They are very very touchy about anyone and anything that may be perceived as disrepecting Mohammed.

Andrea said...

Yeah, I probably would have pulled that too. This is Y not A by the way. Just to lazy to log her off.

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