Visual adaptation in translated comics

This article focuses on visual adaptation strategies and practices in the publication of foreign comics. It first defines visual adaptation in the context of related terms such as audiovisual translation (AVT) and localization. Then, it provides a typology of visual adaptation strategies, illustrated with examples taken from a variety of comics. This is followed by a description of visual adaptation practices in comics translation industry as concerns two the comic types which have the largest volume of foreign editions, American superhero comics and Japanese manga. In the case of manga translation, after an initial stage in which Japanese comics were heavily adapted lo local comics visual conventions, market pressure in the form of fan base expectations has met with economic concerns by the publishers. Foreignization strategies (i.e. little visual adaptation) have now superseded domestication strategies (i.e. much visual adaptation) as the general norm for localized manga. In the case of Marvel comics, the technological implementation of adaptation strategies allows for the production of multiple foreign editions tailored to local markets. Foreignization strategies, which privilege non-adaptation over adaptation to target visual conventions, innovate the aesthetic conventions and pictorial repertoires of the target comics polysystem.