Halfway down the Danube

Yikes! That thing is hideous. It looks like a monster I used to have nightmares about when I was three. It would chomp on my hand while uttering the phrase "jumpjumpjump."

Don't you be hating Lockjaw.

At first, I thought that your reference to the "pet" was about Crystal.

Where do you get these pictures, anyway? From the originals, or from republished episodes?

I actually used to collect the old Finnish "Ihmesarja"-magazines (that's a direct translation of "Marvel Comics") from 1967-1970 (the first time when they appeared in this country; there was a comeback in the '80s) but I gave that up a long time ago. The last piece that I had was the episode of the Fantastic Four where Doctor Doom has stolen the powers of Silver Surfer and the Inhumans are set free as Black Bolt breaks the barrier around Attila. I exchanged it for Hugo Pratt's "Fort Wheeling" at the local antiquariat just the last week.

I still have a stash of the good old X-men episodes by Byrne & Claremont, published in Finland in 1984-1985. As well as Frank Miller's Wolverine. Those I will never give up.

Cheers,
Jalonen

I can't help it if Lockjaw dredges up nasty memories of childhood nightmares.

But Patrick, neither can Lockjaw. Poor snookums.

(And really, look at 'im. Two words: chick magnet.)

JJ, I find these Panels Of Truth on various blogs and websites. (Sometimes they find me.) The Kirby Meets Shaft sequence, I will admit, is scanned from a black-and-white New Gods reprint of mine. You can tell I'm not a true Kirbolater, by the way, since I'm just fine with the b&w.

I was tempted to scan one of my Hugo Pratts for the recent post on kanaima. But kanaima is worse than that. Why give it a false glamor.

Sigh. I guess you're right - I really shouldn't be blaming Lockjaw for my pre-existing phobias. Does he have any special super powers, aside from attracting attention from the ladies? (Not that that's a bad power to have, of course. In fact, if I had one special super power to choose from, that's the one I'd pick.)

Not being a comics reader, What the Hell is that thing?

http://www.zaksite.co.uk/lockjaw/index.html

"Lockjaw is a servant, not a pet"

I am curious enough to ask brother Jalonen, what do the Finns call the X-Men characters? Are their English names kept or is there a transliteration?

After-all the Finns rename Donald Duck to Aku Ankka

http://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aku_Ankka

[and totally off topic but scrounging around in the Finnish wiki- Can you tell me the Finnish etymology that results in "Ranska" for "France" http://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranska ? ]

Hmmnn. "I really shouldn't be blaming Lockjaw for my pre-existing phobias. Does he have any special super powers, aside from attracting attention from the ladies?" To add to the weirdness, IIRC he's in the same gene-pool as the chick. That is to say...well...actually, I'm exactly sure what to say.

Oh and while we are in the area /found on Gawker/:

New York Comic-Con Feb 24-26

http://www.nycomiccon.com

Bernard, they weren't related when that panel was first written. If memory serves, Lockjaw's Inhuman-ity was one of John Byrne's less inspired ideas. (Doug has a good rant about Byrne and the Quebecois.)

Frankie, if I went there, I would be so tempted to turn it into Columbinic-Con.

(Doug and I have plans to go to a SF con should he ever be in the States at the appropriate time; the theory is he will limit my urge to commit violence on fen, while I will make enough inappropriate remarks to keep him from being sucked back in. Plus, pictures!)

Finnish names for the X-men characters? Most of them are left alone. Storm is Storm. Wolverine is Wolverine. Rogue is Rogue. Dazzler is Dazzler. All of these names _could_ be directly translated ("Myrsky", "Ahma", "Rosvo", "Säihky", respectively), but they simply wouldn't have the same panache anymore.

Some of the characters have directly translated names - or, more accurately, translitterated, given that these are classical names which the English language has also merely loaned. Cyclops is "Kyklooppi". Colossus is "Kolossi". Phoenix is/was "Feenix", although the older magazines left even that one in the original form. Angel is "Enkeli", Sunfire is "Aurinkotuli", and Thunderbird is "Myrskylintu", all of them direct translations.

Some names are, by necessity, a bit more creative. Nightcrawler, for example, is "Painajainen", i.e. "Nightmare". Longshot is "Hurjapää", which translates approximately to "Daredevil" - and before you ask, the _actual_ Daredevil is "Daredevil" also in Finland. Psylocke is "Tajunta" ("Psyche"), and Banshee has occasionally been translated as "Ulvoja" ("Howler").

As for the ethymology from "France" to "Ranska", isn't that rather obvious? Both names have the same element "-rans-" in them. Bear in mind that the phonem "f" is unknown to Finnish, excluding the western dialects which have loaned it from Swedish.

Incidentally, Estonians call "France" by the name "Prantsusmaa".

Cheers,
Jalonen

Doug and I have plans to go to a SF con should he ever be in the States at the appropriate time; the theory is he will limit my urge to commit violence on fen, while I will make enough inappropriate remarks to keep him from being sucked back in.

That's a spectacle that I'd pay good money to see...