OUTWITH, BEYOND, OR THROUGH - DECISIONS, DECISIONS...

English As She Is Spoke (Or Writed)... 

Copyright MARVEL COMICS & CONAN PROPERTIES Intl

Roy Thomas was one of Marvel's best writers and editors, possibly even the most important after Stan Lee.  When I first read his X-Men tales back in the late '60s, they were published in a b&w UK weekly periodical called Fantastic, which removed the credits from the splash pages.  Therefore, it wasn't 'til years later that I discovered Roy's tales were not scripted by the same writer as the earlier X-Men stories, so masterfully had he continued in the style Stan had set when the Marvel Age was first aborning.

Recently, while reading Roy's afterword in the first Dark Horse Conan volume from 2003 (which reprinted Roy's Conan issues at a time when Marvel no longer had the license), I noticed he said that he sometimes 'winced' when he re-read some lines in CTB #1.  I presume he's referring to dialogue like 'Without yon wooden bars, the ceremony begins...'  'Without'?  Had Roy been Scottish he'd probably have written 'outwith', which we Scots use as a synonym for 'beyond', 'through', or 'outside'.

Interestingly, a 1994 UK reprinting (above) changed the word 'without' to 'beyond', and the aforementioned Dark Horse reprint (below) substituted 'through' for 'without' (at Roy's request I presume).  Perhaps I'm imagining it, but I also seem to recall seeing it changed to 'outside', though maybe I'm only remembering what I thought would read better after reading the tale way back in the '70s.

Anyway, simply because it may be of interest to you, I've reproduced the three different versions of the panel so that you can see them for yourself, should any of you be interested.  No, don't thank me, it's all part of the (free) service.

Posted in: Cartoons