'Divine' Strip Has International Pedigree

By: Dave Astor A humor comic starring "Lord" and "Pete" -- aka God and St. Peter -- has entered syndication with WittyWorld International Features. "Divine Comedy" will also feature cameos by deceased celebrities such as Salvador Dali, Sigmund Freud, Mahatma Gandhi, Jimi Hendrix, Abraham Lincoln, Louis XVI, Marilyn Monroe, Richard Nixon, Pablo Picasso, and Elvis Presley.

The strip is by French-born cartoonist Damien Glez, who lives in the African country of Burkina Faso. After Glez writes and draws "Divine Comedy," it goes on an international journey. He sends it for translation to a bilingual British-French journalist currently based in Israel. Then it's forwarded to Japan, where an American woman Americanizes the British English. Then the comic goes to U.S.-based Joe Szabo, the Hungarian-born head of WittyWorld (http://www.wittyworld.com). Finally, "Divine Comedy" also gets translated into other languages for syndication.

(Speaking of international journeys, Szabo will speak at the World Cartoon Conference Oct. 3-6 in Beijing, China. He previously spoke this May at the East African Cartoonists Association conference in Nairobi, Kenya.)

"Divine Comedy" made its U.S. debut Sept. 10 in The Tri-County Record of Phoenixville, Pa. The comic was customized that day to show the Record's name.