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In the Saga comic by Brian K Vaughan, the Blue language of the magic-using inhabitants of the moon Wreath, is represented by Esperanto, often badly translated from English.

It seems clear that Vaughan has not really learned Esperanto, as the quality of translations have not improved (for example "Saluton mielo" for "Hello honey" from a recent issue), so my question is Why did Brian K Vaughan choose to use Esperanto to represent Blue in his comics?

I have checked out the Saga Wiki entry for Blue and there is no mention of this.

I am interested in some hard evidence of his motivation (some statement of Vaughan's or a close associate) rather than mere speculation. I am aware from other questions (e.g. Use of Esperanto in Science Fiction) that Esperanto has been considered a sci-fi language in various quarters.

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During a Skype chat with Brian K. Vaughan a guy asked him why he uses the Blue language (Esperanto) in the Saga comic and a symbol language in the Paper Girls comic. Brian then gives the closest thing to an answer I've found so far. I get the impression he just randomly chose Esperanto as one possible way to convey this atmosphere of strangeness when you find yourself far away from home. Here's the video (fast-forward until 4:55).

It's time for someone (maybe a language teacher, like yourself?) to contact him for a serious talk about real Esperanto to take his comic to the next level, whatever that means. ;-)

At the request of harlandski I include Vaughan's argument on the use of those languages, which can be summarized in two statements:

1) To represent how languages divide and unite people.

2) To provide a deeper experience for cryptologically-minded readers.

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  • Oh cool, well found! So his reason is "To represent how languages divide and unite, and provide a deeper experience for cryptologically-minded readers?" Doesn't exactly explain why Esperanto, as he doesn't even acknowledge that Blue is based on eo, but it's definitely the best we've got! Could you include a summary of his argument in your answer, then I'll definitely upvote it? You can use mine (above) if you like. :-)
    – harlandski
    Sep 18, 2017 at 12:40

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