TFARCHIVE FORUMS

Transformers: War Journal.
Story: John-Paul Bove
Script: John-Paul Bove, Josh van Reyk & Jon Stone.
Art: Tom Parish, Casey Coller, Matt C. Adams, Shane Anderson, Richard Cookson, Stanley Chou, John Flores, Jon Stone, Stavros Kundromichalis, Jeremy Tiongson & Evan Gauntt.
Colors: John-Paul Bove.
Letters: Bernie Lee.
Covers: Josh Burcham, Tom Parrish, Kent Lin.
Sketch Cover: Andrew Wildman.






Well, here we are. HUGE thanks to all the talented artists who have contributed to this project; all of your hard work has made this comic so much more that I ever imagined. Special thanks to both John-Paul Bove and Bernie Lee for their amazing work and dedication, without them this project would not nearly be as “professional.” Extra special thanks to both Andrew Wildman and Josh Burcham for their contributions. I have been very blessed to have been involved in this project and am extremely amazed with how this has turned out.

I hope you all enjoy reading this piece, as much as I have helping to create it.

- Josh van Reyk

congratulations on a job well done everyone ! fantastic comic. Gritty. There's a real sense of unity between the artistry, makes it an intriguing read. To be harsh, some of the dialogue is a bit iffy, and a couple of the panels don't sit all that well. but then all comics have that. Brilliant work.

wishing you all the best.

Originally posted by slartibartfast
congratulations on a job well done everyone ! fantastic comic. Gritty. There's a real sense of unity between the artistry, makes it an intriguing read. To be harsh, some of the dialogue is a bit iffy, and a couple of the panels don't sit all that well. but then all comics have that. Brilliant work.

wishing you all the best.

Thanks for the feedback, good and bad. We were aiming for something that conveyed war as being difficult, hard and full of sacrifice, rather than just things blowing up. I'm pleased you liked that aspect of the story!

myeh... all the same, sorry about the uneccessary criticism. Something I'd rather not have been taught at school.

... anyway, I hope you all enjoy a well-earned bask in the limelight and I look forward to what you can come up with next, after you've had a rest

Well, I think at some point, you wound up making a story about 'blowing everything up'. This was bordering in a Hasbro-mandated Furman-stint here.

Good work, overall... but I read it feeling like 'this is so over the top, it's like the characters are in a simulation'.

First off, I love the storyline. It's very well put together. You really do convey the sense that they're trapped in this situation, and they're desperate. Especially once they succeed in sending a message to Optimus Prime...only to find out they won't be receiving any help. You know how most of them feel--it's like, what was all that for? But Hot Spot steps up as Pyro probably would have to rally the troops for one last stand. Nicely done.

The artwork was great, considering the multiple sources. For the most part, it feels seemless going from one page to another. I was quite impressed.

Now, some of the storytelling points were clunky. Specifically, the one with Minerva. I understand it was needed for the story, but the first panel with her and First Aid felt like an interruption. Plus, we have someone calling for a medic that doesn't really lead anywhere--although I figured that was just part of the 'daily routine,' aspect I think was trying to be presented.

Still, looking over everything, there was just no other place to put it without probably having to do another page or two of lead-up storytelling.

The next panel with Blades also felt like a quick "Meanwhile..." bit leading to another "Meanwhile..." with Hotspot and crew. I couldn't tell if that was the same battle or not, as he's never referenced again. But it feels like a stand-alone page that isn't needed. Not that it isn't a cool scene, mind you, but perhaps this page could have been used instead as a story point where Minerva is called out to do battlefield medic work--leading to the moment where we see she gets killed.

But eh, that's all after the fact.

I guess my final issue was the change in the art style on page 8. Granted, you've got a lot of people working on this one, so we all expect there to be differences. For the most part, it all blended well--and the artwork on page 8 looks just fine--but the look for Hotspot (mostly the head design) just doesn't match with everyone else's style.

Okay, sounds like a lot, but it's mostly that I'm being specific on a few points. Overall, I was thoroughly entertained by this piece. And yes, you guys did a good job of creating something that was telling a story versus just blowing things up.

Great job.

Okay, I'll try and answer this.


Minerva: We purposly left her "death" scene out. We wanted to show that in war, there are deaths that are somewhat forgotten by the majority. It may have had huge affect on First Aid, but no-one else was really affected by just one more death. Minerva wasn't given any character in this piece as such, so it felt better to have her death played out through First Aid's reaction.

Blades: Blades was pretty much a contrast to most of the other bots. He was enjoying the situation, revelling in the dstruction he was causing. We would have hoped to include him more, same with Slingshot, but there just wasn't the room. Originally Blades was with Hotspot when Slingshot abused him, but the page was too crowded, and it didn't feel right to have Blades question Hotspot.

PAGE 08; the downside of so many different artist and varying reference material. In Hindsight, we should have down full character profiles / studies before any art was started. Maybe next time.

Thanks for the feedback, and hope I've answered your questions.

Your welcome, and I hope to see more projects soon--although I don't know what everyone's plans are at the moment.

Oh, and let me clarify what I meant about Minerva. I actually agree with and prefer the idea that we simply find out that she was killed. I didn't mean that you should show the death scene itself, as its aftermath handled it perfectly.

What I was referring to was the particular moment when the Autobot comes in calling for a Medic--I'm only guessing that was meant to depict their usual routine. I thought it would have been nice to do an additional page where Minerva was told that she was needed out on the battlefield to help some downed Autobots--to which she agrees. We would not see her again until that final panel where she's depicted as having been killed on page five. I was thinking it'd help the page with Minerva and First Aid flow with the story elements from the next pages, instead of being there only because it was needed to make sense of First Aid's reaction. (It IS an important page, of course)

Then again, that could lead to people predicting what was going to happen to her, so it's not a guaranteed winner of an idea. Anyway, that's where I was going.


Oh! And I belatedly realized a buddy of mine from another board (who posts here as well), Shane Anderson worked on some pages for you too. Heh, right there in the credits. (he did pages 12 and 13 for everyone reading)

First off - thanks for the comments!

Originally posted by Pun-3X
Now, some of the storytelling points were clunky. Specifically, the one with Minerva. I understand it was needed for the story, but the first panel with her and First Aid felt like an interruption. Plus, we have someone calling for a medic that doesn't really lead anywhere--although I figured that was just part of the 'daily routine,' aspect I think was trying to be presented.

That page is meant to display that First Aid is quite a weak character compared with someone like Ratchet, he needs to be led, he needs reassurance and to foreshadow his choices later on.

Still, looking over everything, there was just no other place to put it without probably having to do another page or two of lead-up storytelling.

There was a page for Minerva in the original outline but then when I realised the main focus of the story she came out - the impact of her death is the story rather than her life.

The next panel with Blades also felt like a quick "Meanwhile..." bit leading to another "Meanwhile..." with Hotspot and crew. I couldn't tell if that was the same battle or not, as he's never referenced again. But it feels like a stand-alone page that isn't needed. Not that it isn't a cool scene, mind you, but perhaps this page could have been used instead as a story point where Minerva is called out to do battlefield medic work--leading to the moment where we see she gets killed.

In many ways this is a "meanwhile" sort of story with the one page story format meaning jumps in time and location that you wouldn't get in a normal comic.

I guess my final issue was the change in the art style on page 8. Granted, you've got a lot of people working on this one, so we all expect there to be differences. For the most part, it all blended well--and the artwork on page 8 looks just fine--but the look for Hotspot (mostly the head design) just doesn't match with everyone else's style.

There are some massive variations in style, which will be horses for courses. I liked p8 as it had a Marvel G1 feel to it, but that also means some peole are going to hate it!

Yeah, the only issue with that page was that it didn't match as well as the others did. Otherwise, I think you're spot on about the G1-esque feel that was captured there. It's a nicely done piece of work all on its own, and that's without mentioning that it tells a great part about this story in particular, both in dialogue as well as character expression.

Originally posted by Pun-3X
Yeah, the only issue with that page was that it didn't match as well as the others did. Otherwise, I think you're spot on about the G1-esque feel that was captured there. It's a nicely done piece of work all on its own, and that's without mentioning that it tells a great part about this story in particular, both in dialogue as well as character expression.

It is a different look for Hotspot on this page, one of the decisions made early on, partly out of necessity and also partly out of a desire to give the artists to work in the way that allowed them to show their style. Having a single colourist was designed to keep things from the feel being too dissimilar although there are slightly different styles used in the colouring depending on the artists styles too. I'm pleased you liked the tone and story in the scene though, it was one of the first ideas that got the story going.

Have a great New Year!

It seems I just can't get enough of the spotlight;

http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=141580

Originally posted by TF Mosaic
It seems I just can't get enough of the spotlight;

http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=141580

At last, we've been sitting waiting for it to go up for 2 months!

Yeah, the only issue with that page was that it didn't match as well as the others did. Otherwise, I think you're spot on about the G1-esque feel that was captured there. It's a nicely done piece of work all on its own, and that's without mentioning that it tells a great part about this story in particular, both in dialogue as well as character expression.

Thanks! Pages 8 and 9 were mine so cheers for the comments.

I really appreciate the organisers of War Journal for giving the artists so much freedom to do their own thing. Despite the centralised story, every artist got to use his own style and do their own take on the characters, with the excellent colouring and lettering just tying it all together. Looking at it all now, I can see my slightly retro / toy based style isn't as smooth a fit as the others, but I'm just glad I got the chance to have a go.

And congratulations on the newsarama interview!

i love it i ust love it!

electro girl wrote:i love it i ust love it!

Pleased to see some people still discovering this 5 months later! Pleased you enjoyed it, and thanks for the feedback.