TMNT Movie Adaptation Feedback

[diegojourdan]

I was wondering if the movie adapt. came hit stores today in the US, and what your thoughts may be...

I rarely get any direct feedback from my work, and i would appreciate if you let me know your thoughts ^_^

Thnx.

Diego Jourdan.

PS: To make things more interesting, the first 4 posters send me your mailing address via PM, and i´ll send you an autographed postcard for free!:D

[Kunoichi_Haruko]

Does posting this count? :D

I'm buying the movie adapt. tomorrow. I'll give a review soon after. :thumbsup:

[Fledermaus]

AHA! Good, now there's a review thread for the adaptation.

Just bought it dude. I'm only about halfway through at this point, so I can't give a full review YET. But so far, I'm liking it. :) And I've been pretty critical of the TMNT comics, in case you haven't noticed. Heheh...

I tend to rip comics apart, so the review is coming. I'll probably analyze everything you do panel by panel. So brace yourself. It's nothing personal. I just have serious issues.:)

EDIT: Much as I would love an autographed postcard from you, seeing as I've made quite a few enemies here, I am most reluctant to give out ANY personal info on this board. Even in PM... :/

[Roseangelo]

Well, I just picked it up.

I love your work in general, so I don't know how helpful I can be. :P

One thing I can't figure out is, drawn from certain angles, the Turtles seem to have an extra line drawn across their nose. Leo at the bottom of page 4 has it and Mike in the second panel of page 9 has it.

Casey in his undies... :lol:

I love that the Raph/Leo fight still ends with Raph poking Leo in the eye. Hehehe.

I love the sillouette of Leo on page 8. I also love page 20. And 46 (and 47).

In general everything is very solid, although the Turtle noses can get funky here and there with an upward point (page 30 stands out).

I definitely like seeing tidbits of the stuff that got cut out!

My biggest disappointment? That it's not in color. :ohwell:

[Cascadia]

It is excellent...goes very well with the movie. I wish that it was in color because sometimes it was difficult to determine who is who. Otherwise, I loved the comic book.

[diegojourdan]

Alright!

Scientific freak, Roseangelo, Fledermaus, and Kunoichi_Haruko, pse.send me your mailing addresses (AND real names) via this Forum´s Private Message service!

Cheers,

D.

[Cascadia]

sent it to through PM. :)

[ToTheNines]

I loved it, much better than I was expecting.

[Fledermaus]

All rightee, folks. Time for another edition of...
SCARY FLEDERMAUS REVIEWS...! :evilgrin:

Okee... so what the hell do I talk about? Overall, I liked it. Definitely worth buying. Good designs. Oh. And did I mention that the characters ACTUALLY RESEMBLE their movie counterparts? :D

Much like the TMNT movie, this was a very enjoyable comic despite several "scenes" feeling very rushed.

Let's begin with the painful critiques. (All crammed into one paragraph for your aggravation.) It's hard to describe. I loved how, most of the time, the comic was well-paced and took its time. Then all of a sudden that nice pacing would flip out. I was disappointed in how quickly the fights occurred -- had I not seen the film, I would hardly have known what just happened. Examples? The Turtles vs. big ugly gorilla monster. Leo talking to Karai and suddenly Karai's gone... It felt hugely disjointed. The Leo/Raph fight, especially the aftermath was also a disappointment. How? I guess what bothered me -- what always bothers me in most movie adaptations -- his how sometimes it's like the writer tries to force all the pieces of dialog together without really "adapting" it to the comic book medium. In several places that were originally slower scenes, they're gone in a flash, and that's not always a good thing. For example, Casey and Raph having that heart-to-heart; and Raph going to Splinter loses all its impact... The comic, overall, did not flow like a comic book. Like the movie, it was not suitably "tight" enough for its medium.

But I'm thinking the main culprit might just be the writing, because there were more than a few sequences that were excellent.

Now, let us transition into the things I found interesting/worth the money.

I really don't know whether this is a good thing or a bad thing... but this moved a lot... like... a cartoon network cartoon. Nicely stylized, but... not a gritty TMNT comic book. But that's just my personal bias. I prefer filthier looks. Though, I did get a Samurai Jack vibe now and then.

Which reminds me, I'm really a sucker for facial expression and bodily gesture. Uh... yeah. Guess that's just the animator in me. In the scenes that, in the movie, were full of character expression and subtlety and... all that... I was hoping to see that somehow translated into the comic book. But I didn't. Like with most TMNT comics, expression got sacrificed for design/style. :ohwell: That said, the design in this comic was pretty strong, so I think it really comes down to a matter of personal preference.

On an artistic level (I say this, trying to put bias aside), the "style" (god, I hate using that word) felt streamlined, even retro-looking at times. There were parts here and there where you tried to do different things with the design -- for example, page 51. I love that soft glow effect, the tastefully stark contrasts of the buildings and Leo in the tube thingy. There were several places throughout the comic where you did some nice things with the whole b/w element. Other places, the designs were so fluid. My favorite pages would have to be pp 59 to the end.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention something: WTF was up with Michelangelo??? The first half the comic, he totally looked like he was retarded or on crack (page 22, 30). Or both.:lol: It would have bothered me if it wasn't so funny. Same thing with Don and the glasses. He looked even freakier than he did in the movie.:lol:

Sorry, but it's kinda late and I have some work to do, so I couldn't afford to make this a structured essay -- more like an exploding train-of-thought regurgitation. My points will probably become clearer as I get into more of a "conversation" mode in this thread.

[soccerstud652]

I am brand new to comics and I started out with the movie prequels and the first 4 graphic novels from the 80's.

I have to say I am a bit spoiled by those color comics from the graphics novels, but overall I really thought the movie adaption held my interest well. Some of the prequel comics were just kind of boring at spots, but I saw this comic as a true interpretation of the move.

Well keep up the good work, I hope to enjoy your artwork again soon.

-I am in a bit of a rush, so I will give a more detailed review when I get a chance.

[Fledermaus]

O man just missed it. :( I always just miss out on this stuff.

Well, I really enjoyed the movie adaption. Great work!

Dude, you can take mine -- like I said, I never give out personal info on message boards (especially now that I've become a controversial "vigilante" figure...). I got my secret identity to protect, and I don't want anyone -- even a talented artist -- to know the shocking truth.

I'll send Diego a PM and ask him to send the postcard to you instead of me. :)

[diegojourdan]

Thanks for the overall nice comments everybody! :)

D.

PS: Hey Fledermaus, i´m missing your name and mailing address via PM !

[diegojourdan]

I never give out personal info on message boards (especially now that I've become a controversial "vigilante" figure...). I got my secret identity to protect, and I don't want anyone -- even a talented artist -- to know the shocking truth.

I´m on to you pal, you´re obviously none other than BATMANUEL (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batmanuel) from The Tick !!!


:D LOL

[Fledermaus]

Ssshhhh.... http://www.superherohype.com/forums/images/smilies/ninja.gif

Not that I'm sayin you're right. You could be. Maybe not. Or maybe I'm just an average schmoe with a not so average image to maintain. I've pulled the wool over the eyes of everyone on this forum -- even those who THINK they know me have also been deceived. But not without reason. For that... is the way... of the Fledermaus.

EDIT: CURSE YOU. I was planning to change my avatar next week... Now, back to topic? :D (I'm sorry. This is all my fault.)

[diegojourdan]

Scientific freak, Roseangelo,soccerstud652, and Kunoichi_Haruko:

Cards are on the way!!! Hope you get em soon, and pse. PM me as soon as you do! :)

No more movie adapt. feedback from the rest fo the technodrome? :roll:

[TheShowstoppa]

What can I say... I thought the comic was very well done. It's nice to see the ending of the comic with Splinter getting the final words in instead of Raph's monologue (I know I just pissed a lot of Raph-Shippers off).

It was very well drawn and you could just PLUCK lines from the movie out that I know I heard.

What made me crack up most of all: The VERY Front left page. (The one with Second Unit Director, Subtitles... you get the picture.) Very very good looking out on that.

Not to be a kiss ass, but you did great. Can't wait to see what's in store next!


By the way... I just got my issue today. I'm a little behind.

[StealthNinjaScyther]

It felt a bit rushed in a few parts, even more so than in the movie. The fight between Leo and Raph for example, it was a bit too rushed. I can understand the difficulty in trying to cram so much into a little comic like this, but for the most part it was pretty good. Actually, I was kind of surprised at how much you guys managed to fit in. I really liked the art direction too, very expressive. Good job.

[discordiatookie]

Dagnabbit, I missed a trick there with the signed postcards! :( Monday was a bank holiday over here, thus delaying the shipping of comic books to my area until friday...

I'm at work just now but still read the book, as I picked it up on the way here.. I really enjoyed it, the art was great, and I even spotted my next avatar!! (if you don't mind...) I agree with Fledermaus about the fight scenes seeming a bit rushed, but I guess that's out of your hands... Although I reaaly dug how there was slight changes from the movie, like how Winters passes at the end, getting old and then a skeleton, Indy Last Crusade style, instead of turning to shiny floating dust (which I still enjoyed though!) I also liked the extra sentences or so that weren't in/cut from the movie, they made me grin.

Anyways, sorry this is so short, but I gotta go back to work, and I aint got the comic right in front of me to reference, but when I get home after eleven i'll pick out my favourite bits (and least favourite, can't have one without the other!) in more detail!!!

[diegojourdan]

Although I reaaly dug how there was slight changes from the movie, like how Winters passes at the end

Well, believe it or not he had little references from the movie itself...Imagi wouldn´t even provide us with WINTERS character design (we had Yaotl´s armor though), so we invented him out of the blue!

As for the fight scenes being cut short, it isn´t completely the script´s fault... given they gave us the script in the very last minute, leaving us only 3 weeks or so to turn in 64 PAGES OF ART (!) , so we took the liberty of cutting down the number of panels on ea. page (not too dramatically of course).

:roll:

[discordiatookie]

You only had three weeks to work on it?!?! :o That's crazy! Guess you can work under pressure then, kudos to you Diego!! 8) (And the rest of the guys who worked on it!! :D )

OH and I forgot to say earlier, I REALLY liked the little nods to the movie posters you put in, I've spotted two so far (both in the fight with the first monster they come across, one with Raph and one with all the guys...)

And as for you getting very little references from Imagi, I kinda like that, (not the fact that they did it in the first place, must've been proper frustrating,) but knowing that you drew that comic with no, I dunno the word, preconceptions? as to how you would do it (Like in different 'camera' angles, character positioning, etc) I feel its much better than just a straight copy from the movie, if you know what I mean. It makes it its own seperate work, and not just looking at the EXACT same thing again, but in comic form... (its awesome when movies copy the comic book, like in Sin City or 300, but the other way around, for me, I prefer a different perspective...)

[Fledermaus]

Well, believe it or not he had little references from the movie itself...Imagi wouldn´t even provide us with WINTERS character design (we had Yaotl´s armor though), so we invented him out of the blue!

Ah... that explains why he looked so... not like Max Winters.:D

As for the fight scenes being cut short, it isn´t completely the script´s fault... given they gave us the script in the very last minute, leaving us only 3 weeks or so to turn in 64 PAGES OF ART (!) , so we took the liberty of cutting down the number of panels on ea. page (not too dramatically of course).

:roll:

Heeheehee... when does that NOT happen?:lol: (If you provide a counterexample, I will kill you...:evil: Or I'll just... never buy stuff from you again.) But it makes sense, considering the number of suddenly large panels that slow down or even halt what had otherwise good "flow." (pardon the syntax :ohwell: ) But damn. Considering the generous timespan you were given you guys did a really awesome job.

I wonder how long the others had to work on their 28 to 32-page prequels...

[NightwatchersOnlygirl]

I love it Oh baby The Nightwatcher
*passes out *

[Tinuvielsdreams]

Well, believe it or not he had little references from the movie itself...Imagi wouldn´t even provide us with WINTERS character design (we had Yaotl´s armor though), so we invented him out of the blue!

As for the fight scenes being cut short, it isn´t completely the script´s fault... given they gave us the script in the very last minute, leaving us only 3 weeks or so to turn in 64 PAGES OF ART (!) , so we took the liberty of cutting down the number of panels on ea. page (not too dramatically of course).

:roll:

Hi Diego :)

Wow having not known that info until now I am more impressed...I just got mine yesterday and the poor packaging it was in didn't survive the trip to my front door. For everything you had to fit in there I think it was done very nicely. Having read it after seeing the movie I definitely filled in the blanks (like fight scenes) and I enjoyed the extra turtle related dialogue the Karai had.
The style was interesting because it was so curvy and certain panels I could really feel the motion...I especially liked all the panels in the fight with the Yeti and the panel on page 48 where Raph has his knee on Leo's chest and his sai point in his face..."Perfect place to put his infamous line "I'm done taking orders..."
I also liked the way Winters aged at the end instead of turning to dust...

I don't know if this was on purpose but I feel like you were very careful on your dark to light ration on each page... maybe preventing any run together because you had to fit so much in.
Thanks for all the work I am pretty happy with this adaption:D

[diegojourdan]

I love it Oh baby The Nightwatcher
*passes out *

:lol:

Hi Diego

Wow having not known that info until now I am more impressed...I just got mine yesterday and the poor packaging it was in didn't survive the trip to my front door. For everything you had to fit in there I think it was done very nicely. Having read it after seeing the movie I definitely filled in the blanks (like fight scenes) and I enjoyed the extra turtle related dialogue the Karai had.
The style was interesting because it was so curvy and certain panels I could really feel the motion...I especially liked all the panels in the fight with the Yeti and the panel on page 48 where Raph has his knee on Leo's chest and his sai point in his face..."Perfect place to put his infamous line "I'm done taking orders..."
I also liked the way Winters aged at the end instead of turning to dust...

I don't know if this was on purpose but I feel like you were very careful on your dark to light ration on each page... maybe preventing any run together because you had to fit so much in.
Thanks for all the work I am pretty happy with this adaption

Thank you so much for the nice comments! :D

[Risawn]

I got my copy a couple of days ago (actually, on accident, I picked up two. . . eh, more revenue for you guys I guess :P

I'm somewhat new to the comic world, I really liked the art, I felt like I should scan it and color it in via photoshop or something. I was tempted to do just that :) In parts, the story line did feel disjointed and a bit rushed, transitions between some of the scenes could have been smoother, but with three weeks to do it, I can see why this was the case! For somebody who hasn't seen the movie, they might be a little confused with the pacing.

I maintain an on again off again webcomic so I know how much work the art goes into this, and I'm very emvious because of how clean it is. It adapts from the movie very well.

:)

[Kunoichi_Haruko]

Hehe... I knew I was forgetting to do something :embarass:

Most of what concerned me (pacing, Mikey's appearance, etc.) has already been touched on, so I won't bore you much with that. And, seeing as you only had three weeks to complete the thing, thoses concerns are not even important anymore. :D

I will say that I like the subtle (and sometimes, not-so-subtle ;)) differences between the comic and the movie, and overall, I enjoyed the artwork. Some pages in particular jump out at me:
Love page 22.
Interesting placement of Leo's katana on page 25
Like Mike's comments on page 26.
Page 46 is quite lovely.
Bottom panel of pg. 57 is adorable. Loving their expressions there.

Also, Karai looks awesome, but April...I dunno, her look deteriorates as the time goes on. Why's that? Was it the time constraints again?

Anyways, it's a nice edition to my growing collection of TMNT comics. Thanks, Diego!

[diegojourdan]

In parts, the story line did feel disjointed and a bit rushed, transitions between some of the scenes could have been smoother, but with three weeks to do it, I can see why this was the case! For somebody who hasn't seen the movie, they might be a little confused with the pacing.

I maintain an on again off again webcomic so I know how much work the art goes into this, and I'm very emvious because of how clean it is. It adapts from the movie very well.

You´re right about pacing and transitions Risawn. Thanks for the feedback -- terrific webcomic, by the way :)

PS: Between you and i, clean is easy thanks to the magic of digital inking ;)

April...I dunno, her look deteriorates as the time goes on. Why's that? Was it the time constraints again?

'Fraid so :ohwell:

Anyways, it's a nice edition to my growing collection of TMNT comics. Thanks, Diego!

Thank YOU for buying the book :D

[Ninjinister]

Why the devil didn't I see this topic back when it was originally posted? I could've earned myself my first TMNT staff autograph. Ah well, that's the way the cookie crumbles.

I, for one, thought the movie adaption was glorious. Sintilating art, punchy writing, and some clever differences from the movie give this issue the honor of sitting amongst my copies of the first three movie adaptions. A worthy comic through and through.

[diegojourdan]

Scientific freak, Roseangelo, and soccerstud652 pse. PM me as soon as you receive your prizes! Kunoichi_Haruko already got it, but since i sent everything via air-mail from CHILE, i don´t know how trust-worthy the local Post Service is :ohwell:

Why the devil didn't I see this topic back when it was originally posted? I could've earned myself my first TMNT staff autograph. Ah well, that's the way the cookie crumbles.

The S: PM me your name and mailing address. I have one spare pencil sketch available for you :D

[AquaParade]

I'd love to pick this up, as I'm super intruiged by the art on the cover, but I dont have any way of ordering it online conveniently. Does anyone know where I could find this in stores? Maybe borders? BTW, would anyone be willing to scan a page, I'm curious to see what it looks like inside!

[Cascadia]

Borders would not have this comic book. either order from http://www.ninjaturtles.com or http://www.milehighcomics.com. There is no local comic book store near you? I can possibly check mine.

[raphaelprime]

Finally got to pick mine up today Diego, i know a little slow to get it lmao, im fixing to read it in awhile, so i'll post my thoughts on it before i go to bed tonight.

[Ultimate Shredder]

Sorry that I didn't respound when I got it. It was a good comic. I loved the Nightwatcher. there were a couple things that buged me like the turtles feet. They felt a little awkward to me. Plus the Raphv.s Leo fight was too short foe me. It is my favorite adaption next to Movie one!

[rayfillet101]

great comic. It had a lot of length to it, i felt it to be a bit better than the movie. I wish you had more reference to the production of the movie, the short order cook threw me off. :lol: great job nonetheless it was one of the better adaptations of turtle movies ive read.

[cowabunga14]

I read the adaptation earlier today and I enjoyed it very much. I felt the art was great for the most part, but sometimes the Turtle's faces looked awkward. Other than that, great stuff! I thought Leo vs. Nightwatcher fight could've been a tad bit longer, maybe include the part where Raph breaks Leo's katanas, but hey, at least that's in the movie. Overall, you did a nice job. If there's sequel, Diego, I hope you return for the art along with Cristian Gonzalez and Juan Saavedra. IMHO, this adaption was just as good the first movie adaptation.

[raphaelprime]

Ok, so it took me a bit to getting around and reading it haha. Thought the adaptation was really good, awsome work Diego. I wont say which was better, the comic adaptation or the movie itself, cause its too hard to decide, but their equal atleast. Thought some of the lines/text/whichever ya wanna call it haha, was better than in the movie, and thought a few were better in the movie(mainly just the casey's hair gel reply). Also liked how Karai showed a bit more that she had heard about the turtles other than the 'you' and her speach at the end.

Again, thought it was great, and loved the artwork. I think its the best one out of all 6 of the movie comics.

[diegojourdan]

Thought the adaptation was really good, awsome work Diego. I wont say which was better, the comic adaptation or the movie itself

You make me blush ...people's gonna think i bribed ya :evilgrin: !

[wyze2099]

Heh, I bought the adaptation when it first came out, and I just now found this thread. If I'd known sooner, I coulda scored some staff swag, but them's the breaks.

This is definitely one of the better movie-to-comic adaptations I've seen. It attempts to tell the story in its own way, and while a lot of dialogue was lifted directly from the screenplay (or maybe a previous draft rather than the final one), a lot of it makes sense in the comic itself without requiring the movie for backup knowledge.

However, there's quite a bit that requires having seen the movie in order to understand what's going on. As others have said, the pacing suffers during the action sequences because they're only briefly touched upon. And the final sequence as Winters Tower is incredibly hard to follow. There's one panel in which the Thirteenth Monster is freed from Cowabunga Carl's van, but it's hard to discern that from the art itself; the monster is perched on it haunches in the foreground, and the background is a collection of lines in the vague shape of a van's rear with part of Casey's body seen where the driver's-side window should be. Casey's "who ordered the pepperoni pizza with the side of "big ugly monster?" quip helped, but I'm betting the reaction of a reader who hadn't seen the movie would be, "...bzuh?"

The hurried deadline of the artwork has the pleasant side-effect of the figures seeming very kinetic; I definitely enjoy it when drawings of characters on a page seem to move by themselves. Still, there are spots where it's too apparent that the artists had very little time to work on the pages; and it's sometimes difficult to tell where the characters end and the background begins. The artwork seems as if it would benefit immensely from the color treatment of the UK collection, and I'd liked to have seen more of the computer shading that was going on in some panels. But given the limited time constraints, the comic still looks better than most comics have a right to. It's right up there with the adaptation of the third TMNT movie (which I liked better than the movie itself).

I give it a 4 out of 5.

[SavantiRomero]

Most of what I would have said has already been touched on by other posters. I liked your art work, more so than some of the long time TMNT artists, but you know I'll take what I can get :P

Story line matched pretty on par, visuals were excellant and also on par with the movie visuals. Just slight tidbits of difference.

The only two things that really bugged me about the comic was that the story showed the disc that the generals shot raph with but never the darts. The darts were referenced but never drawn. And Leo was drawn being hit with a disc/shiruken, instead of the dart. I played that off to the fact that you all weren't given all the info, may have misinterpreted some info and the fact you were rushed. The second item was the tubes that the creatureswere put in, were completely different from the ones in the actual movie and were filled with liquid ;p But I played that off too, those were just my biggest gripes.

I'm hoping they pick you back up for another adaptation when they make the sequel.

As such I would only say that movie would have done much better if it had followed more of the story from the prequel's and the comic adaptation, with the violence, blood and more lifelike happenings.

[Buslady]

DIEGO!!!

I'm glad YOU did the book..it looks nice :D

*blinks* prizes? what prizes?:ohwell: nuts...

ya gotta excuse Miss "Raphaelsgirl"...she's WORSE than I am...and I thought I was like the biggest Raph fanatic.

[NightwatchersOnlygirl]

We are bad as each other

[Scandia]

Well, I really liked the comic. It had nearly everything from the movie, and only a couple small differences.

I don't remember in the movie anyone saying that Karai was Leo's girlfriend. They do not seem to have any romantic tension in either the comic or movie- so unless it was total teasing, I do not see the basis for this.

It is a good thing that Casey's and Max's jaws were not as exaggerated in the comic as they were in the film. I noticed the difference in how each turtle looked.