Posted in: Comic Show, Comics, Recent Updates | Tagged: alex milne, Chris Mowry, comic scripting, Comics, entertainment, James Roberts, Josh Burcham, Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye

From Strip To Script – Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye

By Josh Hechinger

Welcome once more to From Strip to Script, where I reverse-engineer a script from a finished page of someone else's comic.

Now, speaking for myself, the appeal of certain toy lines is equally "Oh hey, those are fun to play with" and "Oh hey, someone's written a quirky little backstory for this piece of articulated plastic".

Put another way, I've always been a Bazooka/Ironhide guy over a Duke/Optimus Prime guy, no matter who the tie-in media promotes as being the "lead" character. The little personalities and quirks given to different bits of articulated plastic are a not insignificant selling point for me.

Your mileage may, of course, vary.

Currently, one of the best toy-commercials-slash-genuinely-engaging-narratives is the Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye series. As such, I've been spending a fair bit of money on Transformers, but only those that are currently crewing the good ship The Lost Light.

So, for this column, I want to take a look at the intersection between good comics and toy advertisement. The page we'll be looking at comes from the second volume of More Than Meets the Eye, by Josh Burcham (color), Alex Milne (art), Chris Mowry (letters), and James Roberts (script)

PAGE Forty-One

P1. ULTRA MAGNUS points to a screen of Cybertronian script.

– MAGNUS                                    And what's particularly interesting about this footnote is the transitive verb in line three, which begs all sorts of questions about…

– MAGNUS                                    Tailgate?

– MAGNUS                                    I'm not convinced you're paying attention.

P2. TAILGATE is burying his face in the table.

– TAILGATE                                  …What? Oh.

P3. TAILGATE raises his head, pointing at a spot on the table. MAGNUS is lunging forward to see where TAILGATE is pointing.

– TAILGATE                                  Sorry—I, er, I thought I saw some graffiti on your desk. Yeah, some-some really tiny graffiti:

– TAILGATE                                  "Ultra Magnus is an O.C.D. control freak who uses learning to hurt people."

– TAILGATE                                  But it was just a speck of dirt.

– MAGNUS                                    Dirt?!

– TAILGATE                                  It's okay, sir—it's gone. It can't hurt you now.

– TAILGATE                                  So, um, where were we…?

P4. MAGNUS composes himself.

– MAGNUS                                    We're on Section 19 of the Tyrest Accord, Subsection 80, Paragraph Five: 19 (80) 5.

– TAILGATE (off)                         Nineteen eighty five? Really?

– MAGNUS                                    Problem?

– TAILGATE (off)                         No…

P5. Flashback panel; TAILGATE squats near the LEGISLATOR'S shattered head.

– TAILGATE (cap)                        "…I was just reminded of something."

– LEGISLATOR (small, ragged)   Nineteen…eighty…four…

P6. TAILGATE points at MAGNUS, who shrugs slightly.

– TAILGATE                                  Did we talk about paragraph four?

– MAGNUS                                    No—it's a redundant sub-clause. It was added years ago—after your time—in anticipation of a threat that never materialized.

– TAILGATE                                  And what did the sub-clause relate to, exactly? Just out of interest.

P7. MAGNUS' face darkens.

– MAGNUS                                    Thought warfare.

So, What'd We Learn?

– Thing one with ensemble stories is to give each member of the cast a broad personality trait: Tailgate's broad trait is earnest curiosity, hence why he's in a classroom, learning Autobot code.

– Never be afraid to undercut the character's main trait: Tailgate's earnestness flags in the face of Ultra Magnus' major trait (obsessive observance of laws).

– But always err on the side of the character's trait: Tailgate advances the overall plot by recalling something from another bout of curiosity. He doesn't get there without Magnus' encyclopedic knowledge of rules.

– Even if it's temporary, throw different members of your ensemble together and see what sparks. In this instance, we discover the limits of the broad character traits: Tailgate's curiosity flags in the face of Magnus' rigidness, but rekindles upon making a link to a past plot point; Magnus' rigid devotion to rules gives Tailgate the link, but Magnus' rigidity is played for laughs, insofar as it inadvertently breaks the Pollyanna of the cast.

Philly-based comic writer Josh Hechinger is a Cancer, and his blood type is A+. He enjoys toys, learning, and B-list characters. He takes comfort in not being an O.C.D control freak who uses learning to hurt people.

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