Hello, my friends. Various time periods can be filled with grand discoveries, challenging obstacles and numerous individuals with all kinds of ranging nobility. As for the various perils that can be faced upon the chronological spectrum, the fight to do the right thing will be put upon different kinds of challenges. All of this shall find themselves on display over several issues spanning many decades as we speed our way through its four-paneled history. On that note, I welcome you all to a two-part article called…
Over the course of this reflective remembrance of past periodicals, we’ll be tackling every comic that came out of this franchise. For this initial part, we begin with a comic book publisher that also hasn’t been covered yet upon this site. In particular, it’s the now-defunct New York City-based Harvey Comics. Originally founded in 1941 by Alfred Harvey, the company would ultimately become known for its extensive number of licensed titles based on various children’s cartoons, such as Casper the Friendly Ghost, Felix the Cat, Richie Rich and Tom & Jerry among its vast library of books. Nowadays, its historical assets are owned by Dreamworks Classics after Harvey Comics folded in 2002 while the Harvey Entertainment Group went under the very next year. As for the particular issues that we’ll be tackling, the franchise that it’s attached to is celebrating a major milestone.
The history of how writer Bob Gale and director Robert Zemeckis ultimately developed the initial entry has a wealth of information about it, ranging from them initially coming up with the idea back in 1980 along with the time machine initially being a refrigerator to Michael J. Fox always being the primary choice to play the main character, yet he initially couldn’t sign on due to him already being busy with the hit TV show “Family Ties” and that Eric Stoltz was initially cast before it didn’t work out, thus leading to Fox ultimately landing the role.
As for the initial entry, it would make its theatrical debut on July 3, 1985. It would tell the story of a high school student who has befriended an eccentric scientist as the latter introduces his greatest invention: a time machine built into a DeLorean. After the male student accidentally winds up back in 1955 and also unintentionally prevents his parents from meeting each other, he must join forces with the scientist’s self from said year in order to help him get his eventual folks back together as well as help him get back to his own time period. Made on a $19 million budget, it would go to rake in over $385 million while also receiving loads of critical praise. As for its follow-up, Part II came out on November 22, 1989, and told the tale of our primary duo traveling to various points in Hill Valley’s history. When a Sports Almanac that our main young man initially bought to make himself some financial profits on future sports matches ultimately winds up in the hands of a familiar goon who takes said information to his past self in order to become a powerful tyrant upon their town, they must rectify that and stop it from coming to be. Made for $40 million, it would ultimately make over $332 million though its critical reception wasn’t as glowing as the prior entry, mainly being above average. Finally, Part III saw the light of day on May 25, 1990, and would see our youngster learning about his eccentric scientist friend getting murdered by a goon less than a week after he wound up in 1885. As such, he heads back to said year in order for said grim outlook to be averted and ultimately get them back to their time period, all the while a certain lady ends up getting entwined within all of this. Also made on a $40 million budget, it would ultimately gather over $245 million with its critical response being slightly better than the prior entry though still not on the inaugural entry’s level.
As for the batch of BTTF comics that will be featured in this section, they’re actually connected to what came immediately after the film trilogy concluded. An animated series was developed for Saturday mornings and would air for two seasons on CBS from September 14, 1991, to December 26, 1992, where it ran for 26 episodes. Unlike the movies which primarily focused on a male teenager and an eccentric scientist, the show would mainly focus on the various single-episode adventures involving the latter and his family while the former became more of a still-important, yet somewhat ancillary character. In a bonus feature called “Drawn To The Future” (which can be found on the complete series DVD set), Bob Gale mentions how Universal Pictures decided to get involved within the “family entertainment business” around the time that Part III came out. A newly formed department headed by Jeff Siegel would contact Gale and ask him if he was interested in doing an animated series based on his signature creation. Bob ultimately agreed to do it as long as it also came with some “educational content”, especially since he recalled a TV show called “Watch Mr. Wizard” from his youth which saw its host doing various at-home experiments. Those would be incorporated into their show and they were handled by a then up-and-coming Bill Nye The Science Guy. Speaking of which, Christopher Lloyd would also reprise his role for the show’s live-action portions and those were all directed by eventual Ant-Man film director Peyton Reed (for the entire first season at least) while the actual animated stories saw its own various directors. With all of that out of way, let’s finally get into their tie-in comics.
We begin with an interesting situation for our first standalone story. From what I could find out, the “Back To The Future Special” (released in 1991 and sometime prior to the animated series’ debut) was given out as a promotional giveaway at the Orlando-based Universal Studios Florida theme park. As for the actual first issue, it would ultimately get published on November 1991. As for the tale itself, it would be the same exact narrative shared among both books yet the “Special” would exclude a few scenes. I’ll point those out as we finally progress with our inaugural yarn for this historical journey that was written by the late Dwayne McDuffie, penciled & inked by Nelson Dewey, inked by Ken Selig and colored by a studio called In Color called “The Gang’s All Here”.
Following a one-page recap where Martin “Marty” Seamus McFly recaps the entire film trilogy, mentions his eccentric scientist friend’s newly-created family as well as the fact that he’s now attending junior college (all of which is only in the first issue), we truly open just outside the Brown Family house where Marty is playing a joke on the family dog named Einstein involving a key ring with a sound box that’s emitting a cat’s constant meowing. However, this agitates the canine as it forces McFly to climb up a tree. As if that wasn’t bad enough, his weight is beginning to make its limb snap off as he calls out for help. Fortunately, the family’s two young boys named Jules and Verne are able to get Einstein under control. Despite that, Marty isn’t out of trouble yet since the tree limb continues to buckle his weight. Jules is able to pull out an invention called the Portable Perpetual Trampoline and have it self-assembled just as the branch finally snap with McFly both landing on and bouncing up from it. While that’s happening (at least in the first issue), he wonders why the dog is having this kind of vicious behavior to which Verne says that he’s unsure but that they’ll agree to not let anyone else know about it.
Just then, Martin’s longtime friend and the boys’ father named Dr. Emmett Lathrop Brown comes in and asks his sons what they’re up to. Despite Verne naively mentioning how Einstein is misbehaving, Emmett is remotely phased by this revelation before his wife named Clara Clayton-Brown comes in and scolds Marty for “playing” despite dinner being almost ready. From there, Emmett gets the trampoline to disassemble itself (causing McFly to land on the ground) before he finally checks up on Einstein. Later (and in a scene that’s only in the first issue), the Browns and Martin have finished up on supper before Emmett uses his Autocleaner to clean up their plates, glasses and silverware. Just then, Einstein snaps and proceeds to pounce onto the invention before Emmett is able to calm the dog down in order to thoroughly look it over. He then discovers that it is being unreasonable warm before they more things over to his on-property lab, to which he finds out that Einstein is suffering from a rare eye disease that’s causing some lesions on both of its corneas. McFly isn’t sure of what he’s talking about, to which the good scientist takes him to a special phoropter as Marty learns that Einstein is seeing everything as a cat before Emmett tells him that the dog has become stricken with “Cat-Aracts”.
He then discovers from his medical book that it’ll ultimately cause blindness, yet it can be cured with a special medicine. However, Einstein’s condition is so rare that the serum that’s able to properly combat it hasn’t been made in years. Specifically, it’s made from Juniper Berries that’re fermented within an old-fashioned still. As we exclusively move back into the first issue, the good doctor tries to cook up some fermented Juniper Berries. However, his improvised approach causes the contents to overload within his container and blow it up. After Clara, Jules and Verne come in to check up on this situation, the eldest son tells his dad that he’ll have to use an existing distillery in order for him to create the serum. However, Emmett and Clara mention that the exact kind of distillery that they’ll need hasn’t existed since Prohibition. Verne then reminds his father that he can use his time machine, to which Emmett ultimately decides that only Marty will accompany him on this mission. With McFly bringing along some Juniper Berries that Clara had stored within her pantry, they proceed to hop into the DeLorean and time travel their way towards Chicago’s South Side on January 18, 1927. After they arrive at their destination, they proceed to land within an alley before we then exclusively shift into the first issue where Emmett activates his car’s security system where it folds into the shape of suitcase that still weighs just over a ton. McFly then wonders if they’re truly in 1920s Chicago before they suddenly find themselves within a drive-by shootout that they manage to take cover from. Afterwards, the good doctor tells his friend to be careful within this time period and that he’ll take care of all the talking.
While Emmett ponders about how they’ll locate a “gin joint” without drawing any unwanted attention, Marty just walks up to a person and asks where they can get a drink. However, it turns out to be a police officer who proceeds to check him over and discovers the sound box on his key ring which ends up making a raspberry noise, thus resulting in McFly getting arrested. He then discovers that he’s sharing a cell with a descendant of Biff Tannen named Mugsy Tannen who seems to recognize him as someone who tried to run out on their boss. As we exclusively move into the first issue, Emmett tries to pay for his friend’s bail. Despite having just enough money, the chief notices that the dimes have the image of then-current New York Governor (and eventual U.S. President) Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Not only that, but they’re also dated 1985 which ultimately gets Brown in hot water and ultimately arrested as well. He winds up within the same cell as Marty and Mugsy as the latter is also alongside his thuggish right-hand man named “Battleship” Potempkin. Emmett then confronts Mugsy about Marty as the latter explains that he’s actually “Bathtub Jim” McFly and that he’s their boss’s personal brew master. Brown argues that he’s actually Jim’s cousin named “Zipper” McFly and is also the head of one of the East Coast’s biggest crime families. This manages to get Mugsy to back off from Marty as he gets Battleship to unhand him before McFly orders Tannen to have his boss bail all of them out.
One hour later (and within the first issue), they all proceed to leave the police station where they’re met upon by Bugsy’s boss as he tells Marty and Emmett to meet him at his speakeasy for an important conversation or else something bad will happen to Jim. Brown agrees to the meeting before he then tells McFly that this will help them acquire Einstein’s serum and that Jim could potentially prove his brew master status by helping them make it. Later, they arrive at the speakeasy before they reach the crime boss who’s named Arnie “Eggs” Benedict as Marty maintains his false identity of “Zipper” McFly while also claiming that Brown is his personal brew master. Arnie then tells them that he wouldn’t normally talk to any outsiders, but he sees them as family before he mentions about another crime family that’s threatening to muscle into his territory. As such, he’ll give them part of his financial take if they’re able to provide him with proper protection. Marty says that he’ll greatly consider this after he gets to see his operation with Emmett clarifying his distillery before Mugsy guides them to said distillery within the cellar along with its sole occupant in “Bathtub Jim”. With Jim looking fairly similar to his future descendant, he then mentions that he originally wanted to be a pharmacist. As it would be exclusively revealed in the first issue however, he’s not allowed to follow said dream and is instead being forced to make a diet version of gin called “light gin”. Once they all head back up to the speakeasy, the majority of them have a toast where Marty manages to get rid of his drink. Arnie then mentions that they’re drinking some “special stuff”, to which Emmett did drink it and as he’s not able to consume this kind of liquor without passing out. Suddenly, a hitman from the opposing crime family bursts in as a brief shootout erupts. Afterwards, Benedict tells Marty that this is why he needs protection while Jim begs to be relieved of his duties to him yet Mugsy tells him that he’ll be serving them forever.
Later that evening, Brown finally shakes off his alcoholic stupor and wakes up after only being out for a few hours. Just then, he and Marty are met upon by Jim who begs for their help in finally leaving Eggs’ gang for good. Marty assures him that they have away for all of them to get out of their predicament and that his sound effects box on his key ring will help them do so. Later on at the still, Jim and Emmett manage to make the necessary tweaks before the former places the juniper berries within the still. From there, they proceed to make the serum as Brown manages to acquire it just as Arnie, Mugsy & Potempkin burst in and hold them up at gunpoint since they’ve just learned that no East Coast crime family had ever heard of Zipper McFly. As for Marty, he’s hiding out within a nearby room as we shift over to the first issue where he sets his plan into motion. In particular, he has his sound effects box make it seem like the police have surrounded the building before Marty goes back and forth between sounding like an officer and his regular voice in order to escalate a potential confrontation. He then uses the sound effects box in order to make it seem like a shootout has erupted and that it’s forced the police to retreat. Afterwards, Marty tells the three goons that he & Brown will be heading back East and that Mugsy has allowed Jim to leave their gang while also threatening to retaliate if they go back on this. After they leave, Mugsy swears that he didn’t know that it was a real gang before Artie tells Potempkin to beat his comrade up. Back with our heroes, Jim says that he and his family will be leaving the city in order to move to Hill Valley. With their mission accomplished, Marty and Emmett proceed to return to their present time where it would only feel like they’ve only been gone for a whole minute. From there, the good doctor manages to feed Einstein the serum where it proceeds to cure the family dog as Issue 1 ends with the whole group cuddling the wholesome pet.
As for the final three issues of the series (which were sporadically released in January, March & June 1992), they would all serve as adaptations of certain Season 1 episodes. For all three of these, McDuffie would entirely handle the writing duties while Dewey took complete care of the artwork. In terms of how these individual pieces translated from the small screen to the printed page, let’s travel back to these tales and find out.
Issue 2 (“Forward To The Past”, originally written by Earl Kress) begins with Emmet in his lab calling for his boys as they both fly in using different inventions much to their dad’s painful dismay. Jules then gives his younger brother Verne a piece of aluminum foil as the latter hopes to save up enough of it in order to eventually get a massive pay out some day. Afterwards, the good doctor presents his sons with his latest invention called the Proprietary Ultrasonic Sub-Atomic Molecular Redistributor before explaining that everything is made up of atoms that’re ultimately formed into molecules and that his contraption can pull them apart in order to disintegrate the object. Verne attempts to try it out on Einstein, yet Emmett intervenes by mentioning how dangerous it can be testing out an untested invention. As such, Jules tells him that they should test it somewhere else before the good doctor accepts his idea as they proceed to climb into the DeLorean in order for them to reach their testing grounds. In particular, he’s decided on the the barren land that will become Hill Valley in the year 3,000,000 B.C. As they begin to take off, they accidentally run into Marty who manages to present them with a video tape containing a music video that he made with his girlfriend Jennifer Parker. From there, Emmett departs with his sons while McFly beings to tell Einstein a joke.
We then shift to our featured Browns arriving at their prehistoric destination in the Cretaceous Period (about 145 to 66 million years ago). Just then, they’re met upon a Tyrannosarus as they’re forced to flee. Fortunately, they get saved by a Pteranodon as Verne decides to call it Donnie. Jules then feeds it a chocolate bar (as opposed to Verne being the one who does this in the episode) before the younger sibling saves the foil wrapper. Eventually, the Pteranodon drops them off at the DeLorean before flying off. After Emmett acquires his invention, Jules then spots a shooting star in the star. However, the good doctor recognizes it as a meteor that’s about to crash into Earth. Verne wants to stay and watch this, yet Jules reminds him that they’ll be wiped out once it makes impact.
Verne tries to hide in the car (which he manages to do in the episode), yet Emmett mentions that his invention will be able to disintegrate the meteor with the help of some additional power. As such, he proceeds to reroute the time machine’s Mr. Fusion function through its electrical system (or car battery as he says in the episode) before Jules tells him that they don’t have much time before the impact (four minutes and 23 seconds in the episode compared to 13 seconds in the comic). As such, he fires his molecular redistributor at the meteor which hits its mark and destroys it. With the test being a success, Jules then decides to bring some rocks back in order to carbon-date them. However, the DeLorean isn’t able to start up. Jules assumes that his father’s invention drained the car of its power source, yet Emmett says that he only used his time machine’s battery as a loop-through. They then both discover what truly drained the car’s battery as they find Verne watching Marty’s music video. The good doctor then mentions that they’re now stuck with a dead battery, yet Jules points out that some nearby lemon trees can help them. Verne is initially baffled as to how this will solve their problem, to which Emmett explains that inserting copper and aluminum into the lemons will allow them to access the fruits’ small electrical current from its citric acid. With him having some copper wire and Verne providing his aluminum foil, they all manage to hook the lemons up to the DeLorean’s battery.
After a while, Verne turns it on only for the car to speed off since it was in gear. Not only that, but Jules’ bag of rocks is weighing down on the gas pedal. Emmett and Jules try to run after the time machine to no avail, yet Donnie flies in and picks them up before dropping them onto the car just before it reaches 88 miles per hour and sends them back to their time period. After they stop, Verne notices how something doesn’t look right with Hill Valley. Jules even notices that their surroundings still look familiar before they all decide to fly around in the DeLorean in order to investigate.
They ultimately discover an entire prehistoric city inhabited by humanoid dinosaurs as Emmett realizes that they’ve prevented the dinosaurs’ extinction by wiping the meteor out, thus allowing those creatures to evolve into their civilization. Verne decides to record this on video in order for them to present it back home, yet the good doctor realizes something as he has his kid replay the music video where they no longer see Marty in it before Emmett then says that they’ve also prevented the human race from developing. With their friends not existing in this world along with their ancestors not being able to live there as well, the good doctor calculates that they barely have 12 minutes left to exist. Jules says that they must return to the Cretaceous Period in order for them to undo their action, but their attempt to flee fails as they get captured by a dinosaur who then has a conversation with a fellow creature. With both of them speaking in an unfamiliar language, Jules uses the car’s universal linguistic translator in order for them to finally know what they’re saying.
It turns out that the beings believe that the car is some kind of egg as the red-suited allosaur acts like a prehistoric version of Biff. With the two dinos arguing over what they should do with this, Emmett tells his sons to keep their feet away from the time machine’s metal casing since he’s discharging the battery’s electrical charge onto it. Once they get freed from the dino grasps, they manage to travel back to the Cretaceous Period and at the exact point when their past selves are just on their way out. Emmett manages to hook his invention up to the car battery, but he and his sons are beginning to fade away. Fortunately, Donnie (or Doc himself in the actual episode) is able to reform the meteor within the sky as they’ve also managed to restore their own survivals. Despite the meteor being mere moments away from impact, Verne doesn’t want to leave Donnie to a grim fate yet he’s forced to rejoin his family members as they manage to escape just before the fateful contact. Back in the present, McFly delivers the punchline to his joke just as Emmett and his sons return after only being gone for two seconds from his perspective. While Verne is still bummed that they couldn’t bring Donnie with them, Issue 2 ends with a similar looking bird flying to him as he assumes that it’s a longtime descendant of said Pteranodon.
Issue 3 (“Roman Holiday” a.k.a. “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot Race”, originally written by Mark & Michael Klastorin and John Ludin) opens with Marty arriving at the Brown residence upon his hoverboard. Unbeknownst to him, Jules and Verne spot him approaching as they activate a device. Just as McFly comes in, Emmett pops up and tells him to stop. This causes him to swerve away in time only to crash into the genuine figure as the boys decide to go check it out, but not before Verne gives the device to Einstein. Emmett then assures McFly that they only crashed into trash before he later scolds his sons for playing with his Three-Dimensional Holographic Projector, since it’s supposed to fool potential burglars into thinking that they’re home when they actually aren’t. After placing the device on his work desk, Emmett tells his boys to behave themselves while he goes to return some research materials. Marty immediately thinks that he’s going to the library, yet the good doctor says that he’s actually going to Ancient Rome in 36 A.D. since he’s going to return some notations made by some early Roman historians. He also says that he’ll be staying put for a little bit since he wants to study “the architectural designs of the Roman Arcades”. Despite this announcement getting the young lads excited, Emmett reminds them that they’re grounded for using his holographic projector. However, it doesn’t stop them from quietly swiping it. Marty is then able to join him on the grounds of working on a report for extra credit as they both enter the DeLorean with the good doctor reminding his sons to not play with his holographic projector, completely unaware that he’s talking to their holographic projections.
We then shift to Ancient Rome (which was founded in 753 B.C. as the episode correctly points out, unlike the comic) where our main duo arrive, unaware that Jules and Verne were being stowaways since they wanted to enjoy themselves at the local “arcade”. The two lads then arrive at what they believe to be an arcade, unaware that it’s actually a bath house (or a spa equivalent) as they notice a worker giving a man a massage. The boys then proceed to slide around on the slick floor before Verne accidentally collides into the masseuse as well as knocking the patron into the pool. After being helped out, the man mistakenly thinks that the “slave” forced him in and is about to punish him via whipping. Fortunately, Verne comes to the rescue by pulling a rug out from under the man and causing him to fall back into the pool. The muscular man then thanks the young lad before heading out while the other guy calls out for some guards who then proceed to chase after Verne. During all of this, Jules oversaw all of this within hiding and decides to go get some help from his dad. Meanwhile (and after we skip over a brief moment where a hungry Marty unsuccessfully asks a woman where he can find some pizza since she only speaks Latin), Emmett gives McFly a Universal Linguistic Translator before the former heads out to look over the civilization’s wondrous marvels while Marty gets distracted by his need for food. Shortly after the good doctor realizes that McFly isn’t with him, he’s then approached by Jules who admits that he and his brother came back in order to play some video games within Ancient Rome’s arcade. Emmett then has to tell him that he was specifically mentioning the architectural version of arcade before they both hear Verne’s cry for help.
Soon enough, the good doctor and his eldest son make their way into the bath house before they arrive in its Frigidarium (which stimulates circulation following a person sweating out impurities within the Calidarium). They then spot Verne being captured by the guards and decide to have a distraction in order to save him, to which Jules detects a system of hot air-filled air ducts beneath him. As such, Emmett helps him left the slab in order for the hot air to mix with the frigid air in order to create some fog which distracts the guards long enough for Verne to escape. Meanwhile, Marty is purchasing some food before he turns and bumps into a man while also accidentally splatting his meal onto him. It turns out that the guy is another Tannen descendant named Bifficus Antanneny and because he was “humiliated” by this sudden event, he challenges “Marticus” to a chariot race. McFly tries to exclaim that his chariot is in the shop, yet Bifficus ends up calling him an “Unus Pullus” which Marty learns from his universal translator that it means “chicken”. He then angrily accepts his challenge as Bifficus says that they’ll race at the Circus Maximus at noon before the guards capture McFly and take him there. Just then, Emmett is reunited with his sons as Verne tells his dad about the guy who was yelling at another person like he was a slave, to which the good doctor says that it’s an unfortunate thing about this time period in that slavery was simply accepted within this society. Just as he mentions how this “societal injustice” would be succeeded via rebellion, a pair of guards had overheard him mentioning rebellion as they proceed to capture him in order to present him to their captain before eventually feeding him to the emperor’s lions. Suddenly, Verne (or Jules in the actual episode) proceeds to distract one of the guards by pulling down their undergarment before Emmett then tells his sons to run, which they manage to successfully to do. Afterwards, Verne notices a sign on the ground (or a painted event notice in the episode) that announces about Marty’s upcoming chariot race against Bifficus. Just then, the boys are met upon by the slave that Verne rescued as he introduces himself as Judah before he mentions that he’s being following them since the rescue and that he thanks them for helping him.
Afterwards, he proceeds to help them reach the upcoming race as they make their way through the catacombs which Judah mentions that it’s final resting place for all vanquished warriors. Soon enough, they manage to reach the holding cell that Emmett is being held in as they begin to bail him out. Over at the Circus Maximus, McFly is being placed within the stands by the guards since their emperor is allowing him to watch the opening act of the festivities. In particular, he gives the order for a pride of lions to be unleashed before it’s revealed that they’re going to maul the good doctor. Fortunately, Emmett had escaped as it’s revealed that the lions are attacking his holographic projection. Later, Jules and Verne are prepping Marty’s chariot before the good doctors tells McFly that he has to lose the race in order for the Roman to not turn on Bifficus. As such, it’s vital for Antanneny to prevail since it’ll eventually lead to Caligula become Rome’s next leader which will lead to the Roman Empire’s collapse. As such, it’s important for Bifficus to regain his local popularity in order for the timeline to maintain its proper course. Just then, the horns sound signaling that the race is about to start as Marty climbs in before being giving a walkie talkie. From there, the race gets underway as Antanneny storms out to the initial lead.
Marty then proceeds to catch up, only for Bifficus to use some spikes on the side of his chariot’s wheel in order to slash at McFly’s wheel. Marty then contacts Emmett about this before he personally decides to pull a lever within his chariot as it manages to produce a replacement wheel. From there, he storms out into the lead on the home stretch as he communicates with the good doctor that he’s about to win. Fortunately, Emmett tells him to use the brake as McFly slows up in time as Antanneny pulls ahead and claims victory. After being rewarded by the emperor, he’s then given a choice on what to do with the guy that he’s beaten to which he decides to feed him to the lions.
At that moment, the good doctor thanks Judah for his help with the latter preferring to having Marty’s chariot as his reward. Just then, they spot McFly attempting to flee from the pursuing lions as they hop into the DeLorean and catch up. From there, Judah hops onto the chariot before Marty reunites with Emmett and his sons. McFly then asks for the man’s name, to which he learns that it’s Judah Ben-Hur. Afterwards, they return to the Circus Maximus in order to fly past Bifficus with enough force to make him fall into a cart full of manure before Issue 3 ends with Emmett realizing that he still needs to return some scrolls before they head back to their time period.
Issue 4 (“Retired”, originally written by Peyton Reed, Mark Cowen, John Loy and John Ludin) begins within the good doctor’s lab as both Jules & Verne have set up a series of pranks for April Fool’s Day, ranging from putting several banana peels in their dad’s auto-job running shorts and crossing some wires on his Environmental Adjuster to putting carbonated water (or soda as Jules says in the episode) and artificial flavoring within the Brain Wave Analyzer. Just then, Emmett comes in and is about to take a sip of coffee (which he unknowingly put salt in due to the boys replacing his sugar for a prank) before he immediately places it down in order to have a little exercise within his running shorts. Despite the feeling of banana peels inside of them, he still decides to set his shorts for a trot (or “gentle trot” as the episode shows). Just then, the banana peels’ moisture causes the automated shorts to malfunction as the good doctor ends up running out of control and ultimately crashes. Afterwards, Clara comes in covered in chocolate syrup (due to the boys putting it within the shower nozzle) to ask about what’s gone wrong with their shower. However, she’s actually not too bummed about it since she feels like it’s doing wonders for her skin. She then tells her sons to head on out to school before Emmett admits that he has no memory of installing chocolate sauce within their shower head, to which he decides to use his Brain Wave Analyzer in order to recall it.
Just then, Marty comes in and tells him that he & his band called the Pinheads are going to perform at a concert in front of the courthouse. After giving Emmett some tickets for him and his family, McFly requests him to create some special effects for the show. From there, the good doctor turns on his Brain Wave Analyzer while still being unaware of the boys’ tampering. Marty asks him what’s wrong before Emmett says that a normal human uses 3-5% of their total brain power (which is a myth since a human is capable of using their whole brain), yet the analyzer informs that after “a lifetime of scientific creativity”, his brain is down to only .01% reserve thought power. With him now being worried that he’ll only have enough mental capacity to come up with either one or two ideas before his main cerebral functions permanently ceases, he decides to end all scientific activities forever. McFly then realizes that this also includes the good doctor not being able to make some special effects for his upcoming concert, Emmett wants them to stop talking to each other since it risks him using any remaining intelligence within him and would deplete his remaining brain cells. He then panics and runs out to inform his wife about this while McFly notices the Environmental Adjuster and decides to use it for the concert, unaware that it’s been tampered.
After the comic skips over the scene where the good doctor tries to inform Clara about his predicament yet she naively doesn’t buy it since she knows that it’s April Fool’s Day, we then shift to him sitting around and watching a soap opera. She then comes in and tells him to not throw his life away since he’s capable of doing a job that don’t require intellect. When he still refuses to budge on his stance, she decides to go get Marty in order to help her out. Ultimately, Emmett decides to go his own way in order to not hurt his family. Later, Clara arrives back at the house with McFly only for them to notice a note that her husband left for her (which was written on the calendar page while the episode had it written on both his chalkboard as well as Einstein). Specifically, he doesn’t want to be a burden and has permanently left his family behind. Meanwhile, Emmett is walking around town wondering how this predicament could be happening to him before he’s eventually hit by a big rig (as opposed to the episode where he dives out of the way in time). Ultimately, he comes across the employment office and decides to look for a low-intellect job. Back with Clara and Marty, they’re at the local police station where they explain their situation to the cops. Unfortunately, the ridiculousness of it all (as well as being April Fool’s Day) causes them to laugh. Despite this turn of events, McFly assures her that they’ll find her husband. We then skip over a quick scene where Emmett has taken a job as a piano player & singer at the Luau Lunch Hut before he’s ultimately fired from that (due to a lack of attendees, I think) along with a montage of him screwing up at other kinds of jobs including gardener and parking attendant while Clara and Marty continue their search for him. The good doctor then gets a job at a pizza parlor as his boss tells him to take orders and make pizzas before he bails on his duties in order to play at the local arcade. From there, a woman and her children enter as he proceeds to give a Emmett a complex pizza order.
Later, they’ve become agitated due to the unbearable length that’s being taken to make their pie as the boss returns from the arcade and finds him messing up, especially since it ends with the pizza dough exploding due to him using too much yeast. As such, the good doctor gets fired before he realizes that the modern world as become “too complicated” for his non-thinking status. Just then, he gets an idea before we then cut to Jules & Verne completing their day at elementary school where they’re met upon by Clara and Marty. As McFly and their mother mention that their dad has had a “weird development”, Jules gets a bad feeling that this is all his and his brother’s fault. Back at the Brown residence, the good doctor takes the DeLorean and travels back to prehistoric times since he’s convinced that was when “life was simple”. Later, he’s helping some cavemen make their own campfires only for their dimwitted ways to prevent any kind of breakthrough from occurring. While he accidentally creates the wheel, Emmett complains about how the Pleistocene Period (which is about 2.6 million to 11,700 years ago) isn’t working out for him since they’re far too many things that have yet to be invented. As such, he wants to go to any kind of place that doesn’t require any thinking whatsoever. After the comic skips over the moment where he realizes that he still has his family’s tickets to the Pinheads concert, we then shift back to the present where Marty is about to perform with his band as he assures Clara that her husband will be here. Not only that, but Jules also says that he and Verne will confess to their tampering upon his Brain Wave Analyzer. While they all wait for the good doctor to show up, Clara and her sons go to take their seats where there’s hardly anyone in attendance.
Just as they sit down, they soon discover that Emmett had been sleeping in some nearby seats as he proceeds to freak out. His sons try to admit that they played a joke on him by tampering with his Brain Wave Analyzer via pouring soda into it, but he still doesn’t believe them. Fortunately, they have his fully-repaired invention on hand in order for him to use it again. Meanwhile, Marty assures Ned (a.k.a. “Ned The Fish” as he calls himself in the episode) that he and his band is ready before telling him to set the Environmental Adjuster to lightning on his signal. From there, the concert gets underway with Marty immediately telling Ned to activate the invention. Unfortunately, the tampered machine proceeds to create a lightning storm in the sky before it also forms a tornado which causes the Brain Wave Analyzer to get blown off of Emmett (or destroyed by a lightning bolt in the episode). From there, the intense winds make it impossible for the band to continue their performance while the Brown Family spot the Environmental Adjuster going haywire. Emmett doesn’t believe that it would be acting up like this, to which Verne admits that he and his brother also tampered with it. Clara then tells her husband that they have to do something, but Emmett fears that he won’t be able to come up with “any original ideas”. Over on the stage, Marty had been clinging to the curtains for dear life before the intense strain from the weather causes said curtains to rip and he ends up plunging into the newly-collected flood water. Fortunately, he and the entire Brown Family manage to get onto a tree before Emmett says that they must stop his machine or else Hill Valley will get wiped out.
His family tell him that he has to think of a way for them to save their town as he ultimately ponders up various objects that’ll be able to help them out. From there, they make their way upon a hovercraft made out of a mattress and some fans as they manage to get in range of the Environmental Adjuster. Emmett then says that even though its controls are damaged, he’ll be able to get the machine’s infrared emergency override in order to shut it down. McFly mentions that it’s an impossible shot, yet the good doctor takes his shot as he fires a signal from a TV remote control which proceeds to bounce off of a few objects before reaching the invention and finally turns it off. With the day saved, we then shift over to the Brown residence where the family and Marty are enjoying come cake and coffee. Jules once against apologizes for the prank-filled actions of him and his brother, to which their father assures him that they’re all together. From there, the series ends with him finally sipping from his cup of coffee only to be pranked since he put salt in his drink instead of sugar.
We now close out this section with a look at the three-part mini-series called “Back To The Future: Forward To The Future”, with its first two issues coming out in October & November 1992 while the final entry was published in January 1993. With McDuffie still helming the writer’s chair, Dewey in charge of pencils and the studio known as “In Color” handling the colors, how will this original adventure close out this era of the franchise’s comics history? Let’s hop aboard and see for ourselves.
We open within Emmett’s lab as he gets shocked by what he’s seeing upon some paper, which is loud enough for most of his family along with Marty to burst in so that they can learn about what he’s just found out. It turns out that the good doctor is holding a report on robots that Verne had worked on and that it got an exceptionally good grade, even though he hasn’t really shown this kind of “academic ability” before. As such, they all decide to look into this as they make their way to Verne’s room where they find him reading several robot books. Clara is able to confirm that their youngest child isn’t feeling sick before she and the rest of the family express how proud they are of him, especially for his recent robot report. Emmett then marks this moment where some “intellectual curiosity” has begun to blossom within their child before Clara says that their should kid should get encouraged.
As such, he announces that all of them will be going on a field trip as they all proceed to climb onto the Time Train before they depart for Hill Valley on June 3, 2585. Shortly after they arrive at their destination, Emmett explains that the 26th Century marks “the dawn of the robot age” in that robots do the majority of manual labor in order for mankind to be allowed to focus upon “artistic and intellectual pursuits”. They then proceed to put on some spacesuits in order for them to venture out into outer space so that they’ll be able to reach a robot factory located within the asteroid belt.
Eventually, they arrive at Robot City before they bare witness to a robot uprising taking place. Shortly after our main group takes cover, a high-energy ray blast ends up hitting the Time Train and causes the Flux Capacitor to burn out which now leaves them stranded in the future. Suddenly, they’re confronted and held up by a robot as they worriedly tell the being to not shoot them. To their surprise, the robot complies with their order as it then explains that it’s been programmed to obey all human commands. Marty then tells the robot to order his fellow automatons to cease with their attack which is briefly challenged by the good doctor before he’s reminded that this future doesn’t affect their time period. Shortly after the uprising gets stopped, Verne then wonders why all of those robots were revolting in the first place. Before they decide to investigate, Emmett, Clara & Marty head into the Time Train in order to check over the extent of the damage that it suffered where they discover that the Flux Capacitor was overloaded and that they’ll need to find some replacement parts. Meanwhile, Jules and Verne learn from the robot that it and the rest of its mechanized beings are revolting in order to earn their freedom since they find their human masters to be cruel. Verne then wonders why that makes a difference, to which the robot then presents them with an automation factory before explaining that he and all of the other robots tirelessly work around the clock until they’re individually worn out and get destroyed. Despite Jules wanting him and his brother to rejoin their parents back at the Time Train, the robot is able to convince Verne into seeing how the humans live in this time period.
Back with the Browns and Marty, the parents become worried over where their sons are at before they’re suddenly approached by a different group of robots who wants our main humans to follow them since their governor would like to see them. However, Marty reminds them that they’re supposed to follow human orders as they comply with this request. Clara then says that they should go with the robots since the governor could help them find their kids, to which Emmett agrees since it could help them get some replacement parts for the Time Train’s Flux Capacitor. As such, McFly tells the robots that they accept their request to see the governor. Meanwhile, the central robot presents Jules and Verne with the inside of “a typical human household” where the average person ends up sitting around and watching a version of television called holovision. Afterwards, it then proceeds to guide them towards where people get massages.
Over at the governor’s mansion, Emmett, Marty and Clara arrive at their destination before they’re met upon by Governor Tannen who allows another robot to provide our main group with a spare Flux Capacitor. However, said automaton says that it can’t process said command since all “high technology supplies” are being controlled by the rebellious robots. While Governor Tannen wants to make a deal with the opposing side, Marty simply tells him to order those automatons to stop their rebellion. However, Tannen doesn’t buy this explanation as Clara calls out his laziness for why the robots are revolting. Fortunately, this inspires him to finally bring this rebellion to an end and that Marty will be helping him out if they want to receive their new Flux Capacitor. Meanwhile, the central robot has taken Jules & Verne to the Robot Recycling Center and explains that robots are brought here to get destroyed once they get “old or out of style”. A heartfelt Verne then tells the seemingly doomed automatons that they shouldn’t end their lives before they talk to whoever’s in charge. As such, he tells the central robot that they should all be taken to their leader.
Back at the governor’s mansion, Tannen, Marty, Clara and Emmett are met upon by the rebelling robots that’re attempting to burst through the front door. The cowardly governor then pushes McFly to the door as he discovers that Jules & Verne are among the massive revolution. Tannen then confronts the automatons and orders them to return to their lowly jobs, only for them to refuse this command. Verne then explains that he told the robots that they should no longer take orders from anyone that they thought were stupid, to which Jules says that he didn’t approve of this before Clara tells her child that this well-intended action has now prevented the robots from taking control. Fortunately, the central robot says that it’s not their intention since they still want to help humans live better lives. At the same time, the robots will no longer do tasks that the humans can do for the betterment of their own selves. From there, he proceeds to drag Tannen away in order to make him do his exercises along with other self-improving tasks. Afterwards, Jules presents his father with the replacement parts for their Flux Capacitor before Clara tells her two boys to never wander off on their own ever again. Later, our main group is preparing to head out as Emmett is making the proper fixes. The good doctor then tells Marty to not connect the electric wires until he’s done, but McFly accidentally mishears him and thinks that he’s done as he proceeds to plug the two wires which ends up shocking Emmett. Marty and the rest of the Brown family then check up on him before Issue 1 ends with the stunning revelation of the good doctor has now been stricken with amnesia towards his own family as well as to his own identity.
Issue 2 (“The Jewel In The Tower”) begins with a one-page preview of things to come before we then recap the major events from the prior entry. With the whole group now stuck with an amnesiac Emmett, Marty says that they’ll need to bring him back to his home in order for his memory to return. Unfortunately, Jules reminds them that their Flux Capacitor is still busted and that they’ll be stuck in this time period if it doesn’t get fixed. With Emmett unable to get it repaired given his state, McFly then gives Jules the task of getting the job done himself since he’s the only person within the entire group who’s “smart enough” to fix it. Later, Jules makes his repairs as he then mentions that his “jury-rig” attempt will most likely only hold for one trip.
From there, they depart within the Time Train as they find themselves going in reverse before they reach 88 miles per hour and wind up time travelling. With Jules’ repairs giving out and the Flux Capacitor once again broken, the eldest son mentions that he’ll need a piece of platinum in order to get it fixed. Clara then looks outside and notices that the surrounding area doesn’t look familiar, to which Marty notices the console and discovers that they actually traveled billions of years into the future. They then spot a nearby village and decide to go check it out in order to acquire some platinum, unaware that a man on a horse is overseeing their approach. Later, they arrive outside of a tavern as Jules hopes that someone inside will guide them to the local jewelry. Emmett decides that he and Marty will head inside, despite concerns from both Clara & McFly.
The good doctor then approaches the bar for an alcoholic drink before Marty (who’s completely aware of his friend’s inability to hold alcohol) instead orders water. Despite only having said liquid from the dog’s bowl, the bartender gives it to them before asking for some payment. Emmett presents his credit card to him, yet the guy notices its holographic front and automatically assumes our two men to be sorcerers. With the tough patrons ganging up on them, our duo are then suddenly saved Tannen the Barbarian who says that they’re under his protection. After Tannen easily manages to fight the other patrons off, Marty introduces himself and Emmett to the muscular being while mentioning that the latter has been mentally affected by a “hit on the head”.
Just then, a remaining goon manages to poke Tannen in his butt before the barbarian easily deals with him. Just as McFly and the good doctor attempt to take their leave, Tannen stops them and mentions how he’s also under the belief that the two of them are sorcerers. Specifically, he saw them arrive within their “flying chariot” before following them into town. He then brings up that Clara, Jules and Verne have also been captured by the queen’s royal guards. A worried Marty then asks him why he didn’t stop them as well as why he’s following them, to which Tannen mainly explains the latter in that the Queen of Apocrypha rules over the land’s biggest empire and that she promised him loads of riches if he’s able to steal a certain jewel for her called the Ruby Begonia. He then says that it’s located within an enchanted tower as McFly soon realizes that he and Emmett are to use their “spells” in order to help him out, to which Tannen then says that Clara & her sons will be freed once they present to the jewel to the queen. Later, night has fallen as they arrive at the enchanted tower where they’re initially blocked off by an electric fence. With Tannen shocking himself in utter stupidity, Emmett notices a nearby tree that’s tall enough for them to climb over the fence.
Once they make it inside, they approach the tower itself as Marty wonders how they’ll get inside to which Tannen says that they’ll simply climb up. Once the barbarian and McFly make it to the top, they wonder where Emmett has gone before the good doctor reveals that he simply took the tower’s elevator and that he didn’t bring this detail up since he didn’t want to spoil his friend’s climb. Our three men then manage to reach the treasure room as Marty manages to get the Ruby Begonia while Tannen looks to stuff his bag with other kinds of treasure and not necessarily help them out. Just then, they’re confronted by a giant snake as the barbarian tells his comrades to use their magic against the serpent. Ultimately, Emmett is able to defeat the being with their acquired water before he and McFly decide to leave despite Tannen continues to stuff his bag with even more treasure. Our main duo then discover that the tower also has stairs before they and Tannen take their leave. During their escape, the snake manages to chomp down on the bag and cause the barbarian to lose his excessive fortune even though all three of them manage to elude the serpent.
Later, they arrive at the queen’s castle and present her with the Ruby Begonia before he instantly frees Clara & the boys. Clara then says that she was able to become friends with the queen by teaching her how to crochet. The queen then allows Jules to take a piece of the platinum setting from the jewel in order to help him out with his repairs before Issue 2 ends a few hours later with out group heading out on the Time Train with the hope that it’ll get them back to their time period or else their wind up lost within the chronological stream forever.
Issue 3 (“The Great Indoors”) opens with another recap of events before we rejoin our main characters trying to get back to their main home in time. However, the journey isn’t easy since Jules tells Marty that they’re constantly running into various things. Verne then takes control and ends up crashing into objects within the time stream before they all finally make it back to their time period. Unfortunately, Emmett isn’t immediately able to snap out of his amnesia even when McFly tries to show him his personal lab.
Jules then comes across one of his father’s past inventions called the Mechanical Psychoanalyst which is a robotic Freudian psychologist that he hopes will be the breakthrough that finally helps the good doctor out. Sadly, it’s not able to make any progress on fixing Emmett’s amnesia. Marty then asks the invention how long it’ll take it to cure the good doctor, to which the Mechanical Psychoanalyst essential says that through a series of session, it’ll take just shy of two decades. Verne then pulls the plug on the invention before he gets his own idea as he enters his father’s Extradimensional Storage Closet and grabs a generator with jumper cables in the hope that shocking his dad again will restore his memory. Clara immediately shoots this idea down before an electrical arc manages to reach the doorway and causes the room to blackout via a blown fuse.
Jules then manages to restore the power before he suddenly finds himself outside of the house. He then opens the front door as he suddenly discovers an Egyptian desert on the other side. Meanwhile, Clara and Verne find themselves in the kitchen as she tells her kid to go fix what he broke. However, he’s not able to leave since they both discover an optical mirroring effect stretching for infinity as she wonders what kind of explanation could be found for what’s going on.
As for Emmett and Marty, they’re in the field of a snowing field. Just as McFly wonders how they’re going to return to their familiar settings, they suddenly spot a door hovering in the air as they form a snow pile in order for the good doctor to help Marty reach it. From there, McFly ends up entering a window and into a bathtub where Biff is taking a bath after finding himself in horse manure once again. Emmett follows in after his friend before Tannen orders both of them to get out. Meanwhile, Jules is venturing through the sandy landscape before he thinks about how he can rationally get out of his situation. He then visualizes the extra-dimensional storage closet’s entrance within his mind and concentrates on it, which allows him to be transported back into reality and inside Einstein’s dog house before he enlists the family dog into helping rescue their kin across the “seventh dimension”. From there, they proceed to concentrate hard enough in order to come across Clara and Verne who’re swarmed amongst their many mirrored selves. Jules then scolds his younger brother for breaking their father’s extra-dimensional storage closet since it’s causing their house to collapse alongside its seventh dimensional axis, to which Clara says that they have to find Emmett in order for his to fix all of this.
Meanwhile, Marty and the good doctor exit from Biff’s bathroom before they suddenly find themselves in a bowling alley. Fortunately, they’re able to reunite with the rest of the Brown family before Jules tells McFly that they’re current inside the extra-dimensional closet and that Verne’s action caused their house along with “other places” to fall into it. He then says if more things continue to fall into the closet, then it’ll collapse into a black hole. As such, they need to repair the closet in order to prevent the Earth’s destruction. As for how they wound up here, Jules explains that it’s a side effect of the closet and that they have to think in seven dimensions. From there, they proceed to concentrate before they reach the main door where Emmett is still affected by his amnesia. Jules then calculates that the will world will meet its end in three minutes before Clara reaches the tool cabinet in order to show them off to her husband. Suddenly, she ends up falling inside of it and into a vast dimensional space. As such, Emmett has Marty attach a metal hook & chain to the pan-dimensional generator before ordering him to pull the red lever and open the closet door before diving out of the way. McFly proceeds to do so as the good doctor flies inside it within the DeLorean with his car tied to the other end of the chain. He then manages to save Clara before using his time machine to pull the extra-dimensional closet out of its inside out state and back into its “proper configuration”. Emmett manages to restore the dimensional state as he and Clara fly out of the closet. Afterwards, he explains that the shock of seeing her in danger was what restored his memory and that rescuing her also helped him fix the fabric of space & time. And so, the series ends with Marty telling him that he can properly fix the Time Train with the good doctor mentioning that he “almost” forgot about that.
Overall, this was a light-hearted, silly and fairly entertaining batch of comics based on a cartoon series with those same qualities. The initial issue’s original story had a decent number of stakes in both the present as well as the gangster-filled past that Marty and Emmett find themselves in, even though the key moment that allows them to initially meet the necessary people that they need to come across in order for them to ultimately complete their objective was very convenient. Just like “Part III”, it allows our main McFly to meet someone within his family line without any major repercussions just like how the two Jennifer Parkers’ brief encounter with each other in “Part II” played out. Just like in “Part III”, the historic McFly family member is able provide some crucial help to Marty in some way, shape or form in order for him and the good doctor to accomplish their ultimate end goal. Finally, the sound effects-producing device that he used at the beginning of this book was neatly established before being bookended in a surprisingly effective way since we have to take the comic’s word that he produces the most effective sounding sounds. Because these kinds of devices didn’t exist back in those days, it’s possible that those who’re unfamiliar with it would be more likely to get fooled by it even though it really does stretch credibility to us nowadays. Either way, it was a neat start to this line as it helped carry the family-friendly tone from the show while providing a few thrills along the way. In terms of the other three issues from this series that served as adaptations, they each did a good job of following each episode’s plot as best as they could. In terms of the translation efforts upon “Forward To The Future”, it felt like that comic had the most subtle changes from how it was originally presented in the episode while the Pteranondon’s efforts to help Emmett & Jules catch up to Verne and the runaway DeLorean was another spot where its credibility started to strain. As I mentioned, a Pteranondon’s max speed while diving is a 55 miles per hour. If you watch the episode, there’s a brief moment where you see the time machine start to go faster than said speed and it just go happens to occur right before our main group is able to reunite and make the initial time trip towards their altered present. Other than that, the issue is perfectly fine for what it is. In terms of how “Roman Holiday” handled its jump to the comic page, it felt like it was the most faithful adaptation among those three issues as the order of events mainly played out the same way as they did in the episode. However, I have a major criticism that is shared with both the small-screen entry as well as its adaptation and that it has to do with how Bifficus ultimately gets Marty to face him in a chariot race. In the theatrical sequels, McFly has an arc where he doesn’t think straight and he gets easily annoyed whenever anyone calls him a coward. It leads to all kinds of problems for him throughout Part II before he finally eventually decides that he doesn’t care what anybody thinks about him towards the end of Part III. Since this animated series is supposed to take place after the films, he shouldn’t be succumbing to this flaw so quickly since he does show a sign of character regression. Not only that, but it’s never talked about again in the episode, its comic adaptation or anywhere else in the rest of the show. Other than that mistake, the comic was still an enjoyable read throughout with what it had to offer. “Retired” focuses itself on the notion of how someone’s actions (even if they’re for a harmless joke) can have unintended consequences. The ever-escalating mess that Jules & Verne create for themselves along with their central group is something that they don’t deal with until they get out of school and learn about what their pranking efforts have led to. After Emmett foolishly buys a reading from his tampered Brain Wave Analyzer and gets himself into various kinds of shenanigans with the biggest one befalling onto McFly, it falls upon the young boys to set things right with their dad in order for him to use his vast intellect in order for the day to be saved. As such, this has a nice lesson to teach to children while the comic makes the most of its truncating of certain scene & events in order to streamline the reading experience and make the events of the episode fit within this format while closing this initial series out on a good note. Finally, we have the three-issue mini-series where the whole series of events within this late is kicked off by the central group discovering Verne’s sudden appreciation towards robotics. From there, a trip to the 26th Century provides the readers with two lingering problems for the group to deal with. In particular, there’s the damage done to the Time Train’s Flux Capacitor and the good doctor losing his memory while attempting to fix it via an electric shock. From a technical uprising that’s actually about robots wanting their fair share in society to a father-flung future where the age of barbarism has returned before our group returns to the present in order to help Emmett snap out of his amnesia while dealing with one last problem that the youngest sibling has accidentally brought upon them, the main perils contained within each chapter were neatly engaging, pretty humorous and had lingering stakes that helped keep the reader engaged until the end. Maybe I would’ve allowed the good doctor to make some kind of slow mental progress once our main characters got back to their time period, but this tale still provided plenty of twists and turns for fans of all ages to enjoy. As for the artwork for all of the books, Nelson Dewey does a solid job in capturing the show’s animation style and allows its exaggerated features to shine on the printed page backed by a colorful palette throughout. All-in-all, these comics (much like the TV program that they’re based on) made for a decent experience throughout. While they all lack the sophistication of the films, this initial addition to the franchise still makes a experience that’s worth checking out within your space-time continuum.
Even though both the house that Alfred Harvey built and the animated series are behind us, this chronological journey upon the printed page is far from over. Come back next time as we switch to a well-known publisher and delve into some further adventures that will come with bigger stakes and deeper drama to combine with its own silly nature. Until next time, I’ll “see you in the future”!
Back To The Future is created and owned by Bob Gale & Robert Zemeckis while the movies are distributed by Universal Pictures.