Back to the Future #1. IDW. Written by John Barber, Erik Burnham and Bob Gale. Art by Dan Schoening and Brent Schoonover.
When any comic book (or video game or film or any other adaptation of existing intellectual property, really) could plausibly be accused of being a shameless money grab, it has to be treated -- in the beginning, at least -- with a little skepticism. One key question that should drive the analysis is a simple one: Does this thing have an independent right to exist?
Back to the Future #1
In looking at "Back to the Future" #1, a new comic book from IDW Publishing released today, it's obvious that there is no coincidence here. The book's release was clearly timed to coincide with "Back to the Future" Day (that being Oct. 21, 2015, or the day that Marty McFly travels to in "Back to the Future II" in case you haven't been on the Internet today). So, again, we need to be a little leery going into this. However, I am somewhat pleased to report that, if it can be judged on the first issue alone, the book seems have a sufficient raison d'etre outside of debased nostalgia to justify its place in your comic book collection.
The four-issue miniseries shepherded and co-written by Bob Gale (the writer and co-producer for the BttF trilogy) is setup more or less like an anthology series, and on the second page of #1, we're told we'll be getting "untold tales and alternate timelines" -- in essence, things unexplained in the original trilogy and fun "what-ifs." The anthology structure has some positives and negatives: A lot can be done as far as the direction and the scope of the book, but that can come at the expense of consistency. In the first issue, we get both the good and the bad with "When Marty Met Emmett" and "Looking for a Few Good Scientists."
"When Marty Met Emmett," obviously enough the story of how the BttF protagonists met, is the better story between the two. The script by Bob Gale and John Barber answered a fairly important unresolved question from the trilogy, and it nailed the Doc Brown character's voice and thought process. (I will say I got a distinct "Rick and Morty" vibe as I was reading the first story. Not sure what that says about me, BttF or the Adult Swim parody/homage.)
"Looking for a Few Good Scientists" is a markedly weaker story set in the decades before Doc Brown became the friendly mad scientist of the trilogy. The story plods along, flirting strangely with some comedy of manners sensibilities, before it finally drops a key reveal that makes the whole thing worthwhile. It wasn't bad by any stretch, but I'm not sure it's inclusion was completely justified.
The art is where the issue suffers most in terms of consistency. Brent Schoonover and Dan Schoening each handle the art for "When Marty Met Emmett" and "Looking for a Few Good Scientists" separately, and their styles are completely different. That's jarring but certainly acceptable in the anthology context. What doesn't work, however, is Marty (who looks preteen-ish) in the first story and Doc (who is drawn so strangely, I'm not sure it was even him) in the second. I feel for comic book artists drawing actual people and not fictional characters, but when that art misses, it misses big and in an obvious way.
Again, though, driven by the lowered expectations of naked capitalism, "Back to the Future" #1 was a good read. But we'll have to see if the miniseries can maintain its relevance outside of the Internet 's "Back to the Future" Day adoration.
Generalized Unique Emoticon Scientific Score: :-O, :-D, >:\