IDW Publishing 2015
Stories by Bob Gale
Written by Bob Gale, John Barber & Erick Burnham
Illustrated by Brent Schoonover, David Witt & Dan Shoening
Coloured by Kelly Fitzpatrick & Luis Antonio Delgado
Lettered by Shawn Lee
For many people this will be more about nostalgia than anything else I mean this the year and month Marty McFly went back to the future. For younger folks who know of the movies and haven’t shared their parent’s enthusiasm yet, there comes a time when you actually start liking what your parent’s watched trust me well this is a good introduction. Two tales start this off and the fit nicely here and if this is how the series is going to run I’m excited it for.
Each story is well written, interesting and brings back the imagination and wonder that the original movies brought with them. That we open with how Emmett and Marty meet in a tale that the Doc tells his young sons in the past as he tries to get home. With the brief history of Doc’s house and what happened to it and then subsequently his own life of seclusion. Hopefully we’ll still get to learn more about the Doc’s reputation in town and how he got to where he is before meeting Marty.
Also how Marty ended up going to his place and the test he went through yeah it all was pretty awesome to see the potential in the young man. Marty may not be a genius but he’s young and inventive and that goes a long way. Brent, David and Kelly do a very good job on the interiors for this too. It keeps them recognizable and in a cartoon style that makes it an all-ages kind of fun.
The second story is a bit more fun for me. A young Emmett Brown who teaches at the California Institute of Technology in 1943. I like this because we get to see a driven young man eager to prove himself in terms of his thinking, ingenuity and drive. It’s kind of fun to see just how valuable he’s been considered over the years to different people. It’s truly a wonderfully written beginning to a back story that really fleshes out Doc Brown.
Dan and Luis do a wonderful job on the interiors for this one as well. This highly stylized cartoon-esque feel it brings is delightful. The expressions are fantastic and you really get a sense of how manic Brown can be. It’s really fun to see them interpret the characters in this way.
Sure it’s been awhile since we’ve seen the franchise come back to life and yes it’s taken the date of the story in the story to garner the interest again but i’m okay with that. More so if we are going to get this kind of fun entertaining look at the characters that it made all possible to begin with.