The Pull Bag

IDW Back to the Future: Continuum Conundrum Review

February 21, 2018 53:56 EXPLICIT
The Pull Bag IDW Back to the Future: Continuum Conundrum Review
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About this Episode

TFG1Mike and OptimusSolo dive into the second story arc of IDW's Back to the Future comics, where an amnesiac Doc Brown emerges from 2035 with no memory of who he is or anyone around him. The hosts explore how the series handles Doc's memory loss, the time-travel mechanics across 1986, 2035, and 1893, and the introduction of Officer Griff Tannen as a futuristic antagonist. They discuss the art consistency issues throughout the arc, the clever use of parallel timelines to tell multiple perspectives of the same events, and how this storyline expands the Back to the Future universe beyond the films themselves.

Hey everyone, Neil here. I would just like you

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you're gonna see some serious shit. Welcome to

The Pullback. Join us as we dig out our latest

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Pull Bag is happy to bring you our Back to the

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Two in a row? What is happening in the world?

Yeah, really? Episode 301 of The Pull Bag. It's

time to grab a Pepsi free and jump into the DeLorean

with us as we go back to the future. This week

in our second spotlight episode on BGTF comics,

we're finding ourselves in a continuum conundrum.

This series is all about... Exactly. technically

it's how griff took over sort of but anyway in

part one I just want to go over this really quickly

folks what is so great about the IDW trades is

in this one because it's all one story arc it's

six parts one story arc it is all story by John

Barber and Bob Gale script by John Barber letters

by Sean Lee series edits by Tom Waltz hey I've

interviewed that guy part one art is done by

Marcelo Ferreira inks are by Marcelo and Fila

Fabio colors by Diego Rodriguez and Jose Luis

Rio part two Pretty much the same. It's pretty

much the same team throughout Colors on part

two are also done by Esther Sands along with

Jose Luis Rio But yeah, it's basically the same

art team throughout the whole six parts I know

we had said last time when we done volume one

that we kind of had a little issue with you know,

the art changes consistently, but at least in

this one, it's consistent art for the entire

arc. As always, you get a letter from Bob Gale

at the front of this trade, which is very, very

cool. Yeah, I think that helps. I think, you

know, like we said in the first part that it's

good to have this gentleman who's obviously been

with the franchise from the beginning, knows

what he's talking about. has a specific agenda

as far as what he's trying to do and this is

now the first part where you know unlike the

last one where there's a bunch of little things

like you know little questions that weren't answered

or little things that could be on fun anecdotes

now this is a chance to give a full story as

far as carrying on with the same people in the

same universe not changing any of that stuff

absolutely Continuum Conundrum Part 1 Continuum

Concerns Yeah, I mean we basically get introduced

to Marty in 1986 so I know it's tough to keep

the timeline going around but we start in 1986

at least in this one and Biff is where he should

be, you know clean in Marty's car. Mm -hmm So

you get the whole the whole general cast that

you're used to so you get Marty you get the Biff

you get needles you get Jenny Show me your get

it right. Come on now Jenny There's no Forrest

Gump here. So you get the, you know, the known

cast returning and kind of picking up with their

story. But this one introduces some interesting

elements kind of as we get towards, I mean the

first part is just kind of set up, so there's

not a lot to talk about as far as that. Some

of the first issue here, or the overall sixth

issue of the series is basically... Sort of not

necessarily a retelling of the end of the first

film or the beginning of the second film where

you know Marty wakes up and it's his mom and

goes down and Brother and older brother younger

sister or whatever Linda and Dave were there

So get an interesting connection there with Goldie

Wilson jr. Yeah You know the mayor's son and

a note about Doc and and kind of the his return

to Doc's place. Yep, the abandoned I guess abandoned

for the most part and you know, you have the

the DeLorean sitting there. Yeah with the spacesuit

guy Get up in it and all his different gadgets

and and whatnot So just kind of them doing their

thing snooping around there. He's looking for

some stuff and then boom you have an interesting

individual show up. Yep. And, you know, we get

fight scenes before this with Jennifer and Marty

and then he's trying to, you know, tell all these

kids this wacky time travel story and parents

are like, hey, get away from that weirdo. Yeah,

for sure. But once they end up in, you know,

the Doc Brown's lab and once this character shows

up, takes off the helmet, We have Doc Brown.

Doc Brown, yep. But the crazy thing is he doesn't

know who Marty is. And he doesn't remember himself

either half the time. So now we have a Doc Brown

that doesn't know who he is, doesn't know who

Marty is, doesn't know what's going on, doesn't

know where he is, when he is, et cetera. So that's

kind of how it sets up with that little dilemma.

Yep. Pretty much this first issue. I absolutely

enjoyed it. I think it was great I think it was

a great way to continue past the the Clara's

story issue from last time Some of the notes

that I have written for this one the art in this

so far is great The fact that we explore the

fact that Marty is bored You think that would

be expected after being on such an adventure

as time travel? Yeah, I guess that is one thing

that's important to bring up in this first volume.

It kind of does set the stage as far as Marty

missing the time travel, missing the adventures,

missing being with Doc Brown. So it's like, you

know, when he goes back to life as normal, it's

just not as exciting as what he has been used

to through the course of the movies that we've

seen, et cetera. So he's longing for that. So

he's happy to see Doc Brown. But now we have

the problem that Doc Brown doesn't know anything.

So it's a good set up issue. It's a good cliffhanger

that it kind of leaves off heading into volume

two. Yeah, the other thing or the second issue

of volume 2 here but the other thing about this

is they also even bring back the the old telegram

joke the telegram postal delivery guy oh yeah

we've had this in our office for 70 years or

whatever that was a nice little call back to

the movie but yeah Marty is is so in his element

when he's in in Doc Brown's lab and Jennifer

is like the ultimate skeptic about all of this

yeah You know for sure she's almost like the

opposite of Clara. She's like the girlfriend.

That's that's not as a down for the adventure

Exactly. I will say those this sets up something

you mentioned art a little bit I just want to

get one little grievance out of the way for my

I think they do a fantastic job with all the

backgrounds a fantastic job with the vehicles

and all the different artifacts and things of

that nature the one thing that bugs me a little

bit about this entire volume, all six parts,

is I feel like there is a heavy dose of inconsistency

when it comes to just one character. And that's

the way that Marty is drawn. I feel like his

face is different shapes. I feel like he is different

ages. I feel like some of them look like movie

Marty. Some of them look like somebody I've never

seen before. So I don't feel like they struggle

as much with Doc or with All the other characters

that we know even with needles and Biff and stuff

like that I think they're pretty consistent but

for some reason it seems like they always do

Marty slightly different as far as some of his

facial features and I don't know if I'm alone

in that but that somewhat bugged me Very much

more adult mature Marty Yeah, if it wasn't for

the if it wasn't for the costume that we know

he's in yeah at times you might question who

that is Exactly, so that's my only issue with

the art other than that. I think it's top -notch.

Yeah, absolutely Yeah, like the part two cover

continuum confusion like okay that stock in the

net obviously the DeLorean's in the background

there and Marty kind of looks like What he's

supposed to look like but right and it's all

about artist interpretation, but you know, I

Know he's making a weird facial expression in

there But just taking that cover picture if you

were looking at like the the two pages together

That one and the one next to it like the one

where he's saying it's me Marty and you remember

Jennifer That doesn't look like the same Marty

that's on the cover It looks like a much younger

version. So and then like the one picture right

above that his face and neck is much longer Then

we're used to so it's just a little little details,

but I'm being I'm being I'm being picky yeah,

I mean is it gonna Destroy our enjoyment of the

story and what's being told to us. No, not at

all But it is a it is an honest critique about

it because it's inconsistent art is what it is

Yeah, and I know they're doing time travel, but

this Marty and this in this issue is the same

Marty We're following through the whole issue.

Basically. I am myself getting something like

it's not like doc where sometimes we get to see

different versions in different time periods

where they flash back and flash forward and stuff

like that We have the same Marty and his in the

way he is depicted in as far as the art form.

It looks like he ranges from age like 14 to age

like 24 at different times. And it's not just

him, honestly, like. It's him and Jennifer both

throughout this entire thing I've noticed while

I went back and I re -read it right before we

recorded this. Like the panels you've just mentioned,

you look at Marty and Jennifer where he's like,

it's me, Marty, and they're all kind of comical

looking. You go down to the next panel where

Doc is saying, I've never seen either of you

before in my life, where the two of them are

standing there looking like they're... Eight

-year -olds out of kindergarten or something

like seriously look at both of them. Yeah is

so short Her face is just like well the problem

is like at least those two at least those two

panels like it looks like they're the same People

but like if you compare that with the one that's

right above that where Doc's in the brown in

the net saying What do you mean? Who are we?

That Marty does not look like the two Marty's

below that So that's kind of some of the consistency

that he loses the cartoon effect It's a much

more realistic look for the one above and it's

an older one with a longer neck and more defined

facial features So it's just kind of an odd choice

if it's the same person drawing all of this and

I'm thinking because it does say In the thing

it does say art by Marcelo and this other person

maybe the other person did like sometimes IDW

will give you page numbers other comic companies

will do this too sometimes they'll say oh the

art from page one to page five was done by this

person the art from page six to page ten was

done right we would have a clear precise way

of showing us what is different, how it's being

drawn differently. But like you said, it's that

one or two panel and then the rest of it goes

back to kind of the cartoonish. Well, yeah. And

if you follow it, and this is the last thing

I'll get off my soapbox, but if you follow the

next two pages where it continues with that cartoony,

younger looking, more rounded features, etc.

So you got that consistently. There's about 1234567

or eight shots of Marty that are all somewhat

the same if you were to flip the page then to

the next one There's a panel of Marty saying

who said anything about my truck staring directly

straight ahead. I have no idea who that is Like

that looks like he it looks like half anime half

older like that is is inconsistent and then you

have that older version now for like two or three

pages where he's driving and it and it looks

completely different and then it goes back to

the kid version like a couple pages later so

i don't know it's inconsistent it's very inconsistent

but enough about the the Marty conundrum, but

So we get into part two of this one, which is

the continuum confusion. So obviously that's

where we left off Yeah, did you notice as we

were going through these panels of pointing out

the different ages of Marty McFly? Did you notice

as they're speeding down where somebody in the

DeLorean says slow down? Did you notice the guy

on the bench? It's red Nice, nice, nice. Now

I missed that one when we were going through

it the first time. But obviously the confusion

part, Continuum Confusion titled because of the

confusion with Doc Brown and not knowing who

he is, not knowing who everybody is. So that's

going to be what the first half of this little

volume is dealing with is trying to figure out

how we can get Doc Brown to remember what's going

on. And obviously there is a they're trying to

obtain a vehicle. So they get the DeLorean, there's

cop chases, and then eventually we end up with

an interesting Doc Brown running through the

neighborhood with no clothes hardly. You get

that as he exits his space suit. And it's just

kind of an interesting deal because it's almost

like an Encino Man thing where they're trying

to lead this Doc Brown around who doesn't know

what time period he is in or what anything in.

going on so just kind of like that lost person

from another time era situation that we've seen

sometimes in other movies yep and they go back

to Marty's house and his parents are really worried

about him apparently you know I know maybe Betty

can recommend a therapist for him George what

Betty's not crazy why would she know who should

Marty see Yeah, basically and so then they're

trying to obtain or trying to find a certain

Vehicle yes the the vehicle that doc originally

came in on Which looks like something out of

Chitty Chitty bang bang or something like Cross

with like I don't know something from dr. Seuss

or whatever like this thing does not look like

it should work It's like half 1860s, half 1920s,

with some random futuristic elements. Yeah, it's

like something that the Three Stooges would try

to ride. I have to talk about this because it

bugs the hell out of me. It always bugs the hell

out of me, even in the movies. Is it just me,

or is George McFly extremely one -dimensional?

Like, seriously? Yeah, he is. I mean, like, so

in this scene that we talked about a minute ago,

where they're upstairs having Doc put the clothes

on, and they hear noise, and... What was that?

I don't know, Lorraine. Wait here. Whoever's

there, you should know I'm pretty good at confrontations.

Like... Like I get it Crispin Glover didn't want

to come back for the sequels fine. Whatever.

He's a weirdo. I don't care about him and his

personal life or whatever else but like the like

the character that he embodied the character

that Gale and Zemeckis came up with I Wish had

a little bit more to him and maybe we'll do that

eventually in this series from IDW who knows

I mean we talked about it last issue last episode

where you know, you weren't that thrilled with

the whole Lorraine and George part of the story

line first volume, but like If you're gonna come

back to the parents house come back to Marty's

house and sneak through like Please give George

some better lines, please Yeah, no, I agree.

He is he is pretty much one -dimensional Going

back to the story a little bit you do have this

situation where It's kind of interesting because

we talked about Doc doesn't know anything but

you also have Marty who's excited about going

on more adventures and like the only thing that's

holding him back is Doc not remembering anything

so he's like he needs Doc to remember things

so that they can have their fun adventure time

travel etc etc and It kind of adds a little motivation

as to why Marty is willing to help Doc and try

to figure this out because he needs him to remember

in order for His adventure to continue so I mean

it's to the point where Doc doesn't even remember

that he has kids etc So they're looking for you

know his original or his you know that time travel

machine that he had used from the 1860s or whatever

and that leads them to a car lot and Run in with

needles needles part two round two Yeah, Jennifer

tries to sweet talk the guy, you know 300 bucks

And then needles comes in with some alcohol and

that's all it takes really seriously Come on

yeah, so they're gonna have a little race and

Winner takes all and that's kind of how this

part ends is McFly and needle is gonna chase

each other down over this this whole time machine

That's in the back It's still attached to the

tow truck and right it's one of those things

where like even Like I like that Marty is saying

and he's kind of growing even though needles

isn't You know that you know that chicken stuff

doesn't work anymore and whatever like Marty

actually has a plan here. He's not it's not like

moving Marty even though it didn't winner -takes

-all When we get to the next chapter in a moment,

he does have some sort of a plan to ruin Needles.

Right, which is odd, which is an interesting

switch because usually Doc's the one with the

plan and Marty's just kind of reacting to things.

So it's interesting where now Doc's not going

to be able to do that so you have to have Marty

coming up with the plan and the ideas and that's

not what he's used to. great cover art on the

part three cover of this time machine. Yeah,

the steam time car that Doc Brown and his space

suit are on. So it's a pretty cool look. I like

that cover. And we jump times now. So part three

is our first flashback. We're going back to 1893

when Doc is creating the steam time car. Right.

And he's getting it ready to, you know, Go on

this voyage You know and he goes on the voyage

and he gets ready to do the time thing and he's

like, oh in your time it'll only be moments that

I'm gone and How a steam time car can make the

time travel fire trails is beyond me. But anyway

You know, we what I love here is how the passage

of time happens. Yeah with the three seasons

essentially, or not three seasons, but night

into... Night into day type thing. Into day kind

of a thing where they've been waiting all night,

like, you know, in the first one, Claire is still

sitting there and Jules and Werner running around,

and the second one, Jules and Werner look like

they're playing Tiddlywinks or something. No,

I don't know, it looks like they're playing with

something. Right, they're playing some type of

game. Yeah. And the last one she's like her legs

are just totally down and they're sleeping and

Uh -huh. Yep. Yep, then they wake up again. They're

still not there So they're giving up hope on

if they're ever gonna see their dad or husband

again And then we can directly go right back

to where we were in 1986 with the car Race sequence.

It's kind of weird because they left off with

the car race Just about to start and then they

did a flashback in between that and when the

car chase actually happens, but that's whatever

So we have needles and Marty crashing around

and I don't know if I would engage in a race

with somebody if I'm carrying a time machine

on my toe. Yeah, that seems too dangerous to

me. It seems very dangerous. And I mean, Marty

does say I'm not going to race your needles.

And he really they are racing, but Marty is more

so trying to get away from needles than anything

else. I'm gonna complain about this later, but

I'm gonna say this right now the panel where

you see Hey, that's my time vehicle be careful

Marty Yeah, good advice Jennifer get the dock

out of here the panel where it's Marty's truck

in the foreground And it's needles his truck

in the background first of all needles truck

is red or orange -ish red, or whatever, and Marty's,

like the, oh no, Needles' truck is like a reddish

orange, and the tow truck is a reddish orange,

but later, for some odd reason, Jennifer assumes

that, and this is much later and I'll point this

out when it happens, but she assumes that the

truck that we see in Shadow later is Needles,

and I'm thinking, no, that's the 4x4, why the

hell would... Alright, so we'll keep a lookout

for that. So they have their chase Marty goes

bashing through a fence and onto the streets

actual streets instead of just going through

this car lot or You know dump lot or whatever

you want to call it. So now they're out on actual

streets chasing each other around so we have

the time machines parachute that that is a Triggered

so now he's trying to drive with a big old parachute

slowing him down. So that's an interesting I

guess element that they add there. And then,

of course, one car ends up crashing. Yep. So.

Both of them do, kind of. Well, yeah. But not

into a manure truck. No. That's because of needles.

Yeah, but that was never Needles' thing, though.

That's always Biff's thing. Right, right. It's

just weird, because if you see somebody crash

into like a semi or something, you expect it

to be manure in this series. But this one's,

what was it, all eggs? Yeah, it was all it was

yeah, it was all eggs, which is fine Right. So

I guess needles is the egg, man. Yep so and then

Doc still being somewhat Absent -minded absent

-minded is a good term for that's for sure So

they've got away from needles though. So we've

got past that point And they go back to Lone

Pine Mall. Yep for a minute Yep, try to trigger

some memories and things like that And then we

have an eye -opening experience Yeah Yeah, so

they get back to Lone Pine and Marty explains

why he's you know always goes back there because

it's just where he thinks and You know, we figure

out that the Doc that's here now came from 2035,

so, hey, let's go back to 2035. They figure out

how to get that done, and Doc sees the note in

the time vehicle, and Clara, my wife, the boys,

oh my god, Doc kind of remembers. Right. You

know, and then he's like, once again, he forgets,

great Scott, I forgot Einstein. You know all

of that So his memory is starting to come back

mm -hmm we get one of those classic Christopher

Lloyd Doc Brown Experiments with the time balloon

with the whole egg thing And that's how they

are going to time travel this time They're going

to go up in the in the in the space not space

suit with the hell's it radiation suit Or dive

suit or whatever and diving suit. Yeah. Yeah

Well when he when Marty holds it up, it does

not look like a dive suit It looks like the radiation

suit doc had on in the first like right, right?

He just calls it a diving suit that says it's

gonna protect him from the time stream etc and

allow him to go home So yeah, we're going back

to the future again. Once again adult Marty very

much adult Marty. That's like football adult

Marty. That's the one that was like a star on

the football team. Yeah, that's like 1998 varsity

blues adult Marty or something. Like somebody

called James Vanderbeek and tell him whatever.

Anyway, what is so cool, the ending cover to

this is basically cowboy Marty with the hoverboard.

That looks more like Michael J. Fox. That cover

looks more like Michael J. Fox than anything

in this series. That's true. That's true. So

that leads us into part four, which is Continuum.

confrontations. That's right. And we have this,

you know, huge giant experiment going on with

the time balloon where they're going to go up

really, really high and then they're going to

drop and they're going to reach their 88 miles

per hour before they go splat. Yeah, it's a time

jump skydiving thing, folks. Yay! That's what

it takes, I guess. That's what it takes, I guess.

I do absolutely love the art so far in this.

How the time balloon is, how the city is lit

up in that panel. Even Marty and Doc in their

suits look okay. Very cool. I mean, Marty does

kind of still look really, really old, but...

We also get the tallest version of Jennifer that

I've ever seen Yeah, when she's on the hood of

the car. Yeah Like when did she become six foot

tall? I don't know. Okay. This is what this is

what I'm talking about So they go through and

in time and she's standing there and she goes,

Marty, if you crash into me, I'll kill you. So

she's standing there. We get a foosh. We get

fire raining down on her, which why the hell

she doesn't get out of there now. I don't know.

What now? You see the four by four needles is

not driving a four by four. She assumes it's

needles. It's not needles. It's clearly a black

four by four needles. Truck is red. she jumps

over the hood of the DeLorean and I can't tell

if she's wearing boots if that's part of her

like if that's a pants skirts like I don't like

it is I don't know what it is I don't know like

I could understand if she was wearing that skirt

and just thigh high boots fine whatever but like

it just doesn't looks like her legs aren't real

yeah pretty much so So then we go to Marty and

Doc, who have travel time now. They're in 2035

and they're crashing through the ceiling of the

Lone Pine F U -Drome. It's Fly -Drome. OK. It

looks like a few but it's it's fly. Oh, yeah,

that's right cuz they got the fly Derby the fly

Derby, right, right So they crash right into

the middle of a fly Derby that's going on which

is the new sport It's kind of like a gladiatorial

type thing. It looks like I love the girl when

they pop in When they're upside down this was

a mall when my mom was my age. Nobody goes to

a mall I have a lot of notes about these future

aspirations, specifically after they get out

of the roller derby. They do mention one during

the roller derby, because he says how many rejuves

or how many rejuvies had you had? So that must

be some paper. Supplement energy drink something

that this guy's having or maybe not that maybe

it's like an actual procedure. I don't know but

yeah, well Doc Brown always talked about going

to the rejuvenation chamber in 2015 and whatever

else and he got that face lift or whatever when

they when they crash out of the fly derby outside

do you need a ride use your connection to call

an infinite car now and it's like infinite cars

break down on over five percent of rides order

a dubermobile i'm like really dupermobile really

you're gonna do the whole lift uber like really

yeah they go from infinite card to dupermobile

to fly fast fly fast yeah like i know there's

uber and i know there's lift i don't remember

what the third one is Right, right. And then,

of course, they get into a little cafe diner.

You got the the continuing motif of the shark.

You know, there's a holographic shark in there.

And then, of course, the waitress is taken like

as they as like a virtual menu that he's writing

stuff down or placing the order on, I guess.

Which is interesting and it's like it's interesting

because it projects all the options like right

in his face So he can pick what he wants and

it's like I like the the types here. So we got

Pepsi varieties I gotta go through some of these.

Yeah Have your regulars like your Pepsi your

diet Pepsi your caffeine free Pepsi caffeine

free diet Pepsi and then we get limited edition

crystal Pepsi Pepsi throwback Pepsi vanilla Pepsi

ginger Pepsi lime Diet pepsi lime diet pepsi

lemon pepsi max pec pepsi xl pepsi perfect. Well,

that doesn't exist yet. Does it? And then like

a pepsi x I don't know if it says energy or what

but it's pepsi energy xl or pepsi x energy Yeah,

it looks like there's a pepsi kick and a pepsi

max and a pepsi perfect. I want the pepsi perfect.

Yeah, what's that? I want the pepsi free Pepsi

-free I like it. Um, so yeah, so it's a definitely

a different Different type of diner here with

some futuristic stuff with TV I mean the TV monitors

everywhere is kind of normal but the all the

holographic and projection stuff is kind of interesting

Yeah, it is very much so Then of course we have

a somebody else enter the diner as usually happens

in these types of situations None other than

Biff Robocop Grif Tannen So RoboCop shows up.

I'm just gonna call him that yeah, and he's got

all the electric Gadgets and gizmos. So it's

basically all moderating him like it would through

RoboCop's visor and it's showing him who's a

suspect who's guilty who's not guilty Tells people

that he's recording them, you know video and

audio is active and he sees Doc Brown and it

says suspect match identity theft robbery fleeing

out fleeing an officer of the law reckless bouncing

speeding and public indecency and He is supposed

to apprehend him Yes, he is supposed to apprehend

him, but officer Griff Doesn't really do things

by the law No So Marty hits him upside the head

with a hoverboard breaking it in half Apparently

you can still use the hoverboard if it's broken

in half because that's Marty's on one half and

Doc Brown is on the other half And they are fleeing

the police and Robocop specifically. So then

we get to see semis that are hoverboarding and

cop cars that are hoverboarding and everything's

hoverboarding. It seems like as far as that technology

goes, interesting though that they avoided a

collision with the synthesized fertilizer semi.

Yeah, they did. And then they end up back at

Doc Brown's place. Yep. I just love that they

did officer like because last time we saw Griff

in 2015, you know, he was this punk kid on this,

you know power board who went to jail right,

you know the clock tower thing and you know,

this is 20 years later. He's an adult and Yeah,

it's an interesting take on it for sure and it

kind of sets up the end of this issue where he

is outside of Doc Brown's place with his flame

-throwing futuristic monster gun and they're

inside and he believes they're terrorists and

they are trying to figure out what they're going

to do to get out of this situation. Yep. The

next Marty on the next cover photo is interesting

because now it looks like they've actually just

took in taking a picture of a live action Marty

and tried to stick it on a comic panel. Yeah.

Yeah, I love the the end cover right as you know,

as Griff is like. track my cams because i've

got them cornered and things are about to heat

up like when we go to that the the hourglass

corner before we go to the next issue obviously

right i love that that is so cool yeah it's it's

a cool one we get an interesting cover though

on this next part five it's like taking elements

of this story elements of the volume one different

little snippets. I mean, you got everything represented.

You have like the first types of like planes.

You have locomotives. You have horse and chariot.

You have our good old dinosaur back. You got

the pyramids. You got what looks like RoboCop.

You got an army guy, a knight, a Jeep, a DeLorean,

a Viking, and a monster of some sort. I could

be wrong. I would have to look this up. I think

the robot on the left hand side below the T -Rex.

Yeah, I think I think this was during the time

of IDW's ROM thing where they took the ROM character

license from Marvel or whatever and they've got

the ROM series now and I think that's ROM the

robot I could be wrong. Interesting. I know they

were doing a bunch of crossover covers right

at the time. Could be. There's definitely a lot

of elements on this cover. Yeah, a lot of cool

stuff. And you're right. They pretty much lifted

Michael G Fox's face off the movie, I think,

on that cover. So now we go right back to where

we left off. We're in 2035 still with Griff outside

of Marty and Doc and threatening to burn their

place down. He's going to huff and he's puffing

and blow the place down. But he doesn't get to.

Nope, because you and the device will be shut

down until the commissioner arrives to override.

Shut down. You idiots can't do this again. And

frozen. And frozen. He gets zapped, electrocuted,

something like that. He's unconscious on the

ground now. And that buys Doc and Marty a little

bit of time. Because Doc is like, did Officer

Griff Tannen just fall to terra firma incapacitated?

One, I can't believe anybody put the words Officer

Griff Tannen in that order. Two, how did you

know he got knocked out? And three, are flamethrowers

standard issue for cops in 2035? To answer in

reverse, three, I suspect not, which explains

two, as an administrative shutoff system. Believe

you're number one. We'll stay there yeah, so

definitely interesting here, and they're Gonna

try to figure things out as we flash back once

again to 1893 Which is right again before? Doc

takes off into that time machine and vanishes,

so we've kind of gone back a second time It's

cool doing this because not only have we done

this already, it allows them to tell more of

the story from Clara and the boys' point of view,

because we have not seen that since a couple

issues ago when they were waiting for Emmett.

Right. Yeah. And the other thing it does too,

it tells two stories. So it tells that story,

but it also gives them a chance to tell what

happened between that point and when Doc can't

remember anything. Yep. Him crashing, you know

being in the ceiling with Martin and Jennifer.

So it's it's a it's not just a flashback to have

a flashback It's doing two different purposes

as far as storytelling so it kind of shows him

again taking off arriving in 2035 and Trying

to figure out what's going on and and kind of

telling the story of how he is eventually going

to lose his mind So again some more future elements

that you get to see like a dog being led by a

orb Some type of drone that's walking a dog Drones

or cameras that are just always in your in your

face and it goes over some of the you know Like

the social media type of stuff phone type of

stuff And the fact that people have implants

in their brains like this whole exchange coming

up with Doc and this woman Excuse me or ma 'am

who are you talking to you you? Disgusting not

you trade this pervert in the park. I don't care

what you're supposed to call them He just tried

to talk to me in person without scanning first

like wow Yeah, so he's definitely out of his

element here um with all the different cameras

and stuff like that we got an advertisement for

the 2036 gliders that are now here you can get

those and They have the back to the idea of the

rejuvenation clinic looking for one of those

maybe and He comes across some letters One from

Marty McFly So we get some of that going full

circle Interesting though when he shows up at

the bank Yeah, like I didn't notice it at first

I didn't even notice it on my rewatch on my reread

right before we recorded this You know he's talking

about so I stuck with my plan taking the best

precautions available a more reasonable if suddenly

20 years out of style change of clothes perfect

for what I assume would be a simple banking transaction

we go into the bank and You just look at the

the panel where he's You know doing the narration

of I had placed a case of valuable antique comic

books under the banks protection during my stay

in 2015 and You look at the security guard right

as he's walking in That's not a normal security

guard. It's Cobra. Yeah looks like a combination

between Cobra and like a Darth Vader type trooper

so it's definitely high security and then we

have the problem here because he doesn't have

an implant and he's not going to match the type

of person he should look like in 2035 so they

don't believe that he could be looking so young

for someone who's supposed to be as old as he

is so this banking transaction is not going to

go as he planned and now everybody is after him

Not just everybody surely we can come to a arrangement

officer You know a financial matter you're trying

to bribe me in public You're trying to bribe

an officer of the law every I swear to God every

time Griff says an officer of the law I'm like,

oh Griff Tannen in the new Judge Dredd movie

Seriously, so Griff is this muscle -bound security

guard type of thing and You know, he's like,

Oh, cameras are watching you. You've been and

then the automatic system is like Officer Tannen.

Wait a minute. This ain't my fault. You have

been warned on multiple occasions. Listen to

me. I said no to the bride. Yeah. And then his

face is plastered everywhere. So every screen

on every building has his face on it. And he

is wanted. He's running from the cops, etc. So

now this is his chase. He once again goes down

to his boxers. Or shorts, I guess. He's losing

most of his clothes. And then he ends up getting

in his little space suit trying to get on the

vehicle to travel time to get out of this whole

thing. And the tank, the police tank is following

him and he's trying to get there fast enough

and boom. Yeah, that's one hell of a police tank.

Yeah. And then he arrives in 1986. Falling through

right in time for Marty and Jennifer to try to

hit him with a bat, right? And he still doesn't

remember anything because he the the energy or

whatever happened to him in 2035 is what made

him to cause to lose his memory and all of that

and that's how You know we get back to this one

of all things and you know griff and marty and

doc and jennifer and that's how that one this

kind of ends where griff has come back too from

his electro electrocution snap so now he's back

awake going after marty and doc yep that's the

end of that one yeah i love the uh the alternate

cover at the back of this one where we're going

we don't need roads it's almost got like the

animated version of them It's pretty much the

animated and it's very like bookish kind of a

thing Yeah with the back to the future logo at

the bottom there and then part six continuum

consequences Let's get Griff It's actually a

mimic of the back to the future posters Yeah

of the original posters where Griff is standing

in front of the DeLorean almost and Marty and

Doc like it's Was it two or three or both? Where

Marty and Doc are just standing next to the DeLorean,

right? That's a mimic of that So basically have

the showdown between Griff and and these two

as they're he's trying to apprehend them He's

shooting flamethrowers at them doing all this

stuff, and they're trying to figure out a way

to get out of there Interesting to they kind

of show the the headquarters for the police to

Commissioner Wilson a female yep It's probably

Goldie Wilson's daughter or Goldie Wilson's granddaughter.

Like, what if Goldie Wilson III, the son, had,

you know, a granddaughter kind of a thing. Yeah,

and then we flashback to 1986, where Jennifer

is dealing with who she thinks is needles, but

obviously not, because we have Doc Brown show

up. and Marty's in trouble and Doc is here and

It seems to be a doc that knows what's going

on So now they're trying to figure something

out. Well, meanwhile Marty is trying to fend

off Griff So just a lot of action in this one

a lot of you know There's not a lot to explain

because there's just a lot of action a lot of

visuals But eventually, Jennifer and Doc show

up to save Marty. Marty's complaining about how

long it took them, but they do show up and pick

him up. So now they're all three in the DeLorean.

And Griff is still hot on the trail. Of course.

and it's just a matter of them trying to go fast

enough to get out of there and We do end up with

Griff taking a spot to get covered in manure

once again And then Marty and Doc and Jennifer

show back up in 1986 And they do their little

thing have their little kisses and whatnot Then

we flashed back all the way to 1893 where Doc

Brown shows back up and Claire and the kids can

finally see that he didn't disappear forever

So yeah, I dig this this whole arc was so fun

I mean just exploring doc and his his memory

loss thing and The whole way the time travel

in the back to the future thing works I mean,

not only does it work in the movies obviously,

but you know, like we mentioned earlier about

seeing the Clara time. like two different times,

the whole situation of when he left and when

they're waiting. Two different times at two different

angles, even though it's the same time, it's

the passage of the time that happens. And again,

these, you know, between John Barber, who's been

a long time writer slash senior editor at IDW

and Bob Gale, they're not going to do anything

that isn't going to be within the Back to the

Future timeline. Right strains or timeline rules

kind of a thing like it's just not gonna happen

It's interesting too because I do find a way

to get to both Griff and so you have a tan and

representative You also get the needle thing

and those stories are going on at the same time

I think the only thing I'm missing maybe if I

was trying to stretch for something is You know

most of the other stories we've had They've centered

around you know as far as the movies go etc Is

around Marty visiting? versions of his own family,

whether it's himself, whether it's his parents,

whether it's kids, et cetera, et cetera. He's

always been, you know, dealing with that, like

seeing those things and how those implications

come. And there's none of that in this. You know

what I mean? You don't get any of him interacting

with any of his 20, 35 family members, et cetera.

You see the Goldie Wilson lineage. You see the

Biff Tannen lineage. You don't get to see anything

with the McFly family. So that's my only little

nitpick from a story. It would have been cool

to find a way to get that involved somehow. And

they actually, I can tell you right now, they're

getting to it. It's going like, folks, we've

got, we've done volume one and volume two. We're

going to do volume three next time. After that,

we're going to do the one -shot series, Citizen

Brown, and then we're going to do Biff to the

Future. Volume four and five tie into the McFly

family of the main ongoing. So it's coming. So

don't be too disappointed. Otherwise, yeah, I

like it. Yeah, what I like about it is that it

doesn't. It just shows that it's a continuation

of after the whole adventure. They mention the

time train, they mention this, they mention that,

they mention everything else. I like that it

continues after the fact of the movies. We're

not going back to the movies are the movies.

Those stories are those stories. This is a whole...

landscape of being able to tell more stories

beyond that. Like I said in the last episode,

the first story is how Marty actually met Doc.

Like, I really dug that and I dig that a lot

more than just rehashing the story of the films.

Like, we've had Marty with Marty and Marty with

Marty's kids and Marty with whatever. Like I

said, they're going to be getting back to the

Muff Claw family from what I've seen in the Volume

4 and Volume 5 things, because I have... I think

I bought up to Volume 4 for the main ongoing.

Volume 5, I think, just came out and it's like

$17, $18, so it's not on sale yet. But anyway...

Volume 2's alternate covers, we start off with

One in the Old West kind of a thing where it's

the classic DeLorean, the train, Marty, Duck,

and Jennifer, just Marty, Jennifer, and Einstein,

or whatever. It might be Duck, and Clara, and

Einstein. There's Marty and the Bear. That's

from the cave. Yeah, I guess. There's the Three

DeLoreans. There's that. That's cool. There's

Marty at the races. Chickenhead. Favorite cover,

I know you're gonna hate this one. 30 minutes

or it's free. I wish that said 30 minutes or

it's free, butthead. And then this is the one

here where I mention ROM. it's the alternate

rom cover that's rom from the rom series i gotcha

about it so there's that marty and doc and then

then the book just ends with the final thing

um i think you're really gonna like volume three

because volume three is who is marty mcfly and

marty mcfly dealing with time stream and dealing

with himself and dealing with quote unquote a

different volume three is very interesting I

love the way they did that because it's not just

Marty. It explores the fact that all these time

jumps that Marty has taken, all these different

alternate timelines he's been to have created

a completely different Marty McFly. So it's gonna

be very, very good. As far as Volume 2 Continuum

Conundrum, I have to give it a 5. I can't not

give it a 5. The art was... Okay outside of Marty

and Jennifer pretty much throughout the whole

thing outside of their inconsistency the rest

of it was great Yeah, I think the art with Marty

is just what I didn't like as far as that goes

The story was enjoyable. I don't know if it like

if it would have had the same effect like if

this was Back to the future 3 or 4 or whatever

if like this was a movie I don't know if there

was enough there to like wow me like back to

the future 1 and 2 did But I still think it's

solid, so I mean I'd probably be like four, four

and a half somewhere in there. Yep, absolutely.

Alright folks, as I said, next time in episode

302 of The Pullback, we're going to be talking

about volume 3 of Back to the Future. Who is

Marty McFly? So that's going to be interesting

as well. Where can the people find you online,

sir? You can follow me on Twitter at OptimusSolo.

Am at TFG and Mike on Twitter. You can follow

at the pull bag on Twitter You can also follow

at geek cast radio on Twitter also check us out

on Facebook geek cast radio network and the pull

bag as well Make your greatest game to come and

so we'll catch you next time here inside the

pull bag See if you bastards can do 90 For nearly

five years the pull bag has been the GCR ends

premiere comic book review and discussion based

podcast I'm Jesse Rass and if you love comics

as much as I do then you really need to make

the great Escape into comics with TFG one Mike

and the rest of the GCR in crew only inside the

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