The film would end up creating a small little franchise, which extended to film sequels, video games, an animated series, a stage play (No joke), and yes, even comic books. Harvey Comics published a comic based on the animated series for a short time in 1992, which lasted about seven issues. However, I'm going to look at a more recent BttF comic, one that IDW published in, appropriately enough, 2015.
Some time back, I got a trade paperback of the series known as Untold Tales and Alternate Timelines, which collects the first five issues of the series. The issues do what the trade title says, tells some untold stories of the BttF universe. The first issue, which we'll look at here, tells an origin story of sorts. What of, you may ask? Essentially, how Doc Brown and Marty first met. Let's see how it went down!
I have to admit, I love the cover here. Dan Schoening does some fine artwork here. He doesn't quite use the likenesses of the actors, but the characters are still recognizable. Luis Antonio Delgado's colors are nice. They are a bit more subtle than I expected, but I don't think that's a bad thing. The cover may be seen by some as a bit crowded, but I think the nods make up for it.
"When Marty Met Emmett"
Story: Bob Gale (Co-scripted with John Barber)
Art: Brent Schoonover
Inker: David Witt
Colors: Kelly Fitzpatrick
Letterer: Shawn Lee
The issue begins with Doc Brown working in his shop in 1885, working on an experiment. What is he trying to do? Well, generate the 1.21 Gigawatts of electricity he needs for time travel. It doesn't work. He's then visited by his wife Clara and sons Jules and Verne.
I think we can assume that this takes place before the ending of Back to the Future III, when Emmett and Clara reunited with Marty in 1985 in their time-traveling personal locomotive, and introduced him to their sons.
A confused Verne (Verne was the blond son) asks about the future, and Doc Brown explains that out there would be the future home of the Brown family (formerly the Von Braun family, per BttF III.) Doc then goes a little bit into his history with Hill Valley, including recalling when he first came up with the flux capacitor, the burning down of his family home, and his residency in his garage.
The scene then goes to October 2, 1982 at 1:16 PM, where we meet a young Marty McFly is in his family's garage, playing some guitar.
For some reason, I can imagine that he's playing Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode". Get it? Anyway, Marty finds himself accosted by a certain flea-bitten (get it?) punk named Needles and his two mooks.
I wanted to say the mooks were a nod to Griff Tannen's mooks in BttF II, considering one of his mooks is a blonde female, like Griff had, but Griff didn't have a fat mook with him. Anyway, Needles wants an interocitor tube for his amp, as his got broken due to "rockin' too hard", and he figured his "friend" Marty had one. Needles's band, the Tabascoes, have a gig that night.
Needles takes what looks like a vacuum tube out of Marty's amp, and I wondered what an Interocitor tube was, and I got this in response. It's a fictional device that was capable of just about anything from a 1949 science fiction story. Odd place to put that homage, as I think that tube has an actual name.
Marty offers to rent the tube to Needles for five bucks. Needles tells him he'll pay it back when he returns it. Marty grabs his wrist and demands the money now, but this causes Needles to drop the tube, shattering it. Needles is not happy about this, and demands Marty get a new one for him and get it to him at the Hill Valley Clocktower by four o' clock. Marty says he can't buy a new one, as he has no money. Female Mook (I'll call her Cindi. She looks like a Cindi) makes a suggestion.
Marty refuses to steal it, and Needles calls him chicken. And since this was a couple years before the events of the BttF trilogy...
Marty hasn't gotten over that little issue with being called "chicken" yet, so he accepts. Needles taunts him some more, and takes Marty's guitar as his own form of collateral.
At 2:02 PM, Marty is at a music store, and to his frustration, the store is out of tubes.
Hey, it's that bum who called Marty a "drunk driver". Marty is shocked, as the store usually has lots of them. The shopkeeper looks up who bought them, and it was ELB Enterprises at 1640 John F. Kennedy Drive. Marty then realizes that's the address of Doc Brown. The shopkeeper jokes that he needed them for his Death Ray, and working on it was how his house burned down back in '62. Brown himself never bought the parts personally, just ordered them by mail. He warns Marty not to go over there, as it's asking for trouble. Shopkeeper, you have no idea...
At 3:17 PM, Marty goes over to the house. He was holding a skateboard, which must've resulted in quite a long journey. Although, considering the first movie showed that Marty when he skateboarded would hang on to cars when he needed speed, so maybe Doc Brown's house was further away from Hill Valley than we thought. Marty approaches the house's intercom, but an automated message tells him to go away. Marty grumbles about warnings today, and tries again.
The intercom warns the next shock will not be comfortable, taunting him that he was not one to foresee that his actions would have consequences. Marty, gets a strange burst of inspiration out of nowhere. Realizing the wordplay in the phrase "One to foresee", he types in a code on the keypad: 1-2-4-C. The fence opens, letting him enter. I wonder, how did he figure that out?
Marty then knocks on the door, but no answer. He then finds a garbage can and climbs on it, peering through the window. He sees the box of tubes, but the window is padlocked. Marty considers smashing through it with his skateboard, but decides against it, saying that's not who he is. In a bit of a funny nod to BttF II, he tells himself to "Think, Marty, think!". He then realizes something. The "No Entry" sign on the fence said "Know Entry" instead. He goes back to the sign and finds the key behind the sign.
Marty unlocks the padlock and climbs in, only to end up activating some Rube Goldberg-like device.
The device drags Marty into the air thanks to a net on the ground. A visible net that Marty could have easily seen and figured out that it was there to trap him. I can imagine Needles falling for it, because he seems like an idiot, but not Marty. Anyway, Marty shows his brains again and uses his skateboard to somehow open the net and free him. How did he know where to send the skateboard?
Finally freed, and the time being 3:42 PM, Marty finds himself getting attacked by a dog.
It's Einstein, Emmet Brown's dog in 1985! Luckily, instead of ripping Marty's face off, he gives Marty doggy kisses. Doc Brown emerges, congratulating Marty for passing his test. Marty introduces himself, and Doc is asking if he's inquiring about the assistant job. Marty is unaware of a job opening, and Doc explains that he's looking for an assistant to help him out around the lab and run errands.
Marty says he can start right now if Doc needs him. Doc is happy about this, complimenting Marty's resourcefulness and Einstein's judging of character. Marty admits that he really came because he wanted an interocitor tube, and Doc had them all. Doc asks worriedly if Marty had intended to rob him, and Marty explains that if Doc would've just answered the door, he would have asked.
Doc blames himself, saying his work required him to be rather reclusive, and it's caused him some problems he didn't foresee. Marty asks what exactly he does, but Doc says he doesn't discuss it. Marty's cool with it. Doc then admits that he wasn't advertising for a job, he was doing a bit of an experiment to see how Marty would react. Is this another test of character?
However, Doc says he can give Marty a job if he wants one. Basically, running errands, keeping inventory, stuff like that. Marty eagerly takes the job, and asks about the tubes. Doc admits that he just needed the boxes and threw out the tubes.
It's a funny moment, but I can't help but think, wouldn't Doc have kept the tubes? He could've used them for a gadget he was working on. And Marty could have crushed them when he was climbing on the garbage can, and he would've been screwed.
It's 3:58 PM. Marty takes one of Doc's tubes to Needles (I can imagine he also got another one for himself to replace the one Needles broke), and there's another funny moment when Marty explains where he got it.
That panel is funny, I love it! We then go back to Doc in 1885, explaining that that was how he met Marty for the first time. Verne falls asleep in his arms, and Clara explains he couldn't expect a child who hasn't reached three yet to stay awake through that story. The comic ends with Doc Brown saying he's got more tales to tell, and all the time to tell them. Get it, because he's a time traveler?
This issue did have some head-scratching moments, but you know what? It still was really good. It was really neat seeing how Doc Brown and Marty met for the first time. The coloring is nice and bright. The art had a bit of the same problem I felt Bob Hall had with Squadron Supreme. The art is very good with close-ups, but it does suffer when it comes to drawing at a distance, especially in the faces. However, it's not as bad here, as even from far away, I could still get facial expression. Maybe it was improved technique, technology, or a mix, I have no idea.
Despite this, I really enjoyed this issue. It was a fun read, and if you are a BttF fan, pick this up if you find it. If you find the trade Untold Tales and Alternate Timelines at a shop, pick it up. I got it for only twenty bucks, and it was worth every penny.
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