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Back to the Future
"Biff to the Future" Part 3
Back to the Future: Biff to the Future #3
IDW
Story by Bob Gale and Derek Fridolfs
Art by Alan Robinson
Inks by Alan Robinson & Jaime Castro
Colors by Maria Santaolalla
Letters by Shawn Lee
Cover A by Alan Robinson
March 2017 |
Biff becomes the dominant force in Hill
Valley of the 1970s.
Notes from the Back to the Future chronology
This issue opens on December 25, 1970.
Didja Know?
Biff to the Future was a six-issue comic
book mini-series published by IDW in 2017. It tells the story of
the alternate timeline created when Old Biff from 2015 gave his
teen self in 1955 the 2000 edition of Gray's Sports Almanac,
resulting in the dark 1985 discovered by Doc and Marty in
Back to the Future Part II.
Characters appearing or mentioned in this story
George McFly (dies in this issue)
Marty McFly
Lorraine McFly
Doug McFly
Linda McFly
Biff Tannen
Councilman Goldie Wilson
Stanford S. Strickland
Jayne Mansfield
Gertrude Tannen (mentioned only, deceased)
Match
Skinhead
3-D
Judy
Stella Baines
Sam Baines
Mr. Keller (government agent, not named until
"Biff to the Future" Part 4)
Otis Peabody (on television newscast only)
Jenkins (mentioned only)
Mrs. Blumberg (editor of Hill Valley Telegraph, not named
until
"Biff to the Future" Part 4)
Mark Dixon
Didja Notice?
On page 1, notice that on Christmas morning, little Marty
gets his first (kiddie-size) guitar.
On page 2, Biff enters the Hill Valley council meeting
shouting, "The Biffs are coming! The Biffs are coming! I've
always wanted to say that. Eat your heart out, Paul River!"
He means to refer to Paul Revere (1735-1818), the American
patriot who warned the colonial militia the British forces
were on the way during his famous ride of April 18, 1775
before the battles of Lexington and Concord. Popular
tradition has Revere shouting, "The British are coming! The
British are coming!" during his ride, but he had to be much
more circumspect than that in his warnings.
On page 3, Biff tells the city council he
wants to build a palace for himself and his wife, "...like
Barbie and Ken's dream house."
Barbie
and Ken are fashion dolls made by Mattel. One of the many
accessory toys that is also available for the pair is
Barbie's Dreamhouse.
The doll seen in Linda's hands on Christmas Day on
page 1 may be a Barbie.
Page 3 reveals that Principal Strickland is also on the city
council in 1971.
On page 4, Biff remarks, "There's more than one way to skin
a rat."
Also on page 4, Biff tells Mr. Strickland that he's willing
to pay for a new gym for the school, called the Gertrude
Tannen Memorial Gym. Gertrude Tannen was Biff's grandmother
who raised him; she was killed by a loan shark in
"Biff to the Future" Part 1.
On page 7, Lorraine's father remarks to his wife she could
have had her taste of all Biff's wealth if he'd hit Biff
with his car instead of that other kid. He is referring, of
course, to the incident in 1955 in
Back to the Future
when he hit "Calvin Klein" (Marty) which ultimately resulted
in her falling in love with George.
On page 8, Biff has the giant prop check he received for his
wins at the racetrack in
"Biff to the Future" Part 1
(and also seen in a photo in
Back to the Future Part III)
framed on the wall of his parlor. There is also a
Biff-version of Andy Warhol's famous Marilyn Monroe diptych
of 1962. Biff's is a triptych (Bifftych?).)
framed on the wall of his parlor. There is also a
Biff-version of Andy Warhol's famous Marilyn Monroe diptych
of 1962. Biff's is a triptych (Bifftych?).
The fallout shelter in Biff's palace is decorated in a
tribute to Lorraine.
Jayne Mansfield leaves Biff in 1971. This means that, like
Marilyn Monroe in
"Biff to the Future" Part 2,
Jayne lived longer in this alternate timeline with Biff than
she did in the real world. Mansfield was killed in an
automobile accident with her boyfriend Sam Brody in 1967.
On page 10, Biff says, "Don't let the window hit ya on the
way out!"
The unnamed government agent tells Biff, "...Uncle Sam has
been watching you, Mr. Tannen." Uncle Sam is a common
personification of the United States government often
depicted on propaganda and pop culture materials as a man in
a star-spangled suit and top hat with white hair and goatee,
similar to how Biff describes him.
The unnamed government agent tells Biff that if he helps
the government with certain "problems", the government will
make sure he won't ever hear from the I.R.S. over his
non-payment of taxes and he'll have new friends in the Nixon
administration. The IRS is the
Internal Revenue Service of the United States. Richard
Nixon was President of the United States from 1969-1974 and
it is seen that he remains president somehow for four terms
and planning to run for a fifth in the alternate 1985 of
Back to the Future Part II.
Biff founds BiffCo Realty sometime in the 1970s, sometime
before George McFly's murder in 1973.
On page 12, the televised news story about BiffCo is shown
on the TV station KHVY. This is a fictitious TV station. The
call letters HVY likely stand for "Hill Valley", indicating
a local station. The K is the first call letter for radio
and television stations west of the Mississippi (W for
stations east of it).
The newscast states that Otis Peabody sold his Lone Pine
Ranch to Biff in the 1970s, sometime before George McFly's murder in
1973.
The Hill Valley Telegraph is sold to the Washington
Post Corporation to keep it out of BiffCo's hands. The
Washington Post Corporation is a real company, though now
called Graham
Holdings Company, and was owner of the
Washington Post at the time (the Washington
Post was sold to Nash Holdings in 2013).
On page 15, a Mr. Dixon is seen on George McFly's secret
committee to stop BiffCo's takeover of Hill Valley. This may
be Mark Dixon, the redhead boy who tried to cut in on
George's dance with Lorraine at the Enchantment Under the
Sea dance in 1955 in
Back to the Future.
Also on page 15, Biff says, "I saw the trees for the
forest." This flipping of the phrase actually almost works
for the metaphor he's going for though.
On page 17, the inside source who calls George for a meeting
about evidence against Biff says, "Be there or be a
squirrel," an early indication that the "inside source" is
actually Biff himself.
On page 18, Biff refers to Carjack, "...that detective with
the bald head." He means Kojak, the character of Theo Kojak
played by the bald actor Telly Savalas on the 1973-1978
crime drama TV series Kojak.
On page 19, Biff tells George, "There ain't no harmonica
blower turning evidence on me," when he means, of course,
"whistle blower".
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