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Back to the Future
"Biff to the Future" Part 4
Back to the Future: Biff to the Future #4
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
April 2017 |
Mr. Biff goes to Washington.
Notes from the Back to the Future chronology
This issue opens in 1973 and continues into 1981.
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
Lorraine McFly (becomes Lorraine Tannen in this issue)
George McFly (mentioned only, deceased)
Joey Baines (mentioned only)
Biff Tannen
Sam Baines (mentioned only)
Stella Baines (mentioned only)
Dave McFly
Linda McFly
Marty McFly
Match
Skinhead
3-D
Sgt. Stan Reynolds
Mrs. Blumberg
Red the bum (mentioned only)
Henderson (mentioned only)
Bob Woodward
Carl Bernstein
Mr. Keller
President Nixon
Jimmy Carter (mentioned only)
Pat Nixon
Sal (on telephone only)
Louie (on telephone only)
Goldie Wilson
Stanford S. Strickland
Terry (dies in this issue)
Mark Dixon
Doc Brown
Didja Notice?
On page 2, Doug, Linda, and Marty are seen at the wedding of
Biff and Lorraine when Biff says, "Third time's the
charm!" This is a scene from the Biff Tannen Museum video in
Back to the Future Part II,
though Lorraine's kids are not seen there.
On page 5, Biff has purchased the
Washington Post and changed its name to the
Biffington Post. While there, he fires reporters
Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, who are working on the
Watergate story at the time.
Watergate was the name of a scandal in 1972, in which the
administration of U.S. President Richard Nixon attempted to
cover up its involvement in a break-in at the headquarters
of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate office
complex in Washington, D.C. In the real world, Woodward and
Bernstein's investigative reporting of the Watergate
incident led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon
on August 9, 1974. In this altered timeline, we know that
Nixon went on to somehow serve at least four terms as
president and running for a fifth in 1985.
On page 6, panel 1, the
United
States Capitol building is seen in the background as
Keller has Biff driven to meet President Nixon.
On page 8, panel 3, the
Washington Monument is seen in the background as Biff
leaves the
White
House.
Thanks to Biff's money greasing the right palms, the 22nd
Amendment is repealed, allowing the U.S. President (in this
case, Richard Nixon) to run for an unlimited number of
terms.
Page 10 reveals that Nixon ran against Jimmy Carter in the
1976 presidential election, just as Carter ran in the real
world against Gerald Ford. Here, Carter loses, while in the
real election, he won.
Also on page 10, Biff meets Frank
Sinatra. Sinatra (1915-1998) was a singer and actor who got
his start in nightclubs and whose repertoire has become a
staple of nightclub musical acts. As Biff calls him here,
one of his nicknames was "the Chairman."
Biff tells Sinatra that From Here to Maternity
was a great flick. He means From Here to Eternity, a
classic 1953 film starring Sinatra.
Biff says money is the root beer of all evil on page 10.
On page 18, Lorraine appears to be drinking a brand of vodka
called Vod Ka.
At the end of the issue, Doc Brown appears to the secret
committee, saying he has been their silent benefactor and
that his newest, untested invention could stop Biff
permanently. That invention: a time machine!
Doc reveals that he allowed rumors of his having invented a
death ray, among others,
to spread so that people would be afraid to approach him
or his home while he worked on his experiments in solitude.
The death ray rumor is mentioned in
"How Needles Got Here" and
"Who is Marty McFly?" Part 1.
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