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Back to the Future
"Welcome to the World of Tomorrow!" Part 2
Back to the Future: Tales from the Time Train
#2
IDW
Story by Bob Gale and John Barber
Script by John Barber
Art by Megan Levens
Colors by Charlie Kirchoff
Letters by Shawn Lee
Cover A by Megan Levens
January 2018 |
Doc Brown and his family visit the 1939 New
York World's Fair.
Read the story
summary at
Futurepedia
Notes from the Back to the Future chronology
This story opens on September 21, 1939.
Characters appearing or mentioned in this story
Doc Brown
Jules
Verne
Clara
Einstein
police officer
Fritz
Karl
Heinrich
Albert Einstein (mentioned only)
Prince Rufio
Queen Jorgansen (mentioned only)
Miss Kendall
Lawrence
Marty McFly (mentioned only)
Jennifer Parker (mentioned only)
Didja Notice?
On cover A of this issue, Doc is seen
looking at a map of the 1939 World's Fair fairgrounds. The
front image on the map is from the actual map created by
illustrator Tony Sarg (1880-1942), though the actual front
image on the map was square, not rectangular. |
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Doc holding 1939 World's Fair map |
Actual cover image of 1939 World's Fair
map
(image from
disneydocs.net) |
When Doc tries to bring Einstein into the fair with the rest
of his family on page 4, a police officer tells him dogs are
not allowed, "Unless you're a big shot or royalty, like the
queen of Barataria." Barataria is not a real world nation, but
is presumably a nod The
Gondoliers; or, The King of Barataria, an 1889 opera by
Gilbert and Sullivan. Later in this issue, Queen Jorgansen
of that nation is mentioned and we meet her dog, Prince
Rufio, who looks similar to Doc's dog Einstein (but none of
these characters appeared in the musical).
Doc tells the police officer that the train he and his
family arrived in (the time train) is a special exhibition
train from Penn Station. This refers to the New York City
train station called Pennsylvania Station, named for its
original builder, the Pennsylvania Railroad.
On page 5, Doc calls his dog Fido to the police officer
instead of Einstein. In 1939, Albert Einstein had already
defected from Nazi Germany to the United States (as of 1933)
and was well-known and popular among the American public.
Perhaps Doc felt that someone who had named their dog
Einstein would be seen as an insult to the great scientist
at this time. The name Fido (Latin for "faithful") became a
popular name for dogs when Abraham Lincoln became president
of the United States in 1861 and the public was informed he
had a beloved dog named Fido, who was kept at Lincoln's
Springfield, Illinois home rather than at the White House.
Also on page 5, Doc references the Pennsylvania S1. This is
the experimental duplex locomotive built by the Pennsylvania
Railroad in 1939. It was on display at the World's Fair that
year, just as Doc says, and was designed by Robert Lowey
(1893-1986) as stated in these pages.
On page 7, German agents Karl and Fritz comment on Mayor
LaGuardia's assertion to der führer that their
nation is not welcome here (in New York). Der führer
(German for "the leader") was, at the time, Adolf Hitler.
Fiorello La Guardia (1882-1947) was the extremely popular
mayor of New York City at the time. He warned of the evil of
Germany's Nazi regime and its leader, Hitler, as early as
1934.
On page 8, Doc purchases 10 copies of World's Fair Comics
#1. This is a real comic book published to promote the New
York World's Fair. Originally priced at 15 cents, it is
currently
worth tens of thousands of dollars in near mint condition.
In
"Emmett Brown Visits the Future", Doc purchased a stack
of Action
Comics #1 (the first appearance of Superman) in 1938
and sold one in 2015 for 2.5 million dollars.
On page 8, Doc tells his family he has a plan laid out for
seeing the World's Fair exhibits, starting with the farming village and
the Wonder Bread pavilion. He is referring to the
"Electrified Farm" and a pavilion that demonstrated every
phase of baking
Wonder
Bread and
Hostess
Cakes. We will get a glimpse of the Wonder Bread pavilion in
"Welcome to the World of Tomorrow!" Part 4.
On pages 12-13, the giant cash register, bumper boats, RCA
Communications pavilion, and Elektro the robot were all
actual exhibits at the 1939 World's Fair.
On page 18, Doc tells Clara that he had dreamed of visiting
the Chicago World's Fair when he was younger. He is referring
to the Chicago World's Fair in 1933, also known as the
Century of Progress International Exposition.
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