Bill & Ted's Most Triumphant Return

According to Alex Winter, Mr. Bill S. Preston, Esq. in the flesh, in this book's foreword, when the creative team of Brian Lynch and Jerry Gaylord was crafting this miniseries, Bill and Ted creators Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon were working on the third film in the series, Bill & Ted Face the Music. Secretly, Winter, along with the creators as well as Keanu Reeves were on massive pins and needles. If 2015's Bill & Ted's Most Triumphant Return sucked, it could very much upset the whole thing. Studio execs could warrant that if a comic book sequel to the first 2 Bill & Ted movies was a giant flop, why would they want to pump millions of dollars into another live action flick to could potentially go belly up as well? Thankfully, this canon comic book epic didn't wreck the franchise!

Taking place after the events of Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, the boys having some massive writer's bock. The world is demanding another rock epic from Wyld Stallyns and the fear of failure has paralyzed the guys. It's also really bugging them as to why Chuck De Nomolos, the villain from the 2nd movie, hated Bill and Ted so much. Into the time machine for the fellas...

Appearing in the future, they meet a teenaged De Nomolos who is ostracized by friends and family alike. Turns out being the foretold killer of your society's messiahs really carries a stigma. Bill and Ted really feel bad for the kid and they attempt a personality makeover. However, their good deeds don't go unpunished as when Bill and Ted return to their time, they find themselves replaced by De Nomolos and his future cronies! If you thought making robot Bill and Ted to kill the real McCoy was sinister, you haven't seen anything yet as Chuck De Nomolos not only strands the boys in prehistoric times, but he also allegedly kills off both members of Station, turns Rufus into a wanted fugitive and steals Death's Grim Reaping powers!

I thought this was a fantastic midquel that doesn't do anything to harm the flow between Bogus Journey and Face the Music. If you're having trouble visualizing what a midquel is, think about how Rogue One now sits in-between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. Lots of great historical cameos. I won't spoil anything. But I do want to complain just a pinch that Cleopatra and ancient Egypt is nowhere in this book despite being featured on the front cover. 

Speaking of the cover, there are tons- TONS, of variant covers. Plus there are several shorts that explore the B&T universe. They were great reads featuring art and story by special guest-stars. I wouldn't mind another helping of these tales; they were that great.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Bill & Teds Excellent Holiday Adventure #1

Bill and Ted reunite with old friends So-Crates, Billy the Kid and the rest of the time displaced crew from the first movie. 

A renegade from the future seeks to rewrite history. Not happy with the age of peace and prosperity ushered in by the music of Bill and Ted, this villain goes back in time and prevents Beethoven from creating his opus: Ode to Joy. Just as Bill and Ted are about to play the classical tune as the closer to a Christmas Eve concert that is key to the boys becoming founders of the golden age of humanity, the song is wiped from history and Bill and Ted are booed off stage. 

When the boys learn that their friends are being eliminated from the history books, it becomes a literal race against time to put the timeline back in place. Expect paradoxes, rewritten historical events and slapstick as 2 sets of time travelers play chess with important historical figures. It's enough to make time close in on itself!

In the backup tale, take a look at Little Bill and Little Ted. Not yet teenagers, the boys are at the mall hoping to buy their best buds the perfect Christmas present. But in order to do that, they need money. Taking a page out of the works of O. Henry, Bill and Ted unknowingly sell off their prized possessions for cash. Add a few bullies and some Christmas magic in the form of a mysterious dude with a ponytail and this will become a Christmas to remember. 

Both stories were great. Though I think I liked The Gift of the Magi tribute best as that is one of my favorite Christmas stories and tropes. Both stories captured the spirit of Bill and Ted perfectly. Writer John Barber bends time so perfectly that you'd think Doc Brown would have needed his trusty chalkboard to keep everything straight.

As for the artwork. I again liked that of the backup feature better. Juan Samu must have had some childhood photos of Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves on hand because this is how I expect Bill and Ted to look when they were in middle school. Butch Mapa did a great job in the first story. But Samu went above and beyond in the amazing childlike likenesses of the heroes.

A really enjoyable read from 2022. But did we ever get whatever at the end of the book is promised to come in 2023? It just says 'Next Year' with an image of Rufus and the Princesses on it. From what I can tell, this holiday special is currently the last time the dudes appear in comics. It appears that publisher Opus went belly up the following year. But really, no one else has picked up this franchise since then? Surely, the comic adventures of Bill and Ted aren't history. 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Bill and Ted's Day of the Dead #1

I got this special last year. AFTER November 1st. I'm not really sure why publishers released holiday books after the event is over. It seems to defeat the purpose of celebrating, if you ask me. Though shipping delays could have something to do with it. But I'm really sure that I saw that release date for this book in Previews being for after Day of the Dead, 2022 had come and gone. At least I had it to read for the 2023 festivities!

The town of San Dimas really knows how to celebrate! It's the annual celebration of Dia de los Muertos and the Wyld Stallyns have been invited to perform a set during the festivities. Before their set, Bill and Ted enjoy some good food, make some decorations and meet a pair of beauties in calaveras make-up who have built an elaborate shrine for their ancestors. Inspired by the shrine, Bill and Ted go back in time to bring back several icons of Mexican history including acclaimed artist Frida Kahlo and Aztec Emperor Montezuma!

Then in the back-up story, longtime Bill and Ted antagonist Chuck De Nomolos escapes from his prison in the year 2721. It just happens that the day De Nomolos makes his prison break, it's also Day of the Dead. With everyone dressed like Death, De Nomolos has a tragic break from reality, fearing another melvin from the Grim Reaper.

I liked the first story except for the fact that Bill and Ted essentially cheat on their girlfriends in this story. Both acknowledge that they still are in love with their princess girlfriends but they also want to get to know those cute celebrants better too. That 'harmless flirting' was just beyond the pale for me.

I didn't really like the De Nomolos story. In fact, it's inclusion was a bit startlingly. I had forgotten all about the character who debuted in Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey. Plus the image of a dead Chuck De Nomolos looked nothing like actor Joss Ackland. I had thought that some non-related back-up story had been added at first and was really puzzled as to why Opus Comics didn't add another Bill & Ted story to this book. Thankfully, by page 2, I understood what was going on. But it really felt like I was reading 2 different comics at first.

That second story had a touching tribute to the late George Carlin, who played Rufus, the time-travelling mentor to Bill and Ted. I hadn't realized he died all the way back in 2008. I would have said he had only been deceased since maybe 2019. 2018, at the most. 

Another thing that stunned me was the advertisement for the Bill & Ted's Excellent Holiday Special. How did I miss this? I really don't remember this and I am 99.8% certain that I didn't pick a copy of this up at my favorite LCS. I recently did a deep dive through my pile of new purchases that I have yet to bag or add to my collection and I didn't come across this book. So I might have something to add to my holiday comics wish list. 

This book is full of Day of the Dead festivities. But those two tales are as different as night and day. Also, I couldn't stand how Bill and Ted acted with their girlfriends away at space camp. No wonder they all had to go to a marriage counselor in Bill & Ted Face the Music. I'm very glad to see Dia de los Muertos getting some comic book love and the time travel antics of the guys was great. It just didn't feel true to the Bill & Ted franchise.

Rating: 6 out of 10 stars.

Bill & Ted Are Doomed

One of the positive highlights of the lockdown caused by the pandemic of 2020 was getting to watch the film Bill & Ted Face the Music. My bride and I got to watch it On Demand and for a couple of brief hours, we got to forget about the world outside that was supposedly going all to heck 

2020's Bill & Ted Are Doomed is a prequel series to Bill & Ted Face the Music. Set about 8-10 years before the events of the threequel, Bill & Ted are in a rut. Stymied by the pressure of writing the song that will usher in an era of world peace, the guys have allowed their music career to slump. Wyld Stallyns are considered Mild Stallions by the music loving community and it's putting a strain on the lives of Bill and Ted.

Along with relationship woes with their princess brides, bass playing Grim Reaper is ready to quit the band and the guys are completely broke. This stagnant period of the boys' career is having drastic effects on the time stream. Without the song, not only is the future promise of international peace threatened, but so is the fabric of the entire multiverse! Hopefully, the guys can put things right with a World Tour!

Original Marvel Comics series writer Evan Dorkin returns to craft this 4-issue miniseries that gets readers and potential movie goers up to date on what's happened to Bill and Ted since we last saw them in in 1991's Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey. Unfortunately, life got in the way with this plan. 

Bill & Ted Face the Music debuted in August, 2020. That's exactly when issue #1 hit store shelves. That's actually about 6 months later than Dark Horse Comics originally planned to release these books. It was late March to early April when the comic book industry as a collective whole shut down new releases. Remember, a lockdown was in place and a lot of non-essential stores were forced to close. Even though I consider them essential, local, state and federal government branches didn't consider comic book stores to be all that necessary. Hence the delay.

I enjoyed this book. It captured the franchise very well. Okay, maybe too well. The ridiculously verbose talk of Bill and Ted got a little bit annoying at the end. But I loved the silliness of the whole thing and Death's banter and annoyance at everybody was just perfect. And all those Easter eggs of things to come in Face the Music! So fun!

 If you are familiar with Evan Dorkin's original Bill and Ted run or his magnum opus Milk and Cheese, then you know that he's a master of madcap mayhem. However, I feel like Dorkin was trying to stuff 5 pounds of story into a 4 pound container. 

Characters that aren't even in the threequel are given a lot of unneeded extra attention. Plus there's one scene in which the symbiotic duo Station are looking sadly at the night sky that just doesn't go anywhere. I felt sad for Station, figuring that they miss their home world. Yet, they don't return there. I probably would have blown this minor scene off had Evan Dorkin not included a sketch of it in the artist notes in the back of the book. But with it's conclusion, I sure did feel bummed that Station doesn't get a happy ending. 

While it was great to get more insight into the progression of Bill and Ted from their bogus journey to their third adventure, this miniseries was a tad uneven and at times over the top to a point of discomfort.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.