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Back to the Future
Episode Studies by Clayton Barr

enik1138-at-popapostle-dot-com
Back to the Future: Hard Time (Part 3) Back to the Future
"Hard Time" Part 3
Back to the Future #21
IDW
Story by John Barber and Bob Gale
Script by John Barber
Art by Marcelo Ferreira
Inks by Maria Keane
Colors by Jose Luis Rio
Letters by Shawn Lee
Cover by Marcelo Ferreira
June 2017

 

Marty and Professor Irving are stranded in 1972 when the DeLorean disappears!

 

Notes from the Back to the Future chronology

 

This issue opens on June 23, 1972.

 

Characters appearing or mentioned in this story

 

Professor Irving

Marty McFly

Doc Brown

Galileo

Stanford S. Strickland

Irene Strickland

Joey Baines

Lorraine McFly

Doug McFly

Sam Baines

Stella Baines

Linda McFly

George McFly

Biff Tannen

Match

Skinhead

3-D

 

Didja Notice?

 

On page 4, panel 5, Marty says "awasy" when he means "away". Presumably, a letterer's mistake.

 

On page 5, Marty remarks that if someone had seen the flying DeLorean in 1972, they would think it was some kind of Evel Knievel thing. Evel Knievel (1938-2007) was an American stunt artist who performed spectacular stunts using motorcycles, cars, and even a steam powered rocket.

 

On page 7, it appears that the burnt ruins of the Brown mansion are still standing (though fenced off) in 1972 (the place burned down in 1962).

 

Doc's dog in 1972 is Galileo.

 

    On page 10, the 1972 Doc tells Professor Irving that the anti-gravity experiment he just witnessed improved upon what he and other scientists did with the U.S.S. Eldridge. It seems that Doc is referring to the so-called Philadelphia Experiment, alleged to have taken place in 1943, an attempt by scientists working for the U.S. Navy to turn the naval Cannon-class destroyer escort invisible. The story is generally considered to be a hoax...but maybe not in a universe where Doc Brown exists!

    Doc later refers to his anti-gravity device as an "inertial buoyancy displacement convector" in "Time Served" Part 2.

 

On page 11, Marty sees some protesters in front of the clock tower shouting, ”Hey, hey, ho, ho, Tricky Dick has got to go!” and “One, two, three, four, we don’t want your stinking war!” These were actual chants used by protesters against President Richard Nixon in 1972 (though some say the second chant always ended with "fucking war", not the cleaned-up "stinking" version sometimes seen in movies...and comics!). "Tricky Dick" was a derogatory nickname for Nixon coined by his detractors. The war they protested was the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam Civil War.

 

In panel 2 of page 11, the gas station in Courthouse Square in 1972 is charging 52¢ a gallon. That's actually rather high for 1972, when gas averaged around 40¢ a gallon by the end of the year. 

 

Marty walks by Roy Jr.'s Electronics in 1972's Courthouse Square. It was Roy's Records in 1955 and The Third Eye metaphysical book store in 1985 in Back to the Future.

 

In the last panel of page 11, Mr. Strickland is leaving the Essex Theater with his mother after a showing of The Godfather. The Godfather is a 1972 crime drama film that won the Best Picture Academy Award that year. Strickland's mother's name is revealed to be Irene Strickland in Back to the Future: The Game.

 

Uncle Joey calls Marty "Little M" in 1972 when Marty was about 4 years old.

 

On page 16, Dougie is playing with what may be a G.I. Joe action figure.

 

On page 16, George drives a Volkswagen Beetle.

 

On page 19, Marty mentions his carpet fire incident to Joey. This incident was first mentioned in Back to the Future. Here, Marty reveals it happened when he was eight years old, so that would have been around 1976.

 

On page 20, Marty reveals his birthday is June 12. His birth year would have been 1968.

 

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