It’s true, Back to the Future wasn’t the only time travel movie from the 1980s to experience a recent comic book revival. Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989) and its sequel Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey (1991) also led to comic books, both in the 1990s and recently. In this column, we’ll look at their first miniseries, Bill & Ted’s Most Triumphant Return (2015).
Writer’s Block
We begin issue one “five seconds after Sim Dimas Battle of the Bands, 1991” (for the record, that’s at the conclusion of the second movie, after they defeat De Nomolos). A reporter asks them about their second song; they pass her off to their alien friend, Station. Bill & Ted can’t get away from the issue though, as it’s on the news, a history class from 2645 has a field trip into their bedroom, and Rufus comes by to give them a pep talk. The pressure is getting to them.
Bill & Ted decide to have Station build them a new time machine phone booth. (Which they’ll then take back in time to the start of the issue so Station can get working right away, and thus have it done now.) This lets Bill & Ted go to 2645, to at least learn the topic of their second song, for inspiration. Yet as they wander around, they stumble onto the identity of the biggest loser in San Dimas High – Chuck De Nomolos. They’ve arrived when their nemesis was a teenager.
Issue two opens with Bill & Ted spying on young Chuck. They start to feel sorry for him not fitting in, on account of (as Bill puts it) “getting blamed for future De Nomolos’ bogus actions.”
This is an interesting reversal – if Bill & Ted’s infamy is known in advance, so is that of De Nomolos, right? Ted suggests that if they help the teenager be happy, maybe he won’t grow up to kill them. They approach Chuck – and he tries to kill them.
Fortunately, Chuck is distracted by the appearance of a girl named Claudia. He fails sweet-talking her. By offering teenaged De Nomolos dating advice, Bill & Ted get an invitation to his home. They meet his parents, and his brother Richie. They do not meet the evil two-headed Bill & Ted Robot De Nomolos has in his closet, because young Chuck has decided not to use it until they’ve helped him out.
Time Change
Issue three opens with Bill & Ted taking the teenaged De Nomolos on three time trips. To Woodstock in 1969 for a lesson on how to talk nice. To New Mexico in 1880 for advice from Billy the Kid (who will soon fake his own death, “changing” history). And to 200 million years ago to teach Chuck how to play guitar undisturbed for three months. They then return to 2645, and Chuck declares, in front of his classmates, that he will no longer try to kill Bill & Ted.
Which is when BillTed 1.0 (the evil robot) blasts in to murder the two. Bad timing. Chuck plays some awesome guitar though to confuse his creation, and Bill & Ted take their phone booth two seconds into the future to land on it, resolving the issue. Bill & Ted then return to the present… but Chuck has interfered with the dialler. They end up in 1993. Where they learn that it was De Nomolos, not them, who won the Battle of the Bands in 1991. Using their song. Bogus. (Incidentally, Chuck’s band consists of Claudia, his brother Richie, and the BillTed robot.)
Issue four has Bill & Ted hurrying back to their phone booth, but it’s been stolen. However, they do encounter Bill’s 1993 self, who fills them in on what happened. In this timeline, De Nomolos never tried to kill them. So they never met Death or anyone from the afterlife. After they lost the competition, Rufus was forced to return Joanna and Elizabeth (their wives) to the past, and Ted was sent to Alaskan Military Academy. Also, Bill has married Missy.
Incensed the most over how their children were never born, Bill & Ted sneak backstage at Chuck De Nomolos’ next concert. They find his phone booth, Chuck gets the drop on them, and then chaos erupts after Claudia overhears Chuck bragging about what he did. Bill & Ted barely manage to escape a shootout using the (now damaged) phone booth by mashing “sideways 8.” The booth collapses into ruin as they emerge, now stranded thousands of years in the future, in “San De Nomolos, California.”
Restoration
Issue five has Bill & Ted visiting a pawn shop for money, only to be chased off by the owner (entertainment memorabilia is outlawed). They’re further attacked by security forces, only to be saved by Death (accidentally), as he directs a child (and them) to the underground. Rufus is waiting there. It’s his turn to explain.
Apparently De Nomolos killed himself in 1993 when Claudia left him. He challenged Death, and by winning he not only became immortal, but got Death to give up his job to Richie. However, with Richie not being the brightest, Rufus was able to avoid being reaped, explaining how all the characters are still around. The underground also has a Station, rescued from now Emperor De Nomolos, so Bill & Ted ask it to build them something.
The sixth and final issue opens with De Nomolos giving a State of the Universe address to calm the populous. It is interrupted as Mobile Suit Bill S. Preston Esquire and Giganto-Ted “Theodore” Logan show up. Their giant robots use magnets to disarm the security force, the teens emerge, and then they sing a song using the guitars Station made. It’s their second song, at last! It so moves the crowd that even Richie apologizes to Death for taking his powers.
Despite Bill & Ted getting disintegrated once they finish (Death fixes that), they manage to reunite both Stations, who can then build a new time machine phone booth. Bill & Ted quickly use it to go to 1989 and warn themselves (outside the Circle K near the start of the first movie) to not EVER teach Chuck De Nomolos to play guitar. They then go to 1991, and discover their present is fixed. Excellent.
There is a brief epilogue, wherein the Wyld Stallions band confront an arrested De Nomolos in the future… offering him a part in their band. Since he’s so obsessed with them and all. Rufus even admits that De Nomolos does a duet with Claudia in a later Wyld Stallions song. Not on guitar, but rather on cowbell. De Nomolos tries the bell out, and it is not great, but Bill & Ted remark “he does get better” (in a nice nod to Rufus’ remark that ended the first film).
In Summary
The story is very faithful in terms of characterizations. Brian Lynch, the writer, did his homework, to the extent of mentioning once how “Bill thinks with his head 5% more than Ted” while “Ted thinks with his heart 5% more”. The illustrations by Jerry Gaylord are also on point. And as I mentioned earlier, the story tackles the interesting case of everyone knowing that De Nomolos would grow up to be evil.
The main questionable point might be their treatment of the timelines. Everything in the Bill & Ted universe implies that history cannot change. That’s why the two could talk to their future selves in the first movie, not to mention pull characters out of the past (as their return was inevitable). Yet De Nomolos was able to upend that somehow? Was it because Bill & Ted played a part? Are they their own worst enemies?
Actually, it’s probably good that they didn’t try to explain, otherwise they’d also have to explain how it was so easy to undo. (Ted couldn’t even remember to wind his watch, yet somehow they’ll remember not to teach De Nomolos guitar?) There’s also the question of what really happened in the final timeline. Did Bill & Ted go into 2645 and figure out their second song without talking to De Nomolos at all? But then who goes back to warn Bill & Ted about the guitar issue?
Oh well. It’s still an enjoyable read, and worth checking out for yourself. I did skip over a number of events, including a closer look at Chuck’s family, Claudia’s personality, alternate Bill’s lifestyle, and more. There were also a number of short stories at the end of every issue, looking at “Untold Tales” for Bill & Ted and their families (a bit like in “Back to the Future”). In fact, those are so good that I’ll take a look at them next month!
In the meantime, do you have any thoughts on the main plot? Or any opinions about alternate realities and timelines in the Bill & Ted universe? I mean, was their death in the second movie fated or not? Were you even aware that Bill & Ted were back in comics with these mini-series?
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