Reviews

Bill & Ted Go to Hell by Brian Joines, Jeremy Lawson, Bachan

wyrmbergmalcolm's review against another edition

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4.0

Well this was silly, Just like the films. If you don't like the films, give this a miss. If you do enjoy them for the light-hearted jaunt through time and space that it is, this is a lot of fun. If you don't know, Bill & Ted is basically Doctor Who but with a different phone box and two dim nitwits instead. There is a Doctor character called Rufus, but he more or less just operates the time machine.
This is book 2 in the series so I'm not sure if I've missed much having not read the first one, but don't let a thing like continuity get in the way here. This is Bill & Ted after all. This volume seems to have just about every single character from the two films and not feel overstuffed, which is quite the achievement. A lot of fun and very, very silly.
The artwork wasn't the best, but its zany style did fit with the theme.

lady_nett's review against another edition

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3.0

Same silly antics as the films. The comic did a great job of staying true to the voice of the source material.

nerdinthelibrary's review against another edition

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4.0

“Dude, he should totally be called Abraham Thinkin’.”


We're going to ignore that I accidentally read the second volume first and instead focus on the fact that this comic fucking rules. My expectations for any comic that's meant to tie-in to a movie franchise are so incredibly low because they almost always feel like cash-grabs that had little-to-no thought put into them. This, thankfully, was not the case here. This was a comic written by someone who loves Bill & Ted and you can see that on every page.

This comic is set after Bogus Journey, and has Bill, Ted, the Princesses, Rufus and a bunch of their friends from throughout history trying to save Death by going to Hell. With each few pages the conflict escalates to crazy lengths, something which I feel is very in keeping with the spirit of Bogus Journey and the franchise as a whole.

Easily the best part of this comic is how much it centres all the side characters we love. In particular, the Princesses get a much more prominent role in this than they do in the movies and are the absolute coolest. In the movie's, Bill and Ted's relationships with Joanna and Elizabeth are already the absolute cutest and they really just double down on that here. But it's not just the Princesses that have expanded roles; all of the historical figures have mini character arcs and seeing them support each other is so heartwarming. Then there's Death, who remains maybe the funniest character ever created while never losing the depth he has.

The art is also fantastic. I've never read anything illustrated by Bachan but I look forward to discovering more in the future because, despite not being what I typically like in comic book art, it really worked for me.

As with the Bill & Ted movies, this has no right to be as good as it is and makes me extremely excited for Face the Music (even if it is kind of funny to read this now because of all the things they're clearly retconning in that movie).

theodore_logan's review

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adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

be excellent to each other :)
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