Bill & Ted's Most Triumphant Return - New comic book

Two rad dudes are taking their time-traveling phone booth on another most excellent adventure.

Debuting Wednesday, the Boom! Studios series Bill & Ted's Most Triumphant Return features the pop-culture comeback of Bill S. Preston, Esquire, and Ted "Theodore" Logan — first played by Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves in 1989's Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.

In a main story written by Brian Lynch and illustrated by Jerry Gaylord, the comic book opens mere moments where 1991's buddy-comedy sequel Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey left off. The lovable air-guitar-riffing dudes of Wyld Stallyns have taken the world by storm with one amazing song while also defeating Chuck De Nomolos, a nefarious guy who was trying to keep a rad utopian future from happening.

Now, though, Bill and Ted — with their 15th-century princess fiancées and babies, plus pals Rufus, Death, alien Station and previously evil Bill and Ted robots in tow — are feeling the pressure to write an amazing second song. So they decide to head into the future and just ask someone what they did next.

"After all, everything Wyld Stallyns did is a matter of historical importance. It's easy to find out information about themselves," Lynch says. "They get to enjoy that future we caught a glimpse of in the beginning of Bogus Journey and hang out in a world they helped create."

However, the writer adds, everything spirals out of control from there. "They do damage not just to their future, not just to their past, but they screw up the fate of the entire universe and have to make things right. And figure out that second song."

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Cameos from historical figures are a hallmark of the Bill & Ted movie franchise, and Lynch doesn't skimp in the new book. Einstein is a guest professor at San Dimas High in the future, and Bill and Ted take a trip to Woodstock, visit some friends from the first movie and — by Gaylord's request — run into some dinosaurs in the Jurassic era.

The dudes also head so far into the future "it doesn't have a number," Lynch says, and there are alternate realities. "We see what would happen if they didn't win Battle of the Bands, and Ted did have to go to the Alaskan Military Academy."

During their adventure, Bill and Ted also encounter a young and very miserable Chuck De Nomolos, before he turned evil, and meet his family, who are huge fans of all things Bill and Ted. Teen Chuck's world is made even worse when it's on historical record that his older self tried to kill Bill and Ted back in 1991, so everyone is still irked.

Yet the time travelers see this as a chance to make things right with him and "become his Rufus — come in out of nowhere and change his world," Lynch says.

"From Bill and Ted's point of view, he's the one person in the universe that hates them, and that hurts their feelings. They would love to win him over."

Bill and Ted reconnect with their pal Death in the new Boom! Studios comic book. (Photo: Boom! Studios)

Lynch enjoyed plunging into a world that Wyld Stallyns music helped create, plus simply picking up the guys' tale from the movies. "We see Bill and Ted as parents, Bill and Ted as legends," he says. "We see Bill and Ted's reaction to the future they've created, and that was a blast and an honor to write."

The writer has long been a super-fan of both Bill & Ted movies, including what he calls Winter and Reeves' "letter-perfect" performances. Lynch, who penned the upcoming Minions animated film, was most taken with the concept of the first film: Two guys whom everyone writes off as losers until George Carlin's wise old Rufus tells them they could be the most important people in the world.

"They win over Billy the Kid, Genghis Kahn does what they say, Abraham Lincoln hangs out with them. You root for these guys," says Lynch.

He adds that there are keys to writing in Bill-and-Ted speak, though: Don't overuse certain words, don't lean on "dude" and "bogus" too much, reach a balance between excellent and annoying, and find the tiny differences between the two main characters.

"Bill thinks with his head 5% more than Ted," Lynch says, "Ted thinks with his heart 5% more than Bill, but both are, of course, way smarter than anyone gives them credit for."

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Rufus, who kicks off Bill and Ted's new story but lets them also take charge of their destiny, is the most daunting to write because Lynch is "putting words in the mouth of a character played by George Carlin. I don't want to mess this up," he says.

"It's all about writing a character who's 200% smarter than anyone in the room, and he believes in Bill and Ted more than anyone else."

Even though the world's way darker and more cynical than the last time folks saw Bill and Ted, Lynch still sees them as the happiest, least cynical movie characters ever.

"This isn't a gritty reboot, these are the same dudes you loved back in 1991, and they haven't changed," the writer says of their Triumphant Return. "The story may go to some dark places, but they never do.

"I couldn't help but be in a good mood writing this series — the characters rubbed off on me. And I hope reading it puts people in a good mood, too."