Any child of the ’70s remembers, and was probably a fan of, the Six Million Dollar Man. Steve Austin. A man barely alive. Rebuilt through a government program headed up by Oscar Goldman and Rudy Wells, Colonel Austin went from astronaut fly-boy to cyborg. His two bionic legs, one bionic arm and bionic eye gave the children of the ’70s hours of imaginative playtime, either with the toys or just running around making the “bionic” sound, which was usually kids shouting “Dunanunanunanuna”.
A few years back, Kevin Smith tried, and failed horribly, to bring the Bionic Man back in a modern age. Now, Dynamite Entertainment is looking to bring back Steve Austin again, but by continuing on with the original TV series, which was cancelled after five seasons. The Six Million Dollar Man: Season 6 #1, is the next adventure for the world’s first cybernetic organism.
Writer James Kuhoric jumps right into action. A deep space probe lost in a cloud of radiation has somehow changed direction. The probe falls to earth, wedged in a rock formation in shark-infested waters. Steve Austin sent to help with the retrieval, while sinister forces have created the latest Maskatron robots, which could shut down the bionics program. Not to mention there is no idea what danger this probe brought back from deep space.
Speaking as not only a childhood fan of the series, but one who has watched it on DVD, Kuhoric has nailed the rhythms of the show. From Oscar’s semi-slimy interactions to Steve’s charm, and to Rudy’s hyperkinetic science babble, it is all in here. The action is pretty impressive as well, especially when Steve Austin beats up great white sharks. If not for one glaring problem, Six Million Dollar Man Season 6 would be a full thumbs up.
The glaring problem is the art. After a beautiful Alex Ross cover, the interior work is just lame. It’s a problem Dynamite has had in the past, a dedication to finding people who can draw characters to look like their human counterparts, without actually finding great artists. Juan Antonio Ramirez is a solid factory artist, somebody who understands what goes where and why it goes there, but he has no style, no presence, and the Six Million Dollar Man book suffers because of it. This is the kind of work that would be a good fit for backgrounds, but not main characters or action. Dynamite needs to make an artist switch if they want Six Million Dollar Man to really catch on.
(3 Story, 2 Art)
