"Gentleman, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to build the world's first bionic man....Better than he was before. Better. Stronger. Faster."
If you were a child of the 1970s, that coda lead you into an hour of adventure (regular episodes from 1974 to 1978) with Colonel Steve Austin...the
Six Million Dollar Man. Steve was a cyborg, who had a bionic arm, eye and two legs, and was assigned missions for the OSI (Office of Scientific Intelligence, a branch of the United States government) by Oscar Goldman (his friend and boss, and the reader of that statement opening the episodes). On the television of the time, the Six Million Dollar Man was the closest there was to a super hero (the
Incredible Hulk show didn't start until 1977, though episodes were written of that show by
Kenneth Johnson, who also wrote for the
Six Million Dollar Man; and we were nowhere near the current explosion of live action comic book super shows like the
Spider-Man,
Flash,
Human Target,
Birds of Prey,
Painkiller Jane,
Smallville,
Arrow,
Constantine,
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and
Flash again!).
Col. Austin even went the opposite way...and headed into the world of comics!
Six Million Dollar Man Comics
At Charlton, there were 9 issues of the Six Million Dollar Man comic books from June 1976 to June 1978. Issues were written by
Joe Gill - #1, 4-9 and
Nicola Cuti - #2, drawn by
Joe Staton - #1-6,
Demetrio Sanchez Gomez - #5-7,
Pat Boyette - #7 and
Fred Himes #8-9, and had covers by
Joe Staton - #1,
Neal Adams - #2,
Hector Castellon - #3,
Jack Sparling - #4-6, and
Fred Himes #7-9.
During these issues, Steve faced spies, robots, sharks, dimension hopping villains and even a mad scientist using his Kenner action figure against him!
Sadly, reoccurring series foes like the Bigfoot or Mars Rover did not make the transition into the comic books...but in the days pre-DVD, this was the only way to relive adventures of your favorite hero!
Six Million Dollar Man Magazines
Due to the Comic Code Authority, and a desire to expand into the magazine market (and these were the days before the internet, so information behind the scenes on TV shows was limited), Charlton also published the
Six Million Dollar Man magazine, which had 7 issues from July 1976 to November 1977, and though the covers were in color, the stories inside were in black & white (and had a slightly more adult feel to them...).
Issues were written by
Joe Gill, - #1-4, 7
Nicola Cuti - #1-3, 5, 6,
Mike Pellowski - #1-7, and
George Wildman - #6, drawn by Continuity Associates (
Neal Adams, Steve Austin, Terry Austin, Joe Barney, Joe Brozowski, Rick Bryant, Karin Daugherty, Dick Giordano, Klaus Janson, Bruce Patterson, Carl Potts, Mark Rice and
Josef Rubinstein) - #1-3 and J
ack Sparling - #3-5, #6 and 7 by the
Jack Sparling Studio and had covers by
Neal Adams - #1 and #2,
Jack Sparling - #3, and
Earl Norem - #4-7 as well as features on
Lindsay "Jamie Sommers
" Wagner and
Richard "Oscar Goldman
" Anderson in #1 and behind the scenes features (necessary in the pre-internet days, mostly on series star,
Lee Majors)!
The magazine even had articles of the Bionic Woman...Jaime Sommers!
Bionic Woman Comics
Charlton kept up with the Bionic universe by adding a
Bionic Woman comic, starring Jaime Sommers! It lasted 5 issues from October 1977 to June 1978, with art in all issues by
Jack Sparling...but no writing credits to be found!
Mostly ordinary adventures here...but never with Steve and Jaime teaming up (which they did on the shows, mostly to face the Fembots and the aliens behind Bigfoot).
Return of the Bionic Man (and Woman) to Comics
Steve Austin returned to comics as the
Bionic Man for Dynamite Comics in August, 2011, with comics based on the original series written by
Kevin Smith &
Phil Hester, with art by
Jonathan Lau (one cover by
Alex Ross based on the magazine's first cover), based on an idea for a
Six Million Dollar Man movie by
Kevin Smith.
This series included Steve, Jaime, Oscar, Dr. Rudy Wells..even Bigfoot!
It also spun off a
Bionic Woman comic, lasting ten issues from April 2012 to July 2013, and a mini-series,
The Bionic Man vs. The Bionic Woman, of five issues from January to May, 2013.
These weren't quite the classic
Lee Majors'
Six Million Dollar Man....but at least it gave the fans what they were looking for, more adventures of the whole bionic family!
And then...
Six Million Dollar Man Season Six
Dynamite picks up where the TV series ended, and starts Season 6...with the
Six Million Dollar Man Season 6 comic! Issue #1 is written by
Jim Kuhoic and art by
Juan Antonio Ramirez, with covers by
Alex Ross and
Ken Haeser!
This story also introduces the Kenner toy-line character of Maskatron to the TV version of Col. Steve Austin...as well as an alien menace!
Just in time for the 40th anniversary of the
Six Million Dollar Man, Steve Austin is back...Better, Stronger, Faster!
