Originally previewed here at borg in 2018 and marketed by Dynamite Comics as Miss Fury, Volume 3, the third recent Miss Fury reboot was delayed again to September 2019, finally to be sidelined to an Indiegogo campaign beginning yesterday. Fortunately Dynamite learned fast that Miss Fury fans will keep coming back for each new effort to resurrect writer/artist/creator Tarpé Mills’ first superheroine, as the campaign was funded in less than two hours. So Dynamite will be publishing its third solo Miss Fury project in early 2021, this time taking what was to be a three-issue limited series straight to the graphic novel trade edition with one hardcover option.
In the battle between kung-fu grip and the bionic eye, will life-like hair or better, stronger, and faster prevail?
We first previewed this crossover series here at borg back in February 2018. Now the adventure series is available in a trade/graphic novel edition. It’s a story that has been played out millions of times in the backyards of kids who grew up with both G.I. Joe and The Six Million Dollar Man. It’s G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero vs. The Six Million Dollar Man, last year’s crossover series from IDW Publishing and Dynamite. Is this merely a crossover or also a team-up? You’ll have to read it to find out, and you won’t want to miss it. The villain is COBRA, and that infamous G.I. Joe threat and organization of evil has hacked Steve Austin’s cyborg circuitry to become a tool against Team Joe.
So it’s Colonel Steve Austin, COBRA Commander, Storm Shadow, Baroness, Zartan, and Major Bludd against Hawk, Scarlett, Rock ‘n’ Roll, Snake Eyes, Lady Jaye, Roadblock, and Ace. But the good guys have more than one ace up their sleeve, as they introduce one of our favorite borgs, borg Hall of Famer, Mike Power, The Atomic Man. Finally–a face-off between The Six Million Dollar Man and The Atomic Man!
This is as much about toys as comic book characters. Pitting the famous 1960s-70s 12-inch tall Hasbro “fighting man” G.I. Joe team (or small-scale figures, or animated series, if you prefer) with Adventure Team member (and second cyborg hero) Mike Power against the first cyborg Steve Austin–who appeared on millions of TV sets and produced one of the best selling 12-inch action figures of all time. This was a fantasy played out in living rooms and sandboxes all over. Technically this story isn’t the G.I. Joe of the 1970s, but the reboot universe Joes from the 1980s–the animated series, the mini-figures, and beyond.
As recounted in the recent Netflix series The Toys That Made Us,G.I. Joe began as an action figure line in 1963 to fill an untapped niche for boys alongside Barbie for girls. The Six Million Dollar Man began in 1972 as the hero of Martin Caidin′s novel Cyborg(previously reviewed here at borg), and was adapted two years later into a four-season television series starring Lee Majors. Cyborg Mike Power, The Atomic Man, was Hasbro’s response to the popularity of the Bionic Man on TV.
For anyone not following G.I. Joes in the 1970s, here is the original comic page meet-up and origin story with Major Mike Power and G.I. Joe:
The original Mike Power had a cybernetic “atomic” right arm and left leg. The new iteration of the character has prosthetics on both legs.
As part of its San Diego Comic-Con announcements, Dynamite Entertainment released the cover art accompanying the return of the original superheroine in her next series coming this Fall. Dynamite is publishing its third solo Miss Fury series. Billy Tucci will be writing the story with artwork by Emma Kubert.
True to June Tarpe Mills’ original newspaper strip, the series is set during World War II, where Marla Drake aka Miss Fury takes on the Nazis. You don’t know Miss Fury? Check out this great anthology series we reviewed previously here at borg.com. Dynamite gave us our pick for best comic book series of 2013 with its first Miss Fury series, and she returned in another solo title, and again as part of the team-up in Masks 2.
Tucci confirmed that Mills’ original cast of characters will return. Taking readers “from the warring skies above New York City and into the heart of Hitler’s Third Reich,” the series will be delivered “in the spirit of an all-female Inglourious Basterds.
Tucci is scheduled to appear at San Diego Comic-Con this week as part of the Dynamite Entertainment “Diamond Previews Premiere Publisher Panel,” from 1:00 -2 p.m. on Friday, July 20, in Room 4 at the San Diego Convention Center.
It’s a story that has been played out millions of times in the 1970s, and now it’s finally coming to your local comic book store. It’s G.I. Joe vs. The Six Million Dollar Man, the latest crossover story from IDW Publishing and Dynamite. Initially teased as a team-up, it’s actually not–we now know the two franchises will play on opposite sides of the story. Pitting the famous 1960s-70s 12-inch tall Hasbro “fighting man” team against the hero of the television series that produced one of the best selling 12-inch action figures of all time–this was a fantasy played out in living rooms and sandboxes all over. Just add in an appearance by Hasbro’s Mike Power and Ideal’s J.J. Armes and you have a snapshot of a kids’ backyard from 1977.
Here’s the description from IDW and Dynamite about the forthcoming four-issue mini-series:
The greatest American heroes go face-to-face with the most dangerous living weapon… Steve Austin! Hacked by COBRA, the Six Million Dollar Man has the G.I. JOEs in his bionic targets as the fate of world peace hangs by a thread and Cobra Commander holds the world’s infrastructure in his venomous clutches!
Steve Austin, Bigfoot, Storm Shadow, and Snake Eyes!
So technically this isn’t the G.I. Joe of the 1970s, but the reboot universe Joes from the 1980s–the animated series, the mini-figures, and beyond. As recounted in the recent Netflix series The Toys That Made Us, G.I. Joe began as an action figure line in 1963 to fill an uptapped niche for boys alongside Barbie for girls. The Six Millon Dollar Man began in 1972 as the hero of Martin Caidin’s novel Cyborg (previously reviewed here at borg.com), and was adapted two years later into a four-season television series starring Lee Majors.
