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.
Here is a preview of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero vs. The Six Million Dollar Man:
collects the first ten issues of The Bionic Man. These ten issues were billed as “Kevin Smith’s” Bionic Man as the origin story was adapted into an unused screenplay by Smith, then writer Phil Hester re-wrote it, blocking it into chapter/issues, then Smith ran a dialogue pass and Jonathan Lau made it all look good with the visuals. After Issue #10, the real excitement begins as Hester takes Steve Austin into new, and sometimes nostalgic, directions. The ongoing series is currently at Issue #12, and we will discuss Hester’s Bionic Man here at borg.com soon.
