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.
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.
