THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN SEASON SIX #6

“Untitled”

Writer: Jim Kuhoric

Artist: David T. Cabrera

Steve Austin gets a new bionic arm to replace his damaged one. He is good as new which is just in time. Jaime comes back from the Kennedy Space Center with disturbing news. The aliens are infesting all the inhabitants and are building an antenna to contact the hive. Steve and Jaime go down and need to isolate the queen in water. They manage to lure her into a water tank which immobilizes her. The other infected return to normal and the crisis is over. Yet there is still Maskatron who is looking to find Bigfoot and use the alien technology on itself. The Soviets have set down another Venus Death Probe with a man now linked to it. Its mission is to kill Steve Austin. Also, Barney Hiller is being turned into a cyborg and looks like the Secretary of Defense is a robot.

The final issue came to a satisfactory conclusion. Steve and Jaime stop the alien threat and continue their romance. It ends with several new storylines which suggested that another series was planned. To my knowledge this never happened. Which is a shame because the writer really knew the TV series. The characters and events just felt like I was watching a season six. A great series for any fan.

THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN SEASON SIX #5

“Untitled”

Writer: Jim Kuhoric

Artist: Juan Antonio Ramirez

Steve battles Maskatron and is losing. His arm is damaged, and it looks like Maskatron will kill Steve. The robotics head activates all the Maskatron units, and these drive off the renegade Maskatron out but not before he steals a box of face masks. Barney Hiller in the hospital gets a visit from a mysterous man who offers him a new robotic arm. The guy who drove the Yaga suit in Russia is undergoing a surgery that will integrate him into a new weapon system. Jaime Sommers goes down to the Kennedy Space Center to battle the aliens taking over. The robotics director gives Oscar the stolen arms of Barney so they can be used to fix Steve.

This issue has lots of stuff going on. The main plot is Maskatron and his continuing rogue rampage. He seriously damages Steve. Jamie has to battle the aliens who are building a transmitter. The Russians are up to something. Barney gets a visit from a mysterious guy. Lots of plot threads heading toward a big conclusion in the final issue.

THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN SEASON SIX #4

“Untitled”

Writer: Jim Kuhoric

Artist: Juan Antonio Ramirez

Maskatron is being worked on and the robot’s program comes to a conclusion. There is a high probability that it will be decommissioned. So, its self-preservation program sets in. Steve comes back from his mission to Russia really pissed that a traitor ratted him out. Fortunately, the presence of Jaime calms him down. While this goes on, the alien substance is taking over the Kennedy Space center. Jaime and Steve have to battle Maskatron and the robot is winning.

This was another exciting issue. Steve comes back and finds that Maskatron is going rogue. I just found an ad in an old comic for a Maskatron toy that sold with the Six Million Dollar Man. So that is where they got the idea. Maskatron also accessed OSI files and finds out that the alien Sasquatch is transforming from bionic into a living creature. Maskatron seems to think this may be his path to survival. The writer clearly knows his TV show. Ends with Jaime knocked out and Maskatron using his hand saw to chop off Steve’s face.

THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN SEASON SIX #3

“Untitled”

Writer: Jim Kuhoric

Artist: Juan Antonio Ramirez

Maskatron has come back to OSI HQ. He tears his way through the guards and finds the head of the robotics department. Steve is captive in Russia and has to fight the armor suit B-Yaga. Fortunately, he destroys the armor suit and escapes the factory. Jaime Sommers is involved in rescuing a senator from a hijacked airliner. The alien lifeform starts to take over the NASA lab. Meanwhile the woman infected is now morphed into some alien creature. Oscar visits Barney who had his bionic arms torn off and taken away by Maskatron.

There are several interesting plots going on in this series. Steve has to fight an armor suit in Russia. They introduce Jaime. The OSI robot is going rogue. It also stole Barney’s bionic arms. Top of this the alien goo is taking over people and turning into dangerous creatures. This is a fun series, and I am enjoying it. Very excited to find out what happens next.

THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN SEASON SIX #2

“Untitled”

Writer: Jim Kuhoric

Artist: Juan Antonio Ramirez

The scientists studying the Venus probe find a strange metallic microbe. This microbe is growing and also infects the leading scientist. Meanwhile Steve gets his arm fixed and finds out that funding for the bionics division is being cut. He still gets a mission to the Soviet Union to steal plans to a new armor suit called Yaga. Maskatron the new robot is sent to eliminate Barney Hiller who was the Seven Million Dollar man. Maskatron comes on him in the garage being threatened by two thugs. A fight ensues with Maskatron being damaged. Steve makes it to the secret factory in Siberia but gets captured. A traitor in OSI has tipped the Soviets off.

Wow this is really getting interesting. A space microbe that can infect people. A robot that gets damaged and goes out of control. Steve getting captured in Russia because of a traitor. They set up the tension with the bionics program being cancelled. Nice to see a callback from a character from the original series. Ends on several cliffhangers and really gives you a feel for the TV series with some stuff that couldn’t be done in real life due to budget constraints.

THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN SEASON SIX #1

“It Came From Deep Space”

Writer: James Kuhoric

Artist: Juanan Ramirez

A probe sent by NASA to explore Venus gets hit with a mysterious radioactive anomaly. The probe goes down off the coast of Florida. Oscar Goldmans sends Steve Austin and Rudy Wells to lead the recovery effort. Everything goes fine until a diver gets injured. Luckily Steve jumps in and uses his bionics to get the probe and save the divers from great white sharks. Meanwhile the OSI has decided to scrape funding for the bionics program. They plan to instead go with robot agents. The prototype is given the face of Steve and called Number One.

This is a hypothetical season six for the classic TV show. Like the Bionic Woman they did, I find it so far to be very compelling. It goes back to the Deathprobe the Soviets used to set up the main plot. A subplot also deals with the threat to the bionics program as someone develops a new robot. It has the feel of the TV series and we get stuff like a battle with sharks which could never for budgetary reasons ever have appeared. A fun little blast from the past of my childhood.

THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN #5

“Part 5: The $6 Man”
Writer: Christopher Hastings
Artist: David Hahn

Steve Austin wakes up to find himself in some helicopter hangar at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii. One of Steve’s friends and Niko managed to find him after he jumped out of the Soviet airplane. Steve is basically a torso now and his friend Rick calls the Vice President to warn him about Amari’s plan to assassinate him. Only the VP thinks its a crank call. So Rick welds some temporary arm and legs on Steve. Then Steve and Niko go to the campaign rally of VP Paterson. They find that Amari is now a giant mutant type creature and Steve goes at him. Amari defeats Steve but is delayed long enough for reinforcements to come. Amari then dies from his severe mutation and the VP is safe. Later Niko is put in charge of Amari’s former island as Steve is back to new and battling Soviet agents in Tanzania.

The final issue was a strange one. Amari somehow turned into some gross mutant creature. Most of this story was a comedy and the last issue definitely turned up the humor. On the whole I liked this series. Steve Austin was a bit over the top with the comedy and cockiness. Still the series had the feel of the TV show. The characters and settings were vintage seventies. A good series if not great.

THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN #4

“Part 4: The $68,004 Man”
Writer: Christopher Hastings
Artist: David Hahn

Steve has been knocked to the bottom of the ocean. His legs aren’t working well and it looks grim. On the boat Niko attacks her cousin and kills him. Then she lifts the anchor which passes by Steve and he grabs on to it. He manages to climb aboard and with Niko head off to the mainland. At the airport Steve calls ANSA and gets a recording. While at the airport they notice the Soviet jetliner and run over there and attack the Russians.

They find out the Soviets have abandoned Amari and are actually going to Hawaii to stop his assassination attempt. They invite Steve and Niko alone which they agree to. They catch up to Amari’s plane but Amari cleverly calls for help that a Soviet plane is threatening him. So the Soviets decide to leave and offer to allow the two to parachute out. Niko gets a chute but Steve jumps out without one and tries to land on Amari’s plane. He misses and crashes into the jungle.

So Steve gets saved and Niko has to kill her cousin. This is a poignant scene in what is for the most part a parody. So then they hook up with the Soviets and have some humorous banter. I still don’t get why the Russians are now anxious to help after being willing to provide a nuclear warhead to bomb Hawaii. We find out also that Amari’s main goal of nuking Hawaii is to get the Vice-President. For during the war as a general he was instrumental in choosing Hiroshima. A fun quick moving story.

THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN #3

“Part 3: The $1,475,964 Man”
Writer: Christopher Hastings
Artist: David Hahn

The Soviet helicopter fires a missile at Steve Austin. He does manage to evade it and just than a lightning strike hits him. It powers him up but caused some damage to his bionics. His legs just propel him into the chopper and he damages it. This panics the pilots who decide to leave. It fact they decide to abandon Mr. Amari’s plan so the evil industrialist has to come up with another to get revenge against the U.S. Steve and Niko go to the village to look for a phone and Niko takes them to her family’s home. Steve inadvertently tears open the wall with his malfunctioning bionics. Niko’s cousins agree to get them off the island on the family fishing boat. Only the cousins are in the employ of Mr. Amari and Steve’s bionics fail by having his bionic arm punch himself in the face. He falls overboard and sinks.

So this issue we get quite clearly that Steve’s bionics are going on the fritz. Still he manages to drive away the Soviet gunship. We also find out Niko comes from the island and has a personal grudge against Mr. Amari. Her cousins are in his employ and ends on a cliffhanger. An amusing story but the character just doesn’t feel like the TV show.

THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN #2

“Part 2: The $4,178,512 Man”
Writer: Christopher Hastings
Artist: David Hahn

Steve Austin has just had his leg cut off. Now him and Niko have to escape by going through the missile silo. The guards manage to puncture a fuel tank with their gunshots. Soon the missile will explodes. Niko leads the two to an underground mine that leads out. Steve sets off the fuel and incinerates the guards as the explosion blows up the missile. The two than make it to an abandoned monastery and Steve manages to repair his leg. But the battery is low so he climbs up on the roof to power it up with a lightning strike. Only the Soviet helicopter finds him on the roof.

So we learn that the Japanese industrialist was planning to nuke Hawaii in revenge for Hiroshima. Steve and Niko do manage to inadvertently blow up the missile and thus foiling the plan. Niko is upset that the mission has gone south. An interesting idea to have Steve’s bionics failing him and thus turning his bionic powers into a liability and asset at the same time. An enjoyable series so far.