THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN: SEASON SIX #4

THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN: SEASON SIX #4

(originally posted on Tumblr on 5 July 2014.)

Writer: James Kuhoric
Art: Juan Antonio Ramirez
Colors: Fran Gamboa
Letters: Joshua Cozine
Publication Date: July 2014
Published by Dynamite Entertainment

The story so far….

The Bionics project has been shut down by Oliver Spencer, who has convinced The Powers That Be to instead support his robotic agent - Maskatron.

Unfortunately, Maskatron has suffered some damage and its onboard programming is over-riding Spencer’s attempts to control it.

Barney Hiller has only barely survived his attack by Maskatron and is in the hospital, sans bionic arms and legs.

Dr. Joan Anderson has been taken over and mutated by the strange alien entity brought back to Earth by the US government’s Venus probe.

Jaime has found out about the closure of the Bionics project.

And Steve, after having been set up to get caught during a mission to the Soviet Union, has defeated the Russian robot-tank and made it back to the US.

Let the random musings commence….

As this issue begins, Spencer is drowning his troubles in drink, upset that things haven’t worked out the way he’d imagined.

Maskatron has been subdued after wiping out a SWAT team and Spencer’s scientists are running diagnostics to determine the origin of the control problem.

What they don’t know is that Maskatron’s internal systems have rebooted and it’s running its own diagnostic of the situation. It decides that its future isn’t looking too rosy and so initiates its own self-preservation protocol.

It scans the OSI’s top secret files (clearance level six and above) and discovers the records concerning the alien ‘Bionic Bigfoot.’ When last encountered (season five - episode five in the fittingly-titled “Bigfoot V”), the Sasquatch was in the process of being transformed from nyosynthetic construction to a purely biological entity. This seems to interest Maskatron.

Steve, meanwhile, is back from Russia and in a bad mood, having obviously been compromised by someone inside the OSI. He blows past Callahan and busts Oscar’s door open only to be surprised by the presence of Jaime Sommers. It’s a pleasant, if quick, reunion for the pair who haven’t seen each other for a year (due to their respective shows being on separate networks in their final seasons).

Oscar already knows there’s a security leak at OSI, but he has something else to talk to Steve about, so they send Jaime down to see Rudy. While she’s there, with Rudy and his assistant Lynda working on packing up the lab, they get an emergency call from NASA. Kennedy Space Center is being overran by mutated alien beings who are transforming the personnel there into more of the creatures.

Oscar takes Steve to the hospital, where he has an emotional scene with Barney. Barney reveals to Steve that when Maskatron attacked, it was wearing a likeness of Steve’s face.

Already mad about the botched Russian mission, this upsets Steve even more. And he’s about to get even more torqued off.

As Steve and Oscar get back to OSI, Maskatron has broken free and is killing its way thru the building to get out. Steve saves Spencer’s life and as Maskatron sees Austin, it recognizes the face it used to have and decides to take it back.

Jaime jumps into the fray but gets knocked aside by the rampaging robot.

And that’s when Steve gets well and truly pissed off. Finally, the moment we’ve been waiting for - Steve and Maskatron in a knock-down, drag-out fight.

The issue ends with Steve and Maskatron locked in a clinch, Maskatron’s saw blade slicing into Steve’s bionic arm.

Another good issue, with things finally coming to a head.

Steve spends most of the episode with a mad-on, for a variety of very good reasons. First betrayal, then seeing his friend who’s been mutilated by Maskatron - a friend who both tells Steve that the thing that did that to him wore Steve’s face and begs Steve to kill him, and then Jaime getting hurt during the fight. I don’t think he’s ever been that angry. It’s good to see him let loose like that.

Maskatron’s study of the OSI files gives us glimpses of Steve fighting the Russian Venus Probe, teen psychic Audrey Moss, and Dr. Franklin’s weather control device. Cameos in this issue include the aforementioned Jaime and Callahan, along with what appears to be National Security Bureau Chief Inspector Jack Hanson (who led the search for Oscar when the OSI chief was kidnapped by Dr. Franklin and replaced by a robot) and, most importantly - the belt buckle! (if you’re a fan, you know)

Hanson is unnamed but it pretty much has to be him from the look, with the dark hair and mustache, and that kind-of leads me to one thing I’m still a bit annoyed about. The artist can convincingly reference a guy who was in one storyline (the three-part “Kill Oscar” crossover episodes) but still can’t give us a better representation of Oscar’s office or his favorite secretary. Sure, I’m picking nits, but I think in the musings on the first issue I pointed out how much of a fan I am. Nits will continue to be picked with this one.

But, that’s kind-of a good thing, because other than the artistic nits (the character consistently drawn to look the least like his on-screen counterpart - Steve Austin, of course) there’s really not much I don’t like about this series. Adjusting for the differences in medium and the time of production, Kuhoric has done a nice job of continuing the bionic legacy and I hope the title has a nice, long run if it stays this good.

Here’s hoping Brandon Jerwa is up to the task when his take on THE BIONIC WOMAN: SEASON FOUR premieres in September.

Bonus useless Bionic Trivia - in the series, Sasquatch was first portrayed by wrestler/actor Andre the Giant. The rest of his appearances featured former ‘Lurch’ of THE ADDAMS FAMILY fame, Ted Cassidy. In the CHARLIE’S ANGELS ‘behind the scenes’ TV movie, a bit of the Steve/Bigfoot fight was recreated. The man in the fur suit for that one? Former ‘Lurch’ of THE NEW ADDAMS FAMILY, John DeSantis.