The Bionic Man Omnibus Volume 1

The Bionic Man #1-26

by Kevin Smith, Phil Hester, Aaron Gillespie

Three full graphic novels in one very large volume.
First, Steve Austin, the iconic action hero of The Six Million Dollar Man, returns! Groundbreaking filmmaker Kevin Smith (Clerks, Chasing Amy) rebuilds the world's first bionic man, making him better, stronger, and faster than ever before! Joined by Phil Hester and Jonathan Lau, his collaborators on the critically-acclaimed Green Hornet revival, Smith plunges Steve Austin into a dangerous world of espionage and high adventure. Reunited with Jaime Sommers (of The Bionic Woman fame), Austin must face a maniacal enemy built from deadly technology and dedicated to the collapse of entire nations!

Second, Steve Austin, the unstoppable hero of The Six Million Dollar Man, tracks a deadly conspiracy to foreign territory, where he discovers his strangest adversary yet -- the legendary Bigfoot! What is this unnatural creature of primal instincts and mechanical parts? What role does the Bionic Man play in the monster's origin? If one such Bigfoot exists, could others still roam the wilderness... or be manufactured on an assembly line? Also, Steve Austin has a tearful reunion with Jaime Sommers. How will he react when he discovers a terrible truth -- that he may have unwittingly been responsible for the tragic accident that transformed her into the Bionic Woman, and erased her memories?

Third, Steve Austin, the iconic hero of television's Six Million Dollar Man, faces new threats both foreign and domestic! When the brutal dictator of Libue threatens to use whatever means necessary to squash the rebels of his wartorn nation, the American government sends the Bionic Man to prevent the detonation of nuclear missiles on millions of innocents. Meanwhile, the Office of Scientific Intelligence is under siege by rogue agents. Will Austin's close friend and OSI handler Oscar Goldman survive an attack on his life... and a mechanized terror with a face all too familiar?

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics

616 pages, Paperback

Published March 20, 2018

About the author

Kevin Patrick Smith is an American screenwriter, director, as well as a comic book writer, author, and actor. He is also the co-founder, with Scott Mosier, of View Askew Productions and owner of Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash comic and novelty store in Red Bank, New Jersey. He also hosts a weekly podcast with Scott Mosier known as SModcast. He is also known for participating in long, humorous Q&A Sessions that are often filmed for DVD release, beginning with An Evening with Kevin Smith.

His films are often set in his home state of New Jersey, and while not strictly sequential, they do frequently feature crossover plot elements, character references, and a shared canon in what is known by fans as the "View Askewniverse", named after his production company View Askew Productions. He has produced numerous films and television projects, including Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and Clerks II.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Starts off really strong with the adaptation of Kevin Smith's movie script he wrote years ago. The complaint he got from the studio is that it feels too much like a comic book. So, done, now it's a comic. It contains all the snappy dialog Smith is known for while staying true to the core of The Six-Million Dollar Man.

The story continues after Kevin Smith's script ends. We revisit that classic matchup of Steve Austin versus Bigfoot. The weird alien origins have been replaced by the Russians. It's solid but nowhere near as good as the first 10 issues. The book gets really bland and generic from here with Steve taking down a dictator and then fighting Maskatron before the book ends.

For some reason, Dynamite did not include the Annual they put out in this omnibus edition.

[Lyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh

Fans of the 1974 TV show starring Lee Majors will understand that sound effect. Kevin Smith, only a year younger than yours truly, was most certainly a fan back in the day, sitting cross legged on the living room floor, watching The Six Million Dollar Man solve crimes, be heroic and otherwise be faster, stronger and better than he had been before the crash.

Fun fact – back in the 70s when we were little, if you asked ten kids what they wanted to be when we grew up, at least 5 would say astronaut, if not all ten. Nowadays, not sure what kids want to be. Also, Lee Majors was famously married to Farrah Fawcett. If you were a boy in the 70s, it was required that you had this poster in your room, I think the government issued us one.



Anyway, Kevin Smith, the way cool mastermind behind Clerks, Dogma and Chasing Amy, teams up with the way cool people at Dynamite comics to create this loving homage to the Bionic man. He adjusts for modern day but his references to the earlier story was fun.

This collects 26 single issues, so it’s a Bionic sized whopper. The first few from an unused script by Smith was very good, the next few about Bigfoot (also a tribute to the 70s show where Andre the Giant dressed up as Sasquatch) were OK and overall it was fun but the story waned severely towards the end.

I think 4-6 single issues collectively makes the optimum length for a graphic novel.

So, good fun, maybe the Omnibus was a little much, breaking it up may have made it more palatable.

[Gav451 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really fun read. It was not deep like some comics are and not as beautiful as others but was an excellent re-imagining of a 70s icon whom I remember the first time round. As an ongoing series the art varied between functional and stunning but never distracted you from the story being told.

Like the Mad Max remake it felt like a pulp story. This is not to diminish it but it was clearly meant to be high adventure rather than high concept. I liked the way there were scenes that mirrored the classic series.

While not a bad tale the re-imaging of the Sasquatch episode didn't quite sit right with me and I cannot quite put my finger on why. It felt out of sync with the rest of the book somehow. It wasn't bad, but felt ill at ease with the rest of the narrative..

The way the technology was utilised was updated for the modern age and it worked very well. The relationship with the Bionic woman was very well handled I thought and very interesting, if slightly maudlin.

I got this from humble bundle. It was a digital read and at over 600 pages was a good long and engaging read as well.

Id happily recommend this. It was much better than I expected it to be.

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting amalgam of nostalgia & updated pulp style action. Fun read but few surprises

[Nik Havert · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection is a lot of fun. It sets up the character of Steve Austin well and, once he becomes the Bionic Man, the book takes off at rapid pace. Some of the art looks a bit rushed, and some transitions between panels are weird. There's one story in which Austin disguises himself as a Middle Eastern tyrant that's confusing due to all the face-switching that I had to re-read to figure out who the characters were and which were in disguise. Overall, however, it's a fun read.

[Jeff Mayo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun read for kids of the 70's. The best parts are as good as the best episodes of the TV show, the worst parts are as bad as the worst episodes. It's updated. It is a more modern Steve Austin, as well as Jaime Sommers, Oscar Goldman, and Dr. Rudy Wells, plus the most iconic character, Bigfoot. It is silly, stupid, stuff, but it is nostalgically fun.

[Nicolas · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’ve never seen the show and I only checked in for my pal Kevin Smith. As much as I loved their Green Hornet collab, this was not for me.