- You may be looking for one of the other comic publications listed at The Six Million Dollar Man (comics) or The Bionic Woman (comics).
Bionix was a proposed American comic book title that would have seen the return of the characters of Jaime Sommers and Steve Austin. It was solicited to trade publications for delivery in 1996. The book would have been produced by Maximum Press, Rob Liefeld's TV-licensing imprint of Image Comics.
The comic ultimately never made it to press, however — most probably a victim of Liefeld's acrimonious 1996 split with Image. However the publication made it far enough to be advertised in comic book trade publications, and was also solicited by comic book distributors.
However, so little is now remembered of the work that comics expert and artist, Bob Rozakis once came up blank when asked a question about the series in his "It's BobRo The Answer Man!" column for the Silver Bullet Comic Books site:
- Comic fan, Victor Lambert: What exactly happened to the proposed Bionix miniseries Rob Liefeld was planning to do back in 1996? Was there ever a Bionix mini or was it "vaporware"? My theory is that Universal didn't like his version of Battlestar Galactica so they withdrew the license for Bionix.
- What's the real story???
- Bob Rozakis: I’m not sure I ever heard the “fake” story.[1]
In print[]
One of the two covers to the flip-book comic, Asylum #6
While Bionix never made it to press in its own right, a four-page preview of the series was published in Asylum #6. This preview indicated that Steve, Jaime and Oscar would have been included in the series. However, the storyline of the preview cast some doubt as to what kind of role Oscar would have; Rudy Wells is also mentioned in passing with no indication of the role he might have played. The preview was not so much a story as a vignette, in which Oscar flipped through his memories of the duo as he retired from the OSI.
It completely ignored the events of the trilogy of reunion films then-recently concluded by Bionic Ever After? by suggesting that Oscar was on the verge of seeing Jaime and Steve for the first time since they disappeared 15 years ago.
In a sense, it defied the television series as well, by suggesting Oscar's retirement was in part a consequence of the Bionic program being transferred away from the OSI and the Department of State to the Department of Defense.
Based on the preview, at least the first storyline of the series would have also involved Bigfoot. The piece was written by Liefeld and Robert Napton, with art by Brian Denham and Norm Rapmund.[2]
Based upon the preview pages, it would appear the reimagined comic book versions of the characters would have little resembled their television forebears. Although Austin's face superficially resembles that of Lee Majors, his body is drawn much more muscular and superhero-like. Sommers is presented in the teaser in a somewhat more sexualized manner than that associated with Lindsay Wagner's take on the character, complete with thigh-high boots and miniskirt. Oscar, meanwhile, is depicted as an elderly man with moustache and glasses, bearing little resemblence to Richard Anderson.
The preview also casts no light on why the spelling "bionix" is used rather than the long-established "bionics".
Other completed artwork[]
In addition to this known artwork, there is the possibility that additional work was completed on the regular series. Artist Brian Denham lists his work on Bionix as a significant credit during his time at Image in 1994-95, which may suggest that he did more for the project than just these four pages.[3] This more firmly situates the start of the project well before the breakup of Maximum from Image in 1996, further indicating that the book may have been a casualty of that divorce.