Bionic Man vs Bionic Woman #5


So, here it is, Bionic Man vs Bionic Woman #5. With plenty of action and bionic people, this issue certainly has a fair amount to offer, but is it a satisfying conclusion?

The official description from Dynamite:

Fighting side by side, Steve Austin and Jamie Sommers race to stop the unstable Trench from detonating in the heart of OSI headquarters. Can they work together long enough to save the day

Once again, this really isn’t Bionic Man vs Bionic Woman. That fight barely lasted a couple of pages. Once again we’re treated to an excuse to get the two characters working side by side. Whilst there is at least some development and interesting interactions between the two here, its sometimes ruined slightly by the basic plot and generic thrusting of plot-pieces into position.

A lot of this may be down to the writing. I’ve never been a fan of the ‘smarmy people talking normally whilst fighting’ but this is certainly the angle Keith Champagne is going for. Whilst there is action, and a conclusion ( as well as an arguably unneeded cliffhanger) it just doesn’t feel as if its the best it could be. Austin is still the manly man, and Jaimie takes a back seat to his ego for the most part.

As for the actual look and feel of the issue, this is the same standard we’ve seen throughout the mini-series cross over. Once again, I could whine for ages about how Steve Austin doesn’t look like Steven Austin, but at this point I can just assume nobody actually knows what he’s meant to look like. If only someone in the office had a copy of Bionic Man at hand, huh? For everything else, its hard to fault Jose Luis’s pencils or the colors of Inlight Studio

All in all, its not a bad issue. Maybe its just me, but I really wanted to see the two titular characters battle it out when the series first came out. Although that proved to be too much too expect, this issue at least makes for a some-what enjoyable conclusion.

3.5/5

S#!T Talking Central