One of the most famous and iconic female super heroes ever returns to the glossy pages of comics with Dynamite’s ‘Bionic Woman’ #1.  And this time, Jamie Summers’ budget is a lot more than $6 Million!  This issue picks up as two people, an African American woman and a slightly older Caucasian man are racing across a rooftop in Paris, being pursued by armed attackers.  As they flee and fend off their assailants, the woman tells the man, “S0… the Bionic Woman.  Tell me what she can do.”  The rest of the issue has the pair filling each other in on the minutia of this new cybernetic champion.  “Her mind is her most dangerous weapon,” the man says, “No enhancements needed, there.  She’s just goddamn smart.”  Her cybernetic transformation occurred after a parachuting accident, with boyfriend Steve Austin, now referred to as the Bionic Man (since $6 Million Dollars could barely finance one of his new eyes) asking the Office of Scientific Intelligence to rebuild her as they had him.  She isn’t as powerful as he is, but she is still super humanly strong, quick, and has enhanced senses.  This new version is also linked to the entire Internet and can alter her appearance with camouflage capabilities.  Her cyber limbs are already programmed in with Parkour and martial arts.

There is a mystery introduced, that all former subjects of the OSI’s bionic experiments have been turning up dead, their cyber parts removed, sometimes with surgical precision and at other times, being brutally torn from their bodies.

Once the man and woman have eluded their pursuers, they take a break.  The man used to work for the OSI and now makes a living selling their information to outside parties.  He asks the woman why she knows about Jamie Summers and her answers are much too personal, “She loves cheesy action movies… She likes sitting in the park.  It’s almost like the movies for her.  Her ears can overhear almost any of the conversations… She likes to cook… scuba dive… has considered online dating.”  He has figured out that she is Jamie Summers, using her previously mentioned disguise capabilities.  Earlier she’d feigned that she couldn’t make a long jump.  “Damn, that was a good play.  I’d been suspecting you right up until that moment.”  He has a gun trained on her, but she’s got something even better.  A small robotic fly slips out of a compartment on her wrist.  It stings the guy and he collapses.

Jamie, her disguise dropped, goes to a gun shop run by her pal Nora.  Nora gushes that she has two new boyfriends.  Jamie goes home and does some research, but someone is spying on her from across the street.  The next morning, Nora and Jamie meet for breakfast and Nora wants to give Jamie’s number out to some men.  Their breakfast is suddenly interrupted!

This was a solid book!  The art by Leno Carvalho is nice and the action is rendered in a very fluid manner.  But his faces aren’t necessarily my favorite.  They’re a tad unattractive.  But overall, it’s decent with a Butch Guice style.  With it necessary to present so much information, it was still given in a fun, fast-paced manner.  It could have been “list-y” but wasn’t.  This was a fun book, overall and I’ll definitely check out the next few issues!

Verdict: Buy

THE BIONIC WOMAN #1
Written by Paul Tobin
Art by Leno Carvalho
Cover by Paul Renaud