Bionic Man returns to comic books courtesy of Kevin Smith, Dynamite Entertainment

A SIX Million Dollar Man movie project pitched by cult hero Kevin Smith 13 years ago is finally seeing the light of day - as a comic book.

A SIX Million Dollar Man movie project pitched by cult hero Kevin Smith 13 years ago is finally seeing the light of day - as a comic book.

The new comic is based on the popular '70s TV series The Six Million Dollar Man, in which Lee Majors starred as Steve Austin, a test pilot critically injured in an accident whose legs, arm and eye were replaced with bionic parts, and who used his newfound superhuman abilities to serve fictitious US spy agency OSI.

Reflecting the modern financial times, the Six Million Dollar tag will be eschewed in favour of The Bionic Man. A Bionic Woman comic book, based on the TV spin-off starring Lindsay Wagner, will follow.

Smith is teaming up once again with Dynamite Entertainment, with which he collaborated on several Green Hornet comic series recently.

"True story: when I turned in a script for The Six Million Dollar Man back in '98, there was an exec who dismissed it as being more like a comic book than a movie," Smith said.

"It's an honour to head back into the trenches with the same creative team at Dynamite that made my Green Hornet script so readable and fun. It makes me moist."

Cover artist and fellow comics legend Alex Ross added: "I'm one of those kids who grew up with the Six Million Dollar Man toys all over my house.

"I still prize them as one of the favorite parts of my youth for the amazing variety of things that Steve Austin could use or fight against. The Six Million Dollar Man is one of the coolest original superhero properties invented for television."

Series artist Jonathan Lau said: "When I heard about The Bionic Man, my initial thought was how to make him stand out from the rest of the cyborg genre, and that's where my style comes into play.

"Hopefully this will be a fun ride showcasing a more extreme play of action than I used to do!"

The now-defunct Charlton comics group published Six Million Dollar Man comics and magazines in the late '70s. More recently The Bionic Woman was revived in a short-lived TV series starring Michelle Ryan.

Dynamite Entertainment publishes comic books based on other film and TV properties, including Battlestar Galactica, Terminator, The Lone Ranger, Highlander, Army of Darkness, Xena, Buck Rogers, Darkman, RoboCop, Stargate and Total Recall.