The Bionic Man #12
Written by Phil Hester & Aaron Gillespie
Pencils by Ed Tadeo
Colors by Thiago Ribeiro
Letters by Simon Bowland
Covers by Alex Ross & Ed Tadeo
Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: August 22, 2012
Cover Price: $3.99

When reading The Bionic Man #12, pretty much two words came to mind. HOLY. SHIT. Now, I doubt if BOTH those words will make the final edit of this review, and to my editor, I apologize for them, but honestly, reading the whole issue, that is what I was thinking.

There are certain fights that you will always remember. The parking lot fight in They Live. The opening fight in Casino Royale. The News Team gang fight in Anchorman. Rocky vs. Drago in Rocky IV. The runway fight scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark, and now, Col. Steve Austin vs. Bigfoot. What we get from writers Phil Hester and Aaron Gillespie in this issue is basically a love letter/homage to those fights and from now on, The Bionic Man #12 will be known in years to come as “the one where he fights Bigfoot.” While I won’t go into spoilers, what starts off as another kind of story entirely turns into one of the best comic book fights that I HAVE EVER READ EVER. TWICE during the book I actually cringed, and that hasn’t happened since I was like 12.

Artist Ed Tadeo has gotten noticably better since last issue, a HECK of a lot better, in fact. I’d say in a few issues’ time, he’ll be great on this title, but he hasn’t gotten there quite yet. It’s weird. Dynamite will land a franchise, name it their bread and butter book, put terrific talant on it, then yank that artist off at the drop of a hat when they THINK they’ve got something better cooking. How about just getting good artists on ALL your books? That being said, I really DO like Ed Tadeo and see a great future for him on this book if he’s allowed to grow and to make this book his own.

You REALLY need to buy this book!!! Even if you have ZERO interest in The Bionic Man, THIS will be the book that reminds you how charming, exciting, and what a real life superhero he is. I decided that maybe I was too jaded and too much of a fan to write this review objectively, so I went to an outside source, my friend Wendi, who had this to say about this issue of The Bionic Man: “IT WAS AWESOME!” So, there you go. You don’t have to take MY word for it.