THE BIONIC WOMAN:THE LOOK-IN STRIPS CHRONOLOGY
Moderator: AndyB
THE BIONIC WOMAN:THE LOOK-IN STRIPS CHRONOLOGY
All stories untitled,titles created for ease of reference.
STORY 1
"Midas Model"
Issues 33-40 (1976)
Script:Angus P Allan
Art:John M Burns
Undercover agent Jamie Sommers,the Bionic Woman,is sent to Hong Kong along with Danny Bannon,another of Oscar Goldmans' agents.
Their cover is of a fashion model and photographer;their mission is to stop a consignment of stolen gold bars from going across the frontier to China.
STORY 1
"Midas Model"
Issues 33-40 (1976)
Script:Angus P Allan
Art:John M Burns
Undercover agent Jamie Sommers,the Bionic Woman,is sent to Hong Kong along with Danny Bannon,another of Oscar Goldmans' agents.
Their cover is of a fashion model and photographer;their mission is to stop a consignment of stolen gold bars from going across the frontier to China.
Re: THE BIONIC WOMAN:THE LOOK-IN STRIPS CHRONOLOGY
STORY 2
"Indian Kidnap"
ISSUES 41-48 (1976)
Script:Angus P Allan
Art: John M Burns
Young Joe Eagle,an Indian boy at Jamies' school at Ventura airbase,is a performer with his Father in the upcoming nationally advertised stage show.He is kidnapped by Toby,Wint and Bradley who demand a million dollars in cash from Washington or they will kill him.
Of particular note in this run of issues is No.42,which came with the fantastic free gift of a Bionic Eye and had 11 of its pages dedicated to The Six Million Dollar Man/The Bionic Woman.
"Indian Kidnap"
ISSUES 41-48 (1976)
Script:Angus P Allan
Art: John M Burns
Young Joe Eagle,an Indian boy at Jamies' school at Ventura airbase,is a performer with his Father in the upcoming nationally advertised stage show.He is kidnapped by Toby,Wint and Bradley who demand a million dollars in cash from Washington or they will kill him.
Of particular note in this run of issues is No.42,which came with the fantastic free gift of a Bionic Eye and had 11 of its pages dedicated to The Six Million Dollar Man/The Bionic Woman.
Re: THE BIONIC WOMAN:THE LOOK-IN STRIPS CHRONOLOGY
STORY 3
"Nemesis"
Issues49-53 (1976)
Script:Angus P Allan
Artist:John M Burns
Enemy agents,codenamed Nemesis,have some information about Oscar Goldmans' organisation.
They try to draw Oscar out into the open by killing Jamie Sommers with an explosion on her private plane,killing her and the pilot.
However,the girl they murder is actually a mysterious person posing as Jamie Sommers.The real Jamie Sommers takes her place to lure Nemesis out into the open.
Interestingly,it is revealed at the end of the story that the girl that posed as Jamie,Melanie Jones,a political militant,is still a mystery.
Jamie says to Oscar that she must be involved in another outfit that has broken through their security.
I had all of these issues as a kid but collecting as an adult and reading as a 56 yr old rather than as an 8yr old,I am amazed at the beautiful story telling.So far I have re-read the first 3 Bionic Woman stories.The second one has moments but is elonagated and becomes uninteresting,the first story was excellent.This third story is truly special and my favourite of the series so far.
The art in all 3 stories remains consistently excellent but thats' what you would expect from John Burns.
"Nemesis"
Issues49-53 (1976)
Script:Angus P Allan
Artist:John M Burns
Enemy agents,codenamed Nemesis,have some information about Oscar Goldmans' organisation.
They try to draw Oscar out into the open by killing Jamie Sommers with an explosion on her private plane,killing her and the pilot.
However,the girl they murder is actually a mysterious person posing as Jamie Sommers.The real Jamie Sommers takes her place to lure Nemesis out into the open.
Interestingly,it is revealed at the end of the story that the girl that posed as Jamie,Melanie Jones,a political militant,is still a mystery.
Jamie says to Oscar that she must be involved in another outfit that has broken through their security.
I had all of these issues as a kid but collecting as an adult and reading as a 56 yr old rather than as an 8yr old,I am amazed at the beautiful story telling.So far I have re-read the first 3 Bionic Woman stories.The second one has moments but is elonagated and becomes uninteresting,the first story was excellent.This third story is truly special and my favourite of the series so far.
The art in all 3 stories remains consistently excellent but thats' what you would expect from John Burns.
Re: THE BIONIC WOMAN:THE LOOK-IN STRIPS CHRONOLOGY
STORY 4
"GUNSMOKE"
Issues 1-8 (1977)
Script:Angus P Allen
Artist:John M Burns
Tycoon Marvin Kane,in planning to give Gunsmoke,probably the worlds' greatest and most valuable racehorse,to oil Sheik Abdulah Bin Said,makes himself a national hero.
The gesture will cement important arab-american relations.
Jamie discovers that Kane is an enemy agent and that a microbomb has been surgically implanted in the horses' body.
"GUNSMOKE"
Issues 1-8 (1977)
Script:Angus P Allen
Artist:John M Burns
Tycoon Marvin Kane,in planning to give Gunsmoke,probably the worlds' greatest and most valuable racehorse,to oil Sheik Abdulah Bin Said,makes himself a national hero.
The gesture will cement important arab-american relations.
Jamie discovers that Kane is an enemy agent and that a microbomb has been surgically implanted in the horses' body.
Re: THE BIONIC WOMAN:THE LOOK-IN STRIPS CHRONOLOGY
STORY 5
"Circus Act"
ISSUES 9-16 (1977)
WRITER:ANGUS P ALLEN
ARTIST:JOHN M BURNS
The circus Toscano is touring Russia and someone in the circus is all set to assassinate the Soviet Premier during the Moscow performance.
One O.S.O. agent learned the truth and was killed before he could report back.
Jamie Sommers is placed into the circus as a "strong-woman",her mission being to foil the plot.
"Circus Act"
ISSUES 9-16 (1977)
WRITER:ANGUS P ALLEN
ARTIST:JOHN M BURNS
The circus Toscano is touring Russia and someone in the circus is all set to assassinate the Soviet Premier during the Moscow performance.
One O.S.O. agent learned the truth and was killed before he could report back.
Jamie Sommers is placed into the circus as a "strong-woman",her mission being to foil the plot.
Re: THE BIONIC WOMAN:THE LOOK-IN STRIPS CHRONOLOGY
STORY 6
"VIVA LAS VEGAS"
ISSUES 17-24 (1977)
SCRIPT:ANGUS P ALLAN
ART:JOHN M BURNS
His twin nieces held hostage by Kamor,a top enemy agent,Las Vegas casino owner Sonny Catania is forced to co-operate in a money smuggling deal.
Jamie Sommers befriends him,learns the truth and undertakes to help him.
"VIVA LAS VEGAS"
ISSUES 17-24 (1977)
SCRIPT:ANGUS P ALLAN
ART:JOHN M BURNS
His twin nieces held hostage by Kamor,a top enemy agent,Las Vegas casino owner Sonny Catania is forced to co-operate in a money smuggling deal.
Jamie Sommers befriends him,learns the truth and undertakes to help him.
Re: THE BIONIC WOMAN:THE LOOK-IN STRIPS CHRONOLOGY
STORY 7
"ROGUE AGENT"
ISSUES 25-31 (1977)
SCRIPT:ANGUS P ALLEN
ARTIST:JOHN M BURNS
In a continuation from the last story,Jamie Sommers has fallen in love with Sonny Catania and they go on holiday together.
Sonny is murdered by "The Nazi Black League" who are a European fanatical fascist organisation,dedicated to revenge for the overthrow of Adolf Hitlers' Third Reich in World War 2.It is led by a man called Der Adler (The Eagle).
Adler plans that the murder will be blamed on the Borsavians and start a war between the east and the west.
A grief stricken Jamie goes rogue,taking matters into her own hands and unfortunately playing right into Der Adlers'.
Oscar Goldman is frantic with worry but fails to manage to contact Jamie.
In a bizzare twist a partnership is formed between Jamie and Colonel Vassily Borisov who go together to France to hunt Der Adler down.
This story is utterly superb and my personal favourite in the series so far.
"ROGUE AGENT"
ISSUES 25-31 (1977)
SCRIPT:ANGUS P ALLEN
ARTIST:JOHN M BURNS
In a continuation from the last story,Jamie Sommers has fallen in love with Sonny Catania and they go on holiday together.
Sonny is murdered by "The Nazi Black League" who are a European fanatical fascist organisation,dedicated to revenge for the overthrow of Adolf Hitlers' Third Reich in World War 2.It is led by a man called Der Adler (The Eagle).
Adler plans that the murder will be blamed on the Borsavians and start a war between the east and the west.
A grief stricken Jamie goes rogue,taking matters into her own hands and unfortunately playing right into Der Adlers'.
Oscar Goldman is frantic with worry but fails to manage to contact Jamie.
In a bizzare twist a partnership is formed between Jamie and Colonel Vassily Borisov who go together to France to hunt Der Adler down.
This story is utterly superb and my personal favourite in the series so far.
Re: THE BIONIC WOMAN:THE LOOK-IN STRIPS CHRONOLOGY
STORY 8
"INVADERS FROM MARS"
ISSUES 32-39
SCRIPT:ANGUS P ALLAN
ART:JOHN M BURNS
An ingenious plot to make it appear that young Sally Macey has been kidnapped by invaders from outer space,involving green men in space suits and a flying saucer,is actually the work of spies Vincent Kleef and Jobo Mazetti.
They are working for a foreign power that wants a top secret project headed by Sally's father cancelled.
"INVADERS FROM MARS"
ISSUES 32-39
SCRIPT:ANGUS P ALLAN
ART:JOHN M BURNS
An ingenious plot to make it appear that young Sally Macey has been kidnapped by invaders from outer space,involving green men in space suits and a flying saucer,is actually the work of spies Vincent Kleef and Jobo Mazetti.
They are working for a foreign power that wants a top secret project headed by Sally's father cancelled.
Re: THE BIONIC WOMAN:THE LOOK-IN STRIPS CHRONOLOGY
STORY 9
"SKYJACK"
ISSUES 40-46 (1977)
SCRIPT:ANGUS P ALLAN
ART: JOHN M BURNS
Skyjacked by terrorists known as "The Blood Brothers", a plane crashes in the middle of nowhere.
Jamie Sommers, detailed to discover the intelligence of the organization is made a captive of two of the terrorists that survived and taken to meet with their mysterious boss, who turns out to be a familiar face from Jamie s ' past.
"SKYJACK"
ISSUES 40-46 (1977)
SCRIPT:ANGUS P ALLAN
ART: JOHN M BURNS
Skyjacked by terrorists known as "The Blood Brothers", a plane crashes in the middle of nowhere.
Jamie Sommers, detailed to discover the intelligence of the organization is made a captive of two of the terrorists that survived and taken to meet with their mysterious boss, who turns out to be a familiar face from Jamie s ' past.
Re: THE BIONIC WOMAN:THE LOOK-IN STRIPS CHRONOLOGY
STORY 10
"Beauty Contest"
ISSUES 47(1977)-2(1978)
STORY:ANGUS P ALLAN
ART:JOHN M BURNS
Entered as a contestant in the "Miss Liberty Belle" contest,Jamie Sommers is searching for a spy who is trying to smuggle state secrets out to cuba.
These appear to be hidden in the contest crown,the ruby tierra.
A very amusing story due to outdated language,concepts etc.
At one point Jamie calls Oscar "Big Boy".
I'm not making this up!!!
Can't stop laughing reading this strip.
Art is excellent,as always.
"Beauty Contest"
ISSUES 47(1977)-2(1978)
STORY:ANGUS P ALLAN
ART:JOHN M BURNS
Entered as a contestant in the "Miss Liberty Belle" contest,Jamie Sommers is searching for a spy who is trying to smuggle state secrets out to cuba.
These appear to be hidden in the contest crown,the ruby tierra.
A very amusing story due to outdated language,concepts etc.
At one point Jamie calls Oscar "Big Boy".
I'm not making this up!!!
Can't stop laughing reading this strip.
Art is excellent,as always.
Re: THE BIONIC WOMAN:THE LOOK-IN STRIPS CHRONOLOGY
STORY 11
"BOMBER"
Issues 3-4 (1978)
STORY:ANGUS P ALLAN
ART:JOHN M BURNS
A bomber crashes on Ventura airbase and plunges into a road access tunnel, collapsing it together with buildings above.
The army move in and the commanding General wants to pump the tunnel full of super cooled freezing liquid gas to prevent the bombs aboard the crashed plane from exploding and destroying and killing the city and it's populace.
Jamies' bionic ear detects the groans of a surviving crew member.
She is given 15 minutes to find and save him.
"BOMBER"
Issues 3-4 (1978)
STORY:ANGUS P ALLAN
ART:JOHN M BURNS
A bomber crashes on Ventura airbase and plunges into a road access tunnel, collapsing it together with buildings above.
The army move in and the commanding General wants to pump the tunnel full of super cooled freezing liquid gas to prevent the bombs aboard the crashed plane from exploding and destroying and killing the city and it's populace.
Jamies' bionic ear detects the groans of a surviving crew member.
She is given 15 minutes to find and save him.
Re: THE BIONIC WOMAN:THE LOOK-IN STRIPS CHRONOLOGY
STORY 12
"Satellite Spy"
SCRIPT:Angus P Allan
ARTIST:John M Burns
Issues 5-11 (1978)
The use of single orbit satellites,equipped with incredible cameras,overflying territory to take pictures and then brought back to base,is not without its' flaws.
A malfunction leads to a girl from Jamie Sommers' class finding a piece of equipment.
Ultimately Jamie and the girl are captured,stranded in a remote jungle and run into drug smugglers.
Yet another fantastically entertaining strip,drawn beautifully.
"Satellite Spy"
SCRIPT:Angus P Allan
ARTIST:John M Burns
Issues 5-11 (1978)
The use of single orbit satellites,equipped with incredible cameras,overflying territory to take pictures and then brought back to base,is not without its' flaws.
A malfunction leads to a girl from Jamie Sommers' class finding a piece of equipment.
Ultimately Jamie and the girl are captured,stranded in a remote jungle and run into drug smugglers.
Yet another fantastically entertaining strip,drawn beautifully.
Re: THE BIONIC WOMAN:THE LOOK-IN STRIPS CHRONOLOGY
STORY 13
"Black Dragon"
Issues 12 - 18 (1978)
STORY:ANGUS P ALLAN
ARTIST:JOHN BOLTON
The Black Dragons,a terrorist organisation,have American diplomat Joel Shaw as a prisoner on their island stronghold and threaten to kill him unless certain political prisoners are set free.
It's an impossible demand and so Jamie Sommers is parachuted ten miles off Dragon Island into the sea with orders to get Shaw to safety at all costs.
This strip marks a change of artist as Burns left to be replaced by John Bolton.
Now John M Burns is not an easy artist to replace and at the time the strip was actually the most popular in readers votes.
This could have been a massive blow for Look-in but Burns' replacement was chosen carefully.
Enter John Bolton,an artist unlike any other of that era.
Completely ahead of his time,Bolton painted wide cineamastic portraits that were unlike anything seen before in comics.
NB:I think it is interesting to note that from 1978 issue 9,Look-in became basically a sci-fi comic due to the success of Star Wars.
For the first time in Look-ins' history,all comic strips were science fiction other than "Doctor on the Go" and the one page "Benny Hill" strip.
So in issue 9 we have The Tomorrow People,The Six Million Dollar Man,The Bionic Woman,Star Cruiser and The Man From Atlantis.
From issue 15,The Tomorrow People are replaced by Logans' Run.
"Black Dragon"
Issues 12 - 18 (1978)
STORY:ANGUS P ALLAN
ARTIST:JOHN BOLTON
The Black Dragons,a terrorist organisation,have American diplomat Joel Shaw as a prisoner on their island stronghold and threaten to kill him unless certain political prisoners are set free.
It's an impossible demand and so Jamie Sommers is parachuted ten miles off Dragon Island into the sea with orders to get Shaw to safety at all costs.
This strip marks a change of artist as Burns left to be replaced by John Bolton.
Now John M Burns is not an easy artist to replace and at the time the strip was actually the most popular in readers votes.
This could have been a massive blow for Look-in but Burns' replacement was chosen carefully.
Enter John Bolton,an artist unlike any other of that era.
Completely ahead of his time,Bolton painted wide cineamastic portraits that were unlike anything seen before in comics.
NB:I think it is interesting to note that from 1978 issue 9,Look-in became basically a sci-fi comic due to the success of Star Wars.
For the first time in Look-ins' history,all comic strips were science fiction other than "Doctor on the Go" and the one page "Benny Hill" strip.
So in issue 9 we have The Tomorrow People,The Six Million Dollar Man,The Bionic Woman,Star Cruiser and The Man From Atlantis.
From issue 15,The Tomorrow People are replaced by Logans' Run.
Re: THE BIONIC WOMAN:THE LOOK-IN STRIPS CHRONOLOGY
STORY 14
"Pinball"
STORY:ANGUS P ALLAN
ARTIST:JOHN BOLTON
ISSUES 19 - 25 (1978)
When Jamie sees American Ambassador Conrad Duff inexplicably swerve on the ski slopes of Saint Croix and go crashing to his doom, she is puzzled. She doesn't realise that his death was a deliberate murder.
A man named Kersh has invented a terrible weapon of assassination, code named pinball ( projected image neutral band lasers).
The instrument fires an invisible micro - thin ray that acts on its victims to produce a perfect hallucination.
John Bolton's art is almost photographic.Just incredible.
"Pinball"
STORY:ANGUS P ALLAN
ARTIST:JOHN BOLTON
ISSUES 19 - 25 (1978)
When Jamie sees American Ambassador Conrad Duff inexplicably swerve on the ski slopes of Saint Croix and go crashing to his doom, she is puzzled. She doesn't realise that his death was a deliberate murder.
A man named Kersh has invented a terrible weapon of assassination, code named pinball ( projected image neutral band lasers).
The instrument fires an invisible micro - thin ray that acts on its victims to produce a perfect hallucination.
John Bolton's art is almost photographic.Just incredible.