meilufay’s #CBR4 review #86 Dial H (issues 1-6) by China Miéville
Right now DC Comics is revamping their entire line of comic book series as the New 52. Of course, when they tapped China Miéville this project, he took on a series I’d never even heard of: Dial H for Hero. In Dial H, Nelson, an ordinary, over-weight man, sees a friend being beaten by thugs in an alley and uses an old phone booth to call for help. After dialing h, Nelson is turned into Boy Chimney and uses his superhero powers to defeat the thugs and get his friend to hospital. Once he has returned to himself, Nelson is fascinated by the mystery of the dial and returns many times to use the old phone booth, each time being transformed into a random superhero for a short period of time. Much of the fun of this series is just how very random each superhero is. Miéville obviously had a lot of fun creating them. Along the way, Miéville uses the random transformations to comment on superheroes. An entire issue is devoted to just how racist and sexist superhero costumes can be, and Nelson begins to have problems keeping track of himself amid the superhero personalities he momentarily possesses.
The first six issues of Dial H (available in trade paperback form as Dial H, Vol. 1: Into You) are a delightful, hilarious, entertaining and thought-provoking romp. I can’t wait to read more in the series.
Cannonball Read IV 