Dial H

Yesterday I read Dial H #1, and I loved it; I encourage you to read it, too.

Author Chia Mieville (although he is an accomplished sci fi/fantasy writer and a ridiculous hunky man-babe) has said in the press that he's been very nervous about Dial H.

Small wonder.  Even with Mievelle's resume (and biceps), the prospect of revamping DC's "Dial H" property is a daunting one.  As many of you will already know, Dial H was a kid-friendly concept introduced in DC's Silver Age (specifically in House of Mystery #156, 1966).  As the accompanying cover suggests, it wasn't exactly grim and gritty.  

The "H Dial" was a rotary dial (much like a telephone dial) of unknown origins, found in a cave by a boy, Robby Reed of Littleville, Colorado.  Every time Robby dialed "H-E-R-O" on the H dial, he would become a different superhero temporarily. After transforming, he would conveniently know exactly what his name and powers were.  

One of the hooks of the stories was that readers could write in and suggest one-shot superheroes for the H dial.  This sort of interactivity was pioneered in the Silver Age; other examples included Legion elections and the dress designs of Katy Keene.  It was all done by postal mail (which, for you younger readers, was kind of like the internet only slower...and on paper).

Anyway, the kid was a dork ("Sockamagee!"), the heroes were goofy (King Kandy!), and the setting inconsequential (Littleville, Colorado!).  It ran for only two years (though the concept has been revisited a few times by DC).

Silly or not, it was strong enough to knock the Martian Manhunter off the cover of House of Mystery (already a place of exile for him since his expulsion from Detective).  Poor J'onn, who never met a superpower he didn't want--he must have been greener with envy as the kid's ability to acquire new powers every day.

Stupid or not, the H Dial was all about the CONCEPT, which was as pure a childhood wish-fulfillment as you can get: "Here, kid; is a magic object; use it to become an experienced superhero whenever you want."  The "experienced" part --the fact that Robby knew his codename and powers and how to use them with each transformation-- is not a minor one.  Like Captain Marvel, the H Dial identities came not just with power but with the knowledge and wisdom to use that power; every kid's fantasy of what being an adult is like. 

Mieville's done an amazing job of recontextualizing the concept and WITHOUT really altering it at all.

The setting is, again, Littleville, but the town represents things that have "seen better days".  Like the protagonist (Nelson Jent); like the H Dial itself (a relic of a different era). 

I was ... relieved? Amazed?  Impressed?... when I saw the first two "heroes" produced by the H Dial, who are pretty much exactly as ridiculous as the original ones.... BUT TERRIFYING IN THEIR POWER.  In tone, then, this new comic has less in common with the original than it does, say, Peter Milligan's Enigma or even Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol.

I don't want to spoil the comic any more than that, and although I haven't read anyone else review the comic, I have a feeling a lot of people are going to be telling you to read it.  Please do, and let me know what you think.

Meanwhile, one last diversion: my theory about what the H Dial is.

Now, one of the glories of the H Dial is that it is sort of the technological equivalent of the Phantom Stranger. It has no background.  It has no context or explanation.  There is no sensible reason it could, should, or would do what it does in the way that it does. It is arbirtary, capricious, unjustified; and is totally, clearly, and purely an instrument for advancing the story. 

Cool.  I will now try to explain it ANYWAY with no evidence and nothing but RAW DEDUCTIVE POWER.  It'll be just like a pre-Socractic philosopher trying to explain cosmology and physics without ever having to do any, you know. science.

I propose that the H Dial is Fifth Dimensional (you know; like Mr Mxyzptlk) in origin; this is the only 'in-universe' way it could do what it does.  This is consistent with the fact that although "magical" and unpredictable in its fantastical power, it is still rule-based (e.g., you must dial HERO; you do not become the same thing twice; you automatically received a name with your transformation) and time-limited (the change is not permanent).  

I posit that the H Dial is, in fact, a conceptual lint trap / gumball machine.  From an outside perspective (like ours, or the view from the Fifth Dimension), the DCU is a world powered by concepts for (super)heroes.  There are lots of such concepts; not all of them would work well in the long-run or jibe well with the existing DCU.  The DCU naturally "ejects" those concepts away from itself; the direction of that "away" is into the Fifth Dimension.  Rather than have half-baked conceptual garbage from the DCU littering up the Fifth Dimension, the H Dial serves as a lint trap, that collects and stores them all.  

When you activate the H Dial (which like Mxyzpltk operates by "word-magic") by dialing HERO, it basically spits one of those concepts out to you like gumball machine.  You automatically 'consume' the concept by carrying it out and using its powers.  But the concept, having been fully expressed once, has served its purpose and vanishes.  Now that it has existed at least once in the past, it no longer needs to exist again, and the gumball is empty of it, never to appear again.

This is also consistent with the fact that the H Dial identities are invariable, um.... well, odd if not downright goofy.  

Anyway, that's MY theory, 'cuz I've never heard a better one.