Ever since I joined this website there has been one thing that has been constant with my views on comics. You gotta have great imagination as a creator in order to create an amazing piece of fiction. You see that in a lot of comics that have stood the test of time: Chew, Grant Morrison comics, Manhattan Projects, etc, etc….etc. What got me into this new series by DC was how imaginative the ‘Dial H’ story is. A new superhero by the turn of the dial? How can you not love this idea?

With this issue we get even more superheroes thanks to the dial and what struck me was how inventive China Mieville was with each. (I do call B.S. though that Mieville only gives us the heroes on the cover for the first page and no more) Now Mieville is a famous sci-fi author so he definitely has one hell of an imagination. While the story here is still a bit hard to follow at times, this issue is a bit easier to understand then the first. We get a better idea on who the villain is and the narration is much, MUCH easier to follow. What brings me back though is the heroes in this issue though. Double Bluff? Hole Punch? Iron Snail? Mieville clearly has some love of the Golden Age of comics books because that is the only time I can imagine ANY of these characters existing.

You can definitely tell Mateus Santolouco has some imagination. Cause he seems to be the only one I can see that can handle Mieville’s madness. His human characters aren’t the best, if I’m being honest. Cause they are sketchy and they are not well defined. Even though this loser of a guy is the focus of the series, I don’t get much of a connection with him cause he isn’t that great to look at. (I get that might be the point but I think it’s more of his style) But the superhero characters? Oh god they look so damn amazing. Control-Alt-Delete uses an emoticon face and Iron Snail has a million guns on his disposal. His layouts for these heroes also changes as they go along and I especially liked the page where we see CTRL-ALT-DELETE’s POV. If Santolouco can reel in on the sketchiness with his human characters a bit then this art is almost perfect for me.

I know I’ve used the word imagination a lot (cue Spongebob meme) but the word is apt for this series. China Mieville has one hell of a series brewing with this and his ideas are really making this an intriguing read. Mateus Santolouco’s art takes a bit to get used to, not perfect, but once you see his creativity in the heroes and villains it looks like no other book DC has to offer. Again I honestly don’t see how DC can expect this series to last considering a book by their EIC couldn’t last more than eight issues. But I’m gonna worry about that when/if that ever happens. Right now I’m going to enjoy the ride and witness some of the most creative ideas you’ll see today.