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DIAL H #1

• A brand new series by bestselling and Hugo award winning novelist CHINA MIEVILLE!

• What would happen if you discovered the H Dial, an unbelievably powerful artifact that turned you into a super hero?

• And what if you found out that the world is threatened by this very device that’s become your uncontrollable obsession?

• These are just the first questions asked in this thrilling and inventive storyline that introduces the strangest super heroes and super villains in the DCU while exploring the boundaries of reality!

Story by China Mieville
Art by Mateus Santolouco
Colored by Tanya Horie
Lettered by Steve Wands
Cover by Brian Bolland

Price: $2.99
iFanboy Community Pick of the Week Percentage: 0.7%

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DavidClark05/12/12YesRead Review
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Comments

  1. Avatar photo TheNextChampion says:
    April 30, 2012 at 1:17 pm

    I hope I’m not the only one who’s really excited for this. The Dial H issue JMS did for Brave and the Bold really made me interested for another take on this character. I know NOTHING about Mieville or Santolouco and I’ve seen no pages for this. I like going in blind for a change on a new series.

    • Avatar photo BCDX97 says:
      April 30, 2012 at 2:53 pm

      Knowing nothing about this book is what is making me leery. Sure, the covers are great, and I’ve heard good things about China Mieville, but I’ve seen no art or anything for this. I will check it out, but having nothing to go on means I’m not too excited about it.

    • Avatar photo adrianrigter says:
      April 30, 2012 at 3:15 pm

      You can find a couple of interior pages on DC’s Source blog. looks nice too.

    • Avatar photo TheSquirrel says:
      May 1, 2012 at 8:54 am

      Not seeing art is your own fault. Three pages along with close to a dozen others were leaked a week ago and have been flying through comic interwebs since then. I only preordered this AFTER seeing those leaked pages. It also confirmed to me that I must have GI Combat.

    • Avatar photo BCDX97 says:
      May 1, 2012 at 11:12 pm

      Okay, I checked out the art. Kind of reminds me of John McCrea. Which, to me, is not really a great thing. My limited enthusiasm has dropped a bit.

      But to all you guys who love this or will love it, I say, great for you.

  2. Avatar photo Zeppo says:
    April 30, 2012 at 1:21 pm

    I know nothing about this character or creative team, but I’m gonna give this a shot because I think DC’s horror/supernatural stuff has been on fire since the relaunch.

  3. Avatar photo kingjoeg says:
    April 30, 2012 at 2:25 pm

    Tempted, seems similar to animal man and swamp thing.

  4. Avatar photo Gilgamesh417 says:
    April 30, 2012 at 2:49 pm

    Well, this guy wrote Perdido Street Station (something that sci-fi fans tell me I have to read) so I’ll give it a try.

  5. Avatar photo adrianrigter says:
    April 30, 2012 at 3:13 pm

    Love DC’s Dark line, loved Mieville’s first few novels (The Scar in particular), love the Brian Bolland covers. i’m very much in on this one:)

  6. Avatar photo AquaPimp82 says:
    April 30, 2012 at 3:32 pm

    This is the new book I’m looking forward to the most. Hope it doesn’t let me down.

  7. Avatar photo flakbait says:
    April 30, 2012 at 3:35 pm

    This might break my trade waiting. I’ve loved everything Mieville has done. Looks like I’ll be stopping by the shop on Wednesday.

  8. Avatar photo Flash923 says:
    April 30, 2012 at 4:53 pm

    I will give this a try, I have read these series before in the old DCU and the last one was actually really cool until the end of course it dropped off really bad like no one cared about it anymore. I thought it was a lot of fun and I will give this one a try, it looks really dark though. huh? Cool by me, maybe we will get a few surprises out of this title?? Those of you who do not know or are not familiar with Dial H for Hero, it is really a lot like the original Ben 10 cartoon where the person with the device changes into a random hero when they needed it. Although; this time I think they put a little reverse twist on it as well, a reprecusion on it. I am in for the first issue….
    K

  9. Avatar photo consafo80 (@consafo80) says:
    April 30, 2012 at 5:36 pm

    Really looking forward to this easily my favorite of the second wave.

  10. Kmanifesto says:
    April 30, 2012 at 8:16 pm

    Looking forward to Mieville’s take on this concept and to finding out more about Boy Chimney.

  11. Avatar photo glunders says:
    April 30, 2012 at 8:42 pm

    SO stoked.

  12. Avatar photo Hermgerm says:
    April 30, 2012 at 10:06 pm

    Have any of you guys read China Mieville’s 3 New Crobuzon novels? Brilliant and Frightening

    • Avatar photo Hermgerm says:
      April 30, 2012 at 10:07 pm

      Whoops, just read the thread above. Guess some of you have.

    • Avatar photo jerriblankstare (@dbergene) says:
      April 30, 2012 at 11:23 pm

      Where is the best starting point for his novels? I was looking on goodreads and they are all over the board on where they think the best place to start would be.

    • Avatar photo Sockman says:
      May 1, 2012 at 1:11 am

      @jerrib
      Just start with Perdido Street Station. If you want to continue its the Scar then Iron Council.

    • Avatar photo Hermgerm says:
      May 1, 2012 at 6:32 am

      You could also start with his first novel, King Rat, which is a horror/fantasy hybrid, or (if you can get your hands on this one) The Tain, his first novella, about an invasion from the world of mirrors. He’s also got a short story collection out, Looking for Jake, that isn’t half bad.

    • Avatar photo Sockman says:
      May 3, 2012 at 2:27 am

      Ahh, I forgot about King Rat. Was that set in New Crobuzon?

  13. Avatar photo Funcrusher says:
    May 1, 2012 at 12:41 am

    Let’s get weird!

  14. Avatar photo mickmac59 says:
    May 1, 2012 at 4:14 am

    I’ll be getting this purely on the strength of Mieville being involved. Hope it stands up.

  15. Avatar photo diebenny says:
    May 1, 2012 at 8:57 am

    I know nothing about any of this. Characters or creators. People seemed pretty stoked for this book, so I’ma give it a shot and see what happens.

  16. Avatar photo CLOUDMAN says:
    May 1, 2012 at 9:47 am

    Lotta hype building up to this. If it doesnt do an Animal Man #1 then it’s screwed.

  17. Avatar photo comicBOOKchris says:
    May 1, 2012 at 11:53 am

    I just started reading King Rat awhile ago and am enjoying it so far…it’s quite noodley, but in a good way. Mieville likes to have his stories skirt reality and physics, and does a supreme job in world building. This should be great.

  18. Avatar photo Cantseeme says:
    May 1, 2012 at 10:49 pm

    I’ve been excited for this since it was first announced. We could always use another DC book that skirts that Vertigo line…

  19. Avatar photo ultimate rich says:
    May 2, 2012 at 6:21 am

    I just read it. Meh. Some of the dialogue was really strange and didn’t make sense. It has a Twilight Zoney feel but not in a good way, more of a “I’ve read this before and don’t care” kind of way. The story is ok at best but what really bothers me is that I don’t give a crap about either of these characters. I’m sorry if I have no sympathy for a fat lazy smoker. I’ve loved “Hero” books in the past so I’ll give it 2 more issues.

    • Avatar photo TheSquirrel says:
      May 2, 2012 at 8:29 pm

      You weren’t supposed to have sympathy for him. That’s why the first three pages are pointing out what a fuck up he is. Fantastic comic for DC. Not as a good as Severed when it comes to being scary, but certainly an excellent creepy tale. I like Boy Chimney, and I hope we get to see him again.

  20. Avatar photo comicBOOKchris says:
    May 2, 2012 at 2:19 pm

    Goddamn, this was great. A series that truly lives up to the mission statement of the nu52 in that it’s something that completely differentiates itself from the past. It features real and relatable leads and a fun horror twist on an old concept. That one page where Boy Chimney feels the smoke across the entire city was classic Mieville. Very happy to be looking forward to this each month.

  21. Avatar photo TurdSandwich says:
    May 2, 2012 at 7:53 pm

    This was enjoyable enough for me to check it out again next month. I really liked the art, but the story was kind of hard to follow. The Chimney boy just sort of rambled nonsense, while the main character spoke in choppy one or two word phrases. I’m intrigued by the premise enough, to see if there is a more coherent narrative next issue. The art however, was right up my alley; it was cartoonish, but gritty, and created a very distinct mood of danger and uncertainty. The details were cool too; like the hobo sitting on the street with a panhandling sign that reads “Need cash 4 karate lessons”, or the cityscapes and backgrounds looming above and beyond the characters. So yeah, I like the art, and the story could flow better, but all in all this was pretty cool.

  22. Avatar photo Lebahn says:
    May 2, 2012 at 8:50 pm

    Having read several Mieville novels prior, I expected the city to be a creature itself. To that I was correct. These ‘Heros’ are created by the city and the emotions found within. I like that. I didn’t care for the dialog much. The ideas behind these characters were wonderful, BUT, the fleshing out…eh…not so much. Ideas 5/5. Follow through 3/5.

  23. Avatar photo Turd Ferguson says:
    May 2, 2012 at 10:53 pm

    I really enjoyed this book. Agree with the above comment RE. the city. Typical Mieville
    The art was somewhat inconsistent but there were a few killer pages in here – the Boy Chimney ones really stood out.

    I am getting a Gaiman/Sandman vibe from this so far … and that is definitely not a bad thing!

    Odd to hear those comments about the dialogue. I had no trouble following it so I reread it to see what others were talking about. I think he writes with a very British cadence (he’s from Norwich), so that makes sense as I am originally from England myself. Also the dialogue gets a little surreal and reflective of the adopted persona.

    I had high hopes and was not disappointed. I’m also interested to see if some of his political views will creep into this.
    I hope so but i could see DC wanting to distance themselves from the S-word.

  24. Avatar photo wallythegreenmonster says:
    May 3, 2012 at 1:16 pm

    I thought it was a pretty decent first issue. I’ll prob stay with the first arc and see where it goes.

    My criticisms: I thought the art was over rendered with too much detail mark making and too much coloring *stuff* going on. As a result my eyes had to strain to separate objects from the foreground and background in a lot of panels. I see this as a growing trend in comics….less is more.

    Some of the dialogue was tricky…i found myself stammering over phrases and words a few times due to some awkwardness.

  25. Avatar photo UkeRupp says:
    May 3, 2012 at 6:42 pm

    This was pretty good. The concept is wacky but also fun. The writing was a bit odd in some places. The art had an interesting look to it. Overall, decent.

  26. Avatar photo thompsonlive says:
    May 3, 2012 at 9:17 pm

    This was not for me. 2/5 I will not be back for seconds.

  27. Avatar photo Paul Montgomery (@fuzzytypewriter) says:
    May 3, 2012 at 9:20 pm

    Well I got a kick out of it. That Boy Chimney sequence is disorienting, but intentionally so. Definitely grabbing the next issue.

  28. Avatar photo RedBaron504 says:
    May 4, 2012 at 11:52 am

    I loved it. I think the only thing that’s going to irk me is that we won’t see the same hero twice. C’mon! I already want more Boy Chimney.

  29. Avatar photo consafo80 (@consafo80) says:
    May 6, 2012 at 7:21 am

    I liked it and will keep it on my pulllist but I didn’t like it as much as I thought I was going to but I think I was hyping it up a bit too much.

  30. Avatar photo flakbait says:
    May 6, 2012 at 4:17 pm

    I enjoyed this quite a bit. I’ll be grabbing the first trade for sure.

  31. Avatar photo Flash923 says:
    May 7, 2012 at 8:37 am

    Boy Chimney was so creepy and just so dark, I liked it alot and I also hope we see that character alot more! This was a very good first issue and has me hooked..

    K

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