So this is the third book I’ve read in Brian Bendis’ new Wonder Comics label for DC and the line looks like it’s aimed at young teens/the kiddles. Because the latest revamp of Dial H for Hero is basically an extended Saturday morning cartoon with its simplistic plot and fairly light tone - and that’s why I wasn’t that taken with it.
Some kid arbitrarily comes into contact with the magic hero phone which, when dialled, temporarily turns you into a wacky superhero. Another kid joins the first kid and together they go on a kerazy adventure while a cliched bad guy tries to steal the phone back from them. Superman cameos a bit and everything predictably works out. Zzz…
The main characters are bland, the plot is even more forgettable and I was barely entertained at any point. Like the only other Dial H book I’ve read (China Mieville’s dismal New 52 attempt), the constant introduction of new bonkers superheroes throughout makes for a repetitive and eventually tiresome reading experience that only drags the pacing down. Also apparently using the phone turns you into a drug addict, chasing that next hit of the phone, which is a strange detail to include in a kid’s comic!
That said, each time a new superhero is introduced the art style changes and I quickly realised they were parodies of more famous properties, a lot of them outside of DC, so the only fun I got out of this dull comic was playing “guess the reference” with the myriad characters.
There’s Monster Truck (Rob Liefeld?), Jobu the Zonkey King (Son Goku the Monkey King from Dragon Ball), Chimp Change (Frank Miller’s Sin City), the Blue Bird of Happiness (Shade the Changing Man?), a brilliant Dan Clowes parody, a nod to Alex Ross, and Lo Lo Kick You, which initially felt like a riff on Jamie Hewlett’s Tank Girl but later looked more like a Mike Allred character; Allred’s one of the artists drawing this book so it’s probably the latter. Of course there’d be several artists - as good as Joe Quinones is, I don’t think he’s THAT versatile!
Anyway, no I wouldn’t recommend Dial H for Hero, Volume 1: Enter the Heroverse to most people though if you’ve got youngsters then they might enjoy this one.
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