In the mid-60s, somebody had the bright idea of a comic book where the protagonist was a different superhero each month. Add to that formula the idea that it was a young boy transforming into all these colorful characters, and you had a surefire hit amongst the kids of the time, despite being a bit of a groaner now. Then, nine years ago, someone else had the bright idea of asking the question, “what would happen if someone else used the H dial? Somebody completely normal, with everyday, average, modern problems?” The result of that line of thinking was the magnificent and unjustly forgotten H-E-R-O.

Now we have Dial H as part of the New 52, which is an expansion on essentially the same idea – the difference being that this time around, it seems as though the series will focus on only one protagonist, rather than the revolving door of people whose lives became ruined by the device in H-E-R-O. Like a lot of first issues in this day and age, the first part of Dial H, by an acclaimed novelist named China Mieville that I am entirely unfamiliar with, is really only designed to hook the readers interest, rather than provide a complete story.

Nelson Jent is a prototypical protagonist for this type of story. He’s lost his job, his wife, and his health, and has given up on life. The only thing he still has is a friend named Darren, who exists primarily to provide the narrative impetus for Nelson to jump inside a phone booth, and frantically dial random numbers, inadvertently dialing H-E-R-O and transforming into the irrepressible king of carbon emissions, Boy Chimney.

A lot of ink has been given over to the appearance of Boy Chimney, stating it as the book’s primary redemptive factor. While the character is indeed a welcome relief from a mostly stock story up to that point, he is also a fairly simple clone of John Arcudi’s The Mask, albeit with a bigger hat. What I find much more intriguing is the fact that both he and Captain Lachrymose, the other alter-ego of Nelson in this first issue, are less the colorful, sugar-coated “Super-Heroes” with a capital S and H, and more Vertigo-inspired creations. If the team behind the book can continue to deliver interesting plays on the super-hero ideal each month, the book will continue to be worthwhile simply on that point alone. However, the plot itself needs to take several steps away from conventionality before it can become a selling point.

The art in the book fares similarly. Mateus Santoluoco’s art fits the story being told perfectly, and appropriately brings the Boy Chimney and Captain Lachrymose characters to the page, but never really becomes anything more than a device to manipulate the reader’s perception of the story’s pacing. Art should always remain subservient to story in a comic, but it should always try to avoid being something that isn’t even noticed.

Dial H has serious potential – however, that potential hasn’t been realized yet. With any luck, I’ll be singing an entirely different tune in six months time, but until then, this is one that disappointed my (admittedly high) expectations.

Be sure and check out DC’s official page for the book here: http://www.dccomics.com/comics/dial-h/dial-h-1 and you can purchase the book digitally from Ground Zero Comics here: https://comics.comixology.com/ret/383/Ground_Zero_Comics_DC_Comics_Digital_Store/#/issue/24207/Dial-H-2012-1

As published on examiner.com

When the initial book solicits were released for the New 52 # 1s last July, there was not a single book I was less looking forward to than Teen Titans. These are characters that I have a stong, long-standing personal investment in, and they looked to be changing more than any other characters in the relaunch – and changing for the worse.

As it turned out, though, I didn’t really have anything to worry about. The characters themselves (with the possible exception of Superboy) are mostly unchanged – they’re just being portrayed at different points in their lives, and some of the new team members are worth the book’s purchase price on their own. In fact, I would go so far as to say that Bunker, the least-publicized gay character in comics right now, is also the best gay character in comics right now. Lots of ink have been given over to Batwoman and Kevin Keller, but I find that Batwoman is far too overt in her sexuality to be taken seriously as an avatar for gay rights in comics, and Keller is just embarrasing, partly because he’s a character entirely defined by his sexuality, and partly because of the way in which his stories are written – beligerently pretending that no one in a small-town setting would ever have any problem at all with a gay teen.

Bunker, while publicized as an upcoming gay character in the book, is not defined by that trait. In fact, its only ever come up once so far in 8 issues of the book, in a simple exchange where he explained to Wonder Girl that he was gay, she apologized for the misunderstanding, and they moved on. That’s not to say that he’s a gay character in name only – his attitude and fashion sense very much reflect it – but its not a constant story point, nor is it something that Scott Lobdell feels the need to winkingly reference every few pages, which is a refreshing change of pace. I’ve noticed a number of people picking up Kevin Keller around Ground Zero that would be doing better for themselves to give this one a shot.

Now, as much as I like this book, there are some issues with it – Lobdell’s dialogue often leaves something to be desired (after over 20 years in the business, it seems he still hasn’t grasped the difference between interior and exterior monologue), and Brett Booth’s (and, by extension, this issue’s guest artist Ig Guara) artwork has more of that 90s Liefeld “Xtreme” mentality to it than I’m comfortable with, but for every negative point, there’s something truly brilliant, like the aforementioned character of Bunker, the reintroduction of Danny the Street (a character I honestly never had any illusions of seeing again), or the fascinatingly complex N.O.W.H.E.R.E. mythology Lobdell is using to bridge his two books (this and Superboy).

If you skipped out on this one due to the garish costume redesigns or slow-to-get-going first couple of issues, I’d heartily recommend giving this one another shot, if not now, than at least in September when the #0 issues hit.

Be sure and check out DC’s official page for the book here: http://www.dccomics.com/comics/teen-titans-2011/teen-titans-8 and you can purchase the book digitally from Ground Zero Comics here: https://comics.comixology.com/ret/383/Ground_Zero_Comics_DC_Comics_Digital_Store/#/issue/24056/Teen-Titans-2011-8

As published on examiner.com

Black Manta is a joke. Not even a very good joke. He’s the epitome of the lame, cheesy comic book villain – I mean, look at him. He’s an evil top-heavy scuba-diver from Hell. But now he’s cool. Heck, now he’s a badass. I blame Geoff Johns.

Ever since Aquaman started last September, it’s had a lot of East Texas’ comic community talking. Not quite a reinvention, or even a reinterpretation of the character, it’s simply showed everything that’s been consistantly true of him since the very beginning – and if you point out, as Geoff Johns has, the truth behind all the “talks-to-fish” jokes, you end up looking at one of the DCU’s preeminent testosterone-fueled badasses. And, of course, with that revelation of Aquaman’s character, we had to eventually come to see his most notorious foe in the same light.

All that being said, though, Manta himself is hardly in this issue. His presence is felt throughout, as this storyline is tasked with reintroducing him to the DCU, along with a brand-new “team” Arthur was part of prior to the formation of the Justice League. While we’ve only gotten glimpses of them so far, these other team members look extremely interesting, and I hope we get to spend more time with them in the future. For now, though, we have a great, tense setup involving Arthur’s search for Atlantis and Black Manta hunting down the members of Arthur’s previous team colliding violently, with what promises to be electrifying results over the next few issues. Another interesting thread introduced here is Arthur’s machiavellian, revenge-driven past – it’s a Geoff Johns book, you know that’s going to come back to haunt him. Haunted protagonists, of course, always making for good drama.

Of course, one can hardly talk about Aquaman without talking about the art. It may not be the best-drawn book in DC’s stable right now, but it is most definitely the best-colored. I recently wrote a long tirade on another site about Marvel’s new Defenders book, and how the colorist on that is completely sinking the book. Here, the opposite is occuring. Rod Reis is taking a book that would be very pretty in black and white, and making it absolutely dazzling in color. I would posit that Aquaman is the strongest argument currently on the marketplace for the importance of good colorists in comic books.

Overall, Aquaman remains in the upper echelon of DC’s relaunched titles, both in quality and popularity (at least locally). With all the different far-reaching subplots that Johns is already weaving into the story, I think it’ll stay that way for a long time to come.

Be sure and check out DC’s official page for the book at: http://www.dccomics.com/comics/aquaman-2011/aquaman-8 and you can purchase the book digitally from Ground Zero Comics at: https://comics.comixology.com/ret/383/Ground_Zero_Comics_DC_Comics_Digital_Store/#/issue/24041/Aquaman-2011-8

As published on examiner.com

Sometimes, an idea works – other times, in other circumstances, the same idea can fall completely flat. The idea of taking a mostly-forgotten character or characters, and doing a fresh take on them that’s equal parts retro and reinvention is not a new one – in fact, its not new to either of the creators on this book. Jerry Ordway was extremely successful with the concept with The Power of Shazam! in the ’90s, and Dan Didio was somewhat less successful with the recently-cancelled OMAC. The key component in being able to tell these kinds of stories is in knowing your audience, and this, unfortunately, is not something Didio was able to do with either of his recent retro-modern tales.

The New 52 initiative was really designed with one purpose in mind – to get an influx of new readers. Really, that’s what all comic events are designed to do – the only difference here being that the New 52 was a bit more wide-reaching, and had a more specifically-targeted demographic in mind. Namely, DC was not trying to entice older consumers to start reading comics, or start picking up lapsed books – they were going after the 18-35 demographic, and Didio, who purportedly kicked off the initiative himself, evidently doesn’t realize that, for the most part, the 18-35 demographic has no idea who Jack Kirby is.

Now this is a really sad thing. It seems trite to say it now, because its been said so many times before, but one simply can’t overstate Kirby’s importance to comics. But kids these days aren’t familiar with his work, and when you try and emulate it without hanging a lantern on the fact that its purposefully retro, you end up with a bunch of confused readers, and abysmally low sales.

Now, looking at DCU Presents: Challengers of the Unknown as a fan? Absolutely excellent update of the characters, bringing them in line with modern times, while still keeping the childlike wonder and imagination that was the core of their original appeal. The concept and subtle creep-factor of turning the Challengers into contestants in a Running-Man-esque game show up the coolness factor even further. But looking at it from a business perspective? It just was not the right move or the right time – and neither was OMAC. The people who’ve been brought in by the New 52 don’t want retro tales, especially when they don’t realize that’s what they’re reading. Its possible, I suppose, that Didio realizes this, and that’s the reason this series was only given three issues – get his pet project out of the way, then move on to better-selling stories. But that, of course, doesn’t really explain OMAC.

I’d like to personally encourage everyone who was confused or turned off by this story arc – stick with DCU Presents, and go out and buy some early Kirby work. Early Fantastic Four for Marvel and his Fourth World stuff for DC are both great places to start. Then come back to this with a better understanding of what Didio and Ordway were going for, because believe it or not, they succeeded. I’d like to think that someday we might see a continuation to this story, but its unlikely. If the arc’s sales at Ground Zero Comics were any indication of how it did worldwide, this is the last time we’ll be hearing from the Challengers any time soon, and that’s a real shame.

Be sure and check out DC’s official page for the book here: http://www.dccomics.com/comics/dc-universe-presents-2011/dc-universe-presents-8 and you can purchase the issues digitally from Ground Zero here: https://comics.comixology.com/ret/383/Ground_Zero_Comics_DC_Comics_Digital_Store/#/issue/23550/DC-Universe-Presents-2011-8

As published on examiner.com