My first exposure to the H-Dial wasn't the Silver Age series of stories in House of Mystery, but in the 1980s revival in Adventure Comics that saw readers submit their own ideas for heroes. I never submitted my own ideas, but that doesn't mean I didn't have any. I had my own universe of heroes -- Energy Man, Tornado Man and others... most of which were knockoffs of the Justice League. "Dial H for Hero" was a great celebration of imagination and the wonder of super-heroes.
This new series isn't about that, though. It's a much more mature take on the H-Dial concept, and instead of exploring variety and wonder, it explores reaction and emotion. Here, the H-Dial is a winning lottery ticket. It's Aladdin's lamp. It's the girl next door about whom you've always dreamed. It's all of those things... and the curse it brings with them. Pfeifer is telling a fable here, and the moral is "be careful what you wish for."
A small guy in a small town works away in his small job, washing dishes in a small ice-cream parlor. And then, one day, a customer leaves something unusual on her tray, and it changes his life. He pockets the odd item, and later, on a whim, uses it, and suddenly, he's no longer small. He can leap over buildings in a single bound. He can do a world of good, but someone falls victim to his powers and his cockiness: himself.
Those familiar with Kano's work on the Superman titles not too long ago should cast aside any preconceptions of his art. His stuff here is unrecognizable from his Action Comics work. Think of Alex Toth-meets-Eduardo Risso. His dark, sketchy style captures the downtrodden mood of the story and the main character quite well. Stewart's muted colors reinforce that darker tone as well.
It's easy to relate to Jerry here. We've all felt trapped by circumstance somehow, felt as though we were a victim to the whims of the world. We've all dreamed of that big break that could elevate us above our pain somehow. That depressed sense of helplessness is a universal, and Pfeifer spices it up with a little bit of wonder, in the form of the H-Dial. Geoff Johns, in his Fourth Rail column (click HERE to read it) has lauded the book and compared it to super-hero genre version of 100 Bullets. The comparison -- and the praise -- is well deserved.
In this story, Jerry apparently dreamed of being like Superman. When I was a kid, it was Green Lantern (his ring had everything covered... a single wish that could provide unlimited wishes). Pfeifer tackles the notion of wish fulfillment here and explores how quick fixes are rarely the answers to one's problems. Those problems stem from something inside, and the solution has to stem from within as well. This story is about taking responsibility for one's own life.
