H-E-R-O continues in much the same vein it began, a sort of low-key, character-driven look at the question of "what would you do with superpowers?" that has always laid at the heart of the H-Dial concept. Make no mistake, while the central plot device of the series is based on a goofy Silver Age device, the approach is more like something you'd see in a Vertigo book, based on character first and super-powers second. Though Pfeifer and Kano explore some of the mechanics of what the Dial does to its wielders in this issue, they're mostly exploring what happened to slacker/loser Jerry when he got the dial, and how it finally drove him to call a suicide hotline.
The pacing on this is pretty leisurely, exploring how a guy like Jerry might actually figure out what the deal was with the H-Dial. He's not too bright, so it takes him a while to figure things out, and he's not too motivated, so it takes quite a while before he figures out what he ought to do with it. This could be a bit laborious if not for the strong characterization of Jerry and the way that Pfeifer mixes humor and drama in with the ongoing story. There's some humor to be found in the original owner of the Dial and in Jerry's first attempts at patrolling the city, but they are mixed with moral questions of whether what he's doing is right.
It's the uncertainty of the H-Dial, and of what's going to happen to Jerry, that I think is the strongest aspect of this series thus far. Because this is an anthology, just about anything could happen to Jerry at the end. And there are still any number of things that could have caused Jerry to become suicidal. Given his crush on Molly and the fact that he's already badly injured two people with his powers, I think I might have an inkling where the story is going. But I'm not sure, and that uncertainty keeps me interested.
I wasn't sure about Kano's artwork on this book, but the first issue was impressive and his work on this issue is ever stronger. Previously I noted an Eduardo Risso influence, and while that same shadowy style is still in evidence, I see some different stylistic similarities in this issue, ranging from Paul Pope to Cliff Chiang. Bottom line, the backgrounds and characters look gritty and fantastic, and the goofiness of the super-hero uniforms conjured by the H-Dial help make the point of the weirdness of the dial against a more real backdrop rather than just looking silly.
The idea of a normal guy granted super-powers, even temporarily, is a fascinating idea. We're used to seeing our super-heroes as either paragons of virtue or thoroughly flawed in dramatically appropriate ways, so it's interesting that Jerry so far seems like a believably average guy, fumbling his way through super-powers in a way that mixes the potential humor and horror of the situation in perfect measure.
