Dial H #2 Review

 

Nelse Jent plays with the H Dial while the bad guys start piling up around him.  Check out our review of Dial H #2!

Dial H #2

After experimenting with the H Dial some more, with some extremely mixed results, Nelse visits Darren in the hospital.  Darren tells his friend about some of the crimes that he’s been pulling off.  People all around the city are falling into comas, and when they go under, Darren and some other lowlifes break into the victims’ homes and take all their valuables.  Upon learning the next target’s location, Nelse uses the Dial to become Ctrl-Alt-Delete, a computerized hero with a monitor for a head.  He comes across a mysterious woman who he’s barely able to fight off before she escapes.  Later, Darren is killed in the hospital and Nelse, now in the guise of The Iron Snail takes on a creature that he’s not strong enough to take down.  When time is running out on his current heroic persona, he rushes back to the Dial and finds the same mysterious woman who promises to tell him everything about the Dial and what’s going on.

Without a doubt, Dial H is one of the most bizarre comics from the big two.  It mixes a little comedy with a little action.  It’s then sweetened by suspense and horror.  It’s weird – but definitely in the good way.  I find myself totally connected to each of the strange heroes Nelse gets out of the H Dial.  I wanted to know more about Human Virus.  I wanted to see Shamanticore in action as a mix of a lion and a scorpion.  What the hell is Pelican Army?  How powerful of a magician is Double Bluff?  Can Hole Punch really punch holes into things?  I absolutely love how mismatched Nelse’s heroes are in each situation.  This is a book with a revolving door of characters but it’s not getting old and it’s not turning my head around either.  It’s just a lot of fun while being gritty and, at times, incredibly dark.

Mateus Santolouco’s art is spectacular.   It is able to switch between those different moods and how awesome would it be to essentially create a new hero with every single issue?  I particularly loved seeing the fight with the mysterious woman from the point of view of Ctrl-Atl-Delete.  At first it was a little hard to see what’s going on, but as you settle in, it really puts you into Nelse’s shoes.  It was a cool way to depict that scene.

This is definitely a book that’s hard to write about in a review because it’s something you just have to read to understand.  China Miéville certainly has fun with the series and lets his imagination run wild, and that’s the greatest draw to this title.

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