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Dial H TPB #2
Dial H, Vol. 2: Exchange
What would happen if you discovered the H Dial, an unbelievably powerful artifact that turned you into a super hero?
Nelson and Roxie are on the trail to unlock the mysteries of the H-dial while being stalked by the mysterious Centipede, who may have the answers they are looking for...and his own dark and deadly motivations. It will take every ounce of courage and luck for our unlikely heroes to discover secrets of the H Dials before their enemies finds them.
Collects #7-15 of Dial H.
Nelson and Roxie are on the trail to unlock the mysteries of the H-dial while being stalked by the mysterious Centipede, who may have the answers they are looking for...and his own dark and deadly motivations. It will take every ounce of courage and luck for our unlikely heroes to discover secrets of the H Dials before their enemies finds them.
Collects #7-15 of Dial H.
240 pages, Paperback
First published June 6, 2012
6 people are currently reading
512 people want to read
About the author
China Miéville
161 books15.5k followersA British "fantastic fiction" writer. He is fond of describing his work as "weird fiction" (after early 20th century pulp and horror writers such as H. P. Lovecraft), and belongs to a loose group of writers sometimes called New Weird who consciously attempt to move fantasy away from commercial, genre clichés of Tolkien epigons. He is also active in left-wing politics as a member of the Socialist Workers Party. He has stood for the House of Commons for the Socialist Alliance, and published a book on Marxism and international law.
Excerpted from Wikipedia.
Excerpted from Wikipedia.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 73 reviews
April 3, 2014
I feel like I've been Mievilled (that's a word I just made up, because if the author can do it why can't I?) I don't quite know how to define the word, but it has something to do with being hit over the head with the author's own copy of the Oxford English Dictionary, liberally annotated with his own made-up words, and with the pages heavily suffused with any number of hallucinogenic drugs. Feel free to made up your own definition though, it's as loose and fluid as the author's own words.
Basically though in book 1 of this series, Nelson Jent finds a mysterious dial that allows him to become all sorts of weird superheroes. Teaming up with Roxie Hodder, who has her own dial and fights crime as Manteau, he sets put to find out more about the dials and where they came from.
After losing one of their dials, Nelson and Roxie have to take turns to use the dial to track down a second dial and find some answers. They run into a villain called Centipede, and find another dial in Canada where . At one point Nelson dials himself into the Flash, which is possibly the best bit of the story, though it does bring up an earlier point made in the last book - what happens to the heroes when the dial steals their power, especially if they are in the middle of a battle? We saw in the first volume that this can have tragic consequences. . Of course, this is also frustrating as it crosses over to the Flash series, and I haven't seen that so I don't know how it ends.
It is at this point that the story starts to get so weird and convoluted that it loses me, as our heroes run into others with dials, and after a lot of battles finally make it to the origin point of all this, and a long ago war that caused all of this to begin with. With all the different people dialling so many heroes, the story collapses under its own weight. I really feel sorry for the artist trying to illustrate this insanity.
Roxy, Nelson and the others finally win (I think!) but find themselves stuck on the world of the Exchange, but at least they have plenty of materials to make new dials. The end of this volume is the end of the story as the series was cancelled with issue 15, but there is an epilogue of sorts which appeared in Justice League.
This was a bold and inventive story, but China Mieville is certainly not to everyone's taste. I certainly admire his writing, and the inventiveness that appears there, but I'm not sure I actually like his books.
4 stars for the Flash appearance, 2 stars for the rest.
Basically though in book 1 of this series, Nelson Jent finds a mysterious dial that allows him to become all sorts of weird superheroes. Teaming up with Roxie Hodder, who has her own dial and fights crime as Manteau, he sets put to find out more about the dials and where they came from.
After losing one of their dials, Nelson and Roxie have to take turns to use the dial to track down a second dial and find some answers. They run into a villain called Centipede, and find another dial in Canada where . At one point Nelson dials himself into the Flash, which is possibly the best bit of the story, though it does bring up an earlier point made in the last book - what happens to the heroes when the dial steals their power, especially if they are in the middle of a battle? We saw in the first volume that this can have tragic consequences. . Of course, this is also frustrating as it crosses over to the Flash series, and I haven't seen that so I don't know how it ends.
It is at this point that the story starts to get so weird and convoluted that it loses me, as our heroes run into others with dials, and after a lot of battles finally make it to the origin point of all this, and a long ago war that caused all of this to begin with. With all the different people dialling so many heroes, the story collapses under its own weight. I really feel sorry for the artist trying to illustrate this insanity.
Roxy, Nelson and the others finally win (I think!) but find themselves stuck on the world of the Exchange, but at least they have plenty of materials to make new dials. The end of this volume is the end of the story as the series was cancelled with issue 15, but there is an epilogue of sorts which appeared in Justice League.
This was a bold and inventive story, but China Mieville is certainly not to everyone's taste. I certainly admire his writing, and the inventiveness that appears there, but I'm not sure I actually like his books.
4 stars for the Flash appearance, 2 stars for the rest.
November 29, 2015
OK this just went too far off the rails...
I loved that the baddie was a Canadian Secret Agent.
The team of Nelson and Manteau were cool and a fun pairing, but once all the other realm heroes showed up? Too nuts.
Also, there was a fun one where Nelson dialled The Flash, and tried to figure out where Flash went while he was Flash...interesting, but then just too much...
Also, I'm high so this should have made sense, but not so much.
Original? Yes, and I agree, rather swing and miss than just Xerox something better.
I loved that the baddie was a Canadian Secret Agent.
The team of Nelson and Manteau were cool and a fun pairing, but once all the other realm heroes showed up? Too nuts.
Also, there was a fun one where Nelson dialled The Flash, and tried to figure out where Flash went while he was Flash...interesting, but then just too much...
Also, I'm high so this should have made sense, but not so much.
Original? Yes, and I agree, rather swing and miss than just Xerox something better.
September 16, 2016
A dark, surreal take on an old Silver Age concept? Released in the Vertigo age, this would've been an instant classic.
As part of the New 52? It never stood a chance.
Just as things are getting really, REALLY good here, it becomes obvious that Mieville and Ponticelli got the word they were being cancelled. The slow peel of the bizarre world of Dial H (including an interesting tie-in to the larger DC universe) suddenly gets ripped off as mysterious characters get suddenly revealed, a thousand new dials are found, and a whole gang of new characters are introduced. The biggest problem is that an obvious (and actually interesting) romance subplot just disappears by the end.
Fortunately, not even the fast-forward through what was obviously meant to be several arcs can't completely hurt this book. As always, Mieville's unique and witty writing is sharp. It's always fun to see the new heroes get dialed, and the new characters could do with more background, but they're still interesting. Let's face it, you know you're in for a good time when you get Open Window Man's origin story. Alberto Ponticelli's art accentuates the surreal world the characters love in, giving plenty of love to the strange characters that inhabit it.
Even with the speed-up, the book gets a super-sized final issue and a wonderful epilogue that features different artists on every page (!!). When the rubble of the New 52 has finally cleared and people can look back on the era, this will be one of the books people point to as what the whole movement should've been like.
As part of the New 52? It never stood a chance.
Just as things are getting really, REALLY good here, it becomes obvious that Mieville and Ponticelli got the word they were being cancelled. The slow peel of the bizarre world of Dial H (including an interesting tie-in to the larger DC universe) suddenly gets ripped off as mysterious characters get suddenly revealed, a thousand new dials are found, and a whole gang of new characters are introduced. The biggest problem is that an obvious (and actually interesting) romance subplot just disappears by the end.
Fortunately, not even the fast-forward through what was obviously meant to be several arcs can't completely hurt this book. As always, Mieville's unique and witty writing is sharp. It's always fun to see the new heroes get dialed, and the new characters could do with more background, but they're still interesting. Let's face it, you know you're in for a good time when you get Open Window Man's origin story. Alberto Ponticelli's art accentuates the surreal world the characters love in, giving plenty of love to the strange characters that inhabit it.
Even with the speed-up, the book gets a super-sized final issue and a wonderful epilogue that features different artists on every page (!!). When the rubble of the New 52 has finally cleared and people can look back on the era, this will be one of the books people point to as what the whole movement should've been like.
March 17, 2014
It's unfortunate that the superhero-fixated comic book fans didn't try out this title, or if they did, not stick with it. This had more inventiveness and gonzo ideas in one issue than many titles have in a year. The end of the story felt rushed and somewhat erratic with time gaps pushing the story forward to its inevitable conclusion (and one character dying offstage, clearly intended to have more told about them). The ending resolved many of the points that had been set up throughout the run, but was open-ended enough for more about these characters (a sort of epilog by Miéville was published in Justice League #23.3 as part of the Villains' Month crossover event). So I hope that DC will incorporate the Dial universe somewhere else, especially if Miéville writes it, because I would love to continue visiting it.
Read
August 7, 2013DC's best book concludes (an epilogue will follow as part of their next big crossover clusterfuck, but apparently the collection omits that). Occasionally baffling, and with erratic pacing in places, it nonetheless fizxed with offbeat ideas and grand visions in the manner of Grant Morrison's reinventions of other Silver Age also-rans. I'll miss it. Plus: the secret origin of the telephone!
January 4, 2025
A twisted ending to this crazy story- it didn’t always feel perfectly aligned with its message or storyline but it was always interesting. I enjoyed the main group of dialers diversity and interesting mixed bag of stories. The dial always stayed at the center, Jent does really better as a man when he finally becomes a hero and saves the world. I really enjoyed this story, I’ve never even heard of it until last month!
July 16, 2015
The first volume of this title I picked up just for the heck of it and I surprisingly (to me) found I liked it, so, with this second volume I wanted to find and read it on purpose.
I mean, the title is crazier than even the whole Animal Man/Swamp Thing Red/Green/Rot storyline, and yet it's such a fun read that dragged me on this crazy, sometimes hilarious, sometimes quite caring, journey.
I liked how Roxie and Nelson's relationship changed and flexed, not staying static, and then they get deep, deep into the dials. What they are, where they're from, how they work. We even meet a group that calls itself the Dial Bunch.
They're trying to beat a guy called the Fixer, who's teamed up (sorta) with a bad guy (with non-dial powers) called Centipede. And then someone called 'O' is introduced and everything goes even more crazy.
A solid three star TPB and quite the ride. Just don't think about the plot too hard, or you'll get lost pretty fast.
I won this through the Goodreads First Read giveaways.
I mean, the title is crazier than even the whole Animal Man/Swamp Thing Red/Green/Rot storyline, and yet it's such a fun read that dragged me on this crazy, sometimes hilarious, sometimes quite caring, journey.
I liked how Roxie and Nelson's relationship changed and flexed, not staying static, and then they get deep, deep into the dials. What they are, where they're from, how they work. We even meet a group that calls itself the Dial Bunch.
They're trying to beat a guy called the Fixer, who's teamed up (sorta) with a bad guy (with non-dial powers) called Centipede. And then someone called 'O' is introduced and everything goes even more crazy.
A solid three star TPB and quite the ride. Just don't think about the plot too hard, or you'll get lost pretty fast.
I won this through the Goodreads First Read giveaways.
August 31, 2014
If only DC could blackmail China Mieville into long-term commitments! this is deeply weird stuff that exploits the surface weirdness of capes-and-tights titles we all pretend is not there: the ludicrous names and costumes and powersets. Imagine that even the consensus on credibility is wiped clean and deeply profoundly weird characters were popping up, sometimes as often as 2 or 3 per panel, to make strange meta-fictional war on the guys trying to burn down the infrastructure of the universe in order to save it. People will be talking about this run decades from now the way people still reference Grant Morrison's profoundly bizarre Doom Patrol run decades ago. It is a high-water mark of surrealist metafiction that comes along far too rarely. It is unhinged in the best possible way.
June 26, 2015
If you were to break the spine, throw all the pages in the air, and read them in whatever order you picked them up, it would make more sense and be more entertaining.
How this crap got two volumes and G.I. Combat and Sword of Sorcery were axed after one in beyond my comprehension.
How this crap got two volumes and G.I. Combat and Sword of Sorcery were axed after one in beyond my comprehension.
March 1, 2015
Reprints Dial H #7-15 and Justice League #23.3 (February 2013-November 2013). Roxie and Nelson are on the run in search of finding keys to the secrets of the dial. When a Canadian agent called the Centipede is sent after them, Roxie and Nelson find they must escape to the Exchange…the source of the dials’ power.
Written by China Miéville, Dial H 2: Exchange is the follow-up to Dial H 1: Into You. The series was already struggling at this point and this volume collects the final issues before cancellation in addition to the Justice League #23.3 Villains’ Month issue focusing on Dial E.
While I didn’t enjoy the first volume of Dial H, this volume possibly might be more frustrating…because it has some really nice moments where I think the series is going to work. Unfortunately, I feel that the series’ impending doom probably cut short China Miéville’s plans and forced a rather garbled second half.
The first part of the book does work for the most part. I really enjoy the relationship between the senior Roxie and the slob Nelson. They are two different characters that wouldn’t have known each other if it weren’t for this connection through the dial…but they enjoy each other’s company. It is a bit like Harold and Maude in this sense, and I also like how the different dials factor into the relationship like the Sidekick Dial.
Unfortunately, I don’t like the secondary plot of the series. The whole Centipede and Canadian conspiracy feels like a half-baked Grant Morrison storyline from The Invisibles. It is confusing and distracting from a rather fun team book. This storyline overtakes the last few issues of the regular series and completely negates the good vibes that were created in the first few issues of this collection.
Though I didn’t really enjoy the “Dial E” storyline from the Justice League #23.3 (November 2013), I did like that they had a great collection of artists doing the story. Not everyone was good, but there was enough change throughout the issue that you were bound to find some art that you liked.
Dial H was a good experiment but a failed experiment. I liked that the New 52 took some chances with their series, but generally that is all they were—a chance. It was not always beneficial to the line to take these chances, and I think in general it did weaken the brand in some cases (Dial H might be one of them). Still, I commend DC for the effort…I just wish it had dialed up a winner.
Written by China Miéville, Dial H 2: Exchange is the follow-up to Dial H 1: Into You. The series was already struggling at this point and this volume collects the final issues before cancellation in addition to the Justice League #23.3 Villains’ Month issue focusing on Dial E.
While I didn’t enjoy the first volume of Dial H, this volume possibly might be more frustrating…because it has some really nice moments where I think the series is going to work. Unfortunately, I feel that the series’ impending doom probably cut short China Miéville’s plans and forced a rather garbled second half.
The first part of the book does work for the most part. I really enjoy the relationship between the senior Roxie and the slob Nelson. They are two different characters that wouldn’t have known each other if it weren’t for this connection through the dial…but they enjoy each other’s company. It is a bit like Harold and Maude in this sense, and I also like how the different dials factor into the relationship like the Sidekick Dial.
Unfortunately, I don’t like the secondary plot of the series. The whole Centipede and Canadian conspiracy feels like a half-baked Grant Morrison storyline from The Invisibles. It is confusing and distracting from a rather fun team book. This storyline overtakes the last few issues of the regular series and completely negates the good vibes that were created in the first few issues of this collection.
Though I didn’t really enjoy the “Dial E” storyline from the Justice League #23.3 (November 2013), I did like that they had a great collection of artists doing the story. Not everyone was good, but there was enough change throughout the issue that you were bound to find some art that you liked.
Dial H was a good experiment but a failed experiment. I liked that the New 52 took some chances with their series, but generally that is all they were—a chance. It was not always beneficial to the line to take these chances, and I think in general it did weaken the brand in some cases (Dial H might be one of them). Still, I commend DC for the effort…I just wish it had dialed up a winner.
December 7, 2017
Not quite as strong as the first volume, but this is still a very dense story that supports the original, then goes cosmic in a positively delightful way.
It's got the best issue of the run in it too, #13, which has one of the wackiest worlds, some great Silver League deconstruction, and a wonderful introduction of a Dial League
It's also got the worst issue of the run, Justice League #23.3, which is a dull walk through a villain-a-page. Yawn ...
Overall, this is a great end to a great run. I'm going to want to read the two volumes again some time, and I'll happily pick up any other super-comic that Mieville writes.
It's got the best issue of the run in it too, #13, which has one of the wackiest worlds, some great Silver League deconstruction, and a wonderful introduction of a Dial League
It's also got the worst issue of the run, Justice League #23.3, which is a dull walk through a villain-a-page. Yawn ...
Overall, this is a great end to a great run. I'm going to want to read the two volumes again some time, and I'll happily pick up any other super-comic that Mieville writes.
May 10, 2014
This is one of the weirdest and perhaps the most brilliant comics I've ever read. The only real drawback to this collection is the inclusion of a semi-related issue of Justice League, with terrible artwork which does little more than defuse the amazing fever-dream storytelling of everything up to that point. Drop that and this volume would be just about perfect.
April 13, 2014
Not as strong as the first volume my guess is China rushed the story along because DC was cancelling the series. That said I don't think DC is putting out anything nearly as fun or original as this series and it's a real shame it was cancelled.
August 21, 2016
I think the plot got murky toward the end of the volume, but I'm so amused by the various heroes that it didn't matter. One of my favorite superhero names: Baba Iago. Forsooth, indeed.
February 13, 2019
Regarding book recs, I'll consider this and volume 1 as just one rec. Which means new coworker, aka D&D Boy, has only one strike as opposed to two.
What. is. this? Like....
Imagine if you were sitting around with your buddies, having hit the bong particularly hard, and you started throwing out the most random and insane sounding superheroes possible.
Then you slapped them into a comic, crammed far too much action into each panel, and got it published.
There. You've written Dial H.
What. is. this? Like....
Imagine if you were sitting around with your buddies, having hit the bong particularly hard, and you started throwing out the most random and insane sounding superheroes possible.
Then you slapped them into a comic, crammed far too much action into each panel, and got it published.
There. You've written Dial H.
March 4, 2019
Even a quick skim of the previous volume which I last read in 2015, didn't leave me which a much clearer idea of what was going on here. But it doesn't really matter - whatever China Miéville is on, it's working. This is so much fun - even just keeping track of all the briefly created heroes is half the fun. I especially liked Flame War: "My insults burn!". In this volume Nelson has to use the H-dial (yes, it's a rotary phone dial that transforms the dialler into a random superhero whenever they dial the word HERO) to stop the Operator before he does his evil master villain stuff. Luckily, the awesome Open Window Man and his friends are coming to the rescue too...
Even better, it looks like DC are rebooting the series again next month - yep, I've ordered it already.
Even better, it looks like DC are rebooting the series again next month - yep, I've ordered it already.
June 27, 2014
When last we left Dial H, Miéville was busy adding weird fiction and horror tropes to a little known corner of the DC Universe. The events of the last volume have raised the stakes and opened the door to a multiverse of possibilities. Unfortunately, while Dial H was an incredible critical success, its sales numbers left something to be desired and DC ended the run at issue 16. True to form, Miéville seems to treat the cancelation as a challenge and crashes through two storylines to bring readers a climax worthy of this creative adventure, and a thoughtful coda that hints that we might not have seen the last of the Dialers.
Issue #7 picks up a few weeks after Nelson’s fight with the villain Ex Nihlio and her pet Abyss. In light of the new threat of the Shadow on the Line, Nelson and his new partner Roxie, set off to uncover more secrets of the dials. But their leisurely globetrotting quickly turns scary as they catch the eye of a Canadian super-agent who knows more about what they are than they do.
Exchange is actually a double volume, collecting the Centipede arc that I summarized above, and the Exchange arc that follows. Centipede introduces us to Dial Cults and the secret Canadian agency that has been experimenting with a dial of their own. While this arc is satisfying, and the Centipede is a brilliantly written and realized villain, the really interesting stuff doesn’t kick in until DCs deadline forced Miéville to sprint for the finish in the Exchange arc.
From the end of issue #12, the tone of the series changes. There’s a sense of impending catastrophe that permeates the frames as the newly assembled Dial Bunch race to find the origin of the dials. Miéville starts tossing terminology and worldbuilding elements at the page almost too fast to process. The hectic crescendo of plot comes at the expense of some of the more subtle themes of the first volume. Nelson’s exploration of what it is to be a hero, and the complicated, evolving relationship between Nelson and Roxie take a back seat to the mythology of the Dial War, the Exchange and the mysterious Operator behind it all.
The pacing of these last issues is off-putting, but also exciting, dragging the reader on a manic ride through a universe that should have taken more time to discover and explore. It’s not everything it should have been, but the race to the conclusion is surprisingly satisfying. The added urgency pressurizes the literary components, glossing over flaws that might otherwise distract from the goal. The result is a bit like blown glass; beautiful, but flawed and fragile.
Rereading the collected book for this review exposed a lot of unanswered questions and minor gaps in my understanding of Miéville’s concepts that I hadn’t noticed during my first pass of the comics as individual issues. The goals of the Operator are unclear and the final confrontation, while exciting to read, leaves things on an odd, anticlimactic cliffhanger. The Justice League coda helps defray the non-ending, reintroducing the dials to the primary DC universe and adding a new character who might make some future appearances in The New 52 (fingers crossed).
In spite of the rushed ending, Miéville really did bring something fascinating to DC’s otherwise lackluster reboot. The thoughtful exploration of what it is to be a hero from the first volume and the expansion of dial lore from the third arc are both strong literary reasons to read the series. The art is excellent, as are the character designs. Both the ordinary people populating the Dial H universe, and the weird and sometimes hilarious superheroes called up to do battle, are well realized and evoke a real sense of humanity and madcap comic action respectively. I was particularly impressed by the string of villains featured in the Justice League coda. They strike a fun balance between scary and amusing very reminiscent of Saturday morning cartoon bad guys.
Like many more ‘artistic’ comic projects, this isn’t exactly what the everyday fan of superhero comics is probably looking for. But if China Miéville is in your wheelhouse, or you enjoy a weirder take on heroes and villains, Dial H is an excellent short comic, perfect for the curious reader.
Issue #7 picks up a few weeks after Nelson’s fight with the villain Ex Nihlio and her pet Abyss. In light of the new threat of the Shadow on the Line, Nelson and his new partner Roxie, set off to uncover more secrets of the dials. But their leisurely globetrotting quickly turns scary as they catch the eye of a Canadian super-agent who knows more about what they are than they do.
Exchange is actually a double volume, collecting the Centipede arc that I summarized above, and the Exchange arc that follows. Centipede introduces us to Dial Cults and the secret Canadian agency that has been experimenting with a dial of their own. While this arc is satisfying, and the Centipede is a brilliantly written and realized villain, the really interesting stuff doesn’t kick in until DCs deadline forced Miéville to sprint for the finish in the Exchange arc.
From the end of issue #12, the tone of the series changes. There’s a sense of impending catastrophe that permeates the frames as the newly assembled Dial Bunch race to find the origin of the dials. Miéville starts tossing terminology and worldbuilding elements at the page almost too fast to process. The hectic crescendo of plot comes at the expense of some of the more subtle themes of the first volume. Nelson’s exploration of what it is to be a hero, and the complicated, evolving relationship between Nelson and Roxie take a back seat to the mythology of the Dial War, the Exchange and the mysterious Operator behind it all.
The pacing of these last issues is off-putting, but also exciting, dragging the reader on a manic ride through a universe that should have taken more time to discover and explore. It’s not everything it should have been, but the race to the conclusion is surprisingly satisfying. The added urgency pressurizes the literary components, glossing over flaws that might otherwise distract from the goal. The result is a bit like blown glass; beautiful, but flawed and fragile.
Rereading the collected book for this review exposed a lot of unanswered questions and minor gaps in my understanding of Miéville’s concepts that I hadn’t noticed during my first pass of the comics as individual issues. The goals of the Operator are unclear and the final confrontation, while exciting to read, leaves things on an odd, anticlimactic cliffhanger. The Justice League coda helps defray the non-ending, reintroducing the dials to the primary DC universe and adding a new character who might make some future appearances in The New 52 (fingers crossed).
In spite of the rushed ending, Miéville really did bring something fascinating to DC’s otherwise lackluster reboot. The thoughtful exploration of what it is to be a hero from the first volume and the expansion of dial lore from the third arc are both strong literary reasons to read the series. The art is excellent, as are the character designs. Both the ordinary people populating the Dial H universe, and the weird and sometimes hilarious superheroes called up to do battle, are well realized and evoke a real sense of humanity and madcap comic action respectively. I was particularly impressed by the string of villains featured in the Justice League coda. They strike a fun balance between scary and amusing very reminiscent of Saturday morning cartoon bad guys.
Like many more ‘artistic’ comic projects, this isn’t exactly what the everyday fan of superhero comics is probably looking for. But if China Miéville is in your wheelhouse, or you enjoy a weirder take on heroes and villains, Dial H is an excellent short comic, perfect for the curious reader.
October 2, 2014
I rarely read comics, but certain authors will tempt me. I get Alan Moore's and Neil Gaiman's stuff whenever it's available, and an author I love making the transition to the medium is something I'll want to catch up with sooner or later, which is why I recently read both the trade paperbacks of China Mieville's Dial H.
The writing's excellent, with Mieville's usual combination of intellectual rigour and incredibly inventive weirdness. The way he'll create a superhero from an apparently random fragment of pop-culture or linguistic idiom or dream-imagery and write them with total conviction -- and do it over and over again -- is astonishing. That he then brings back a throwaway one-liner like Open-Window Man and gives him complete coherence as as superhero, as well as depth, humanity and integrity, makes me want to see him write a longer-term superhero series with a more stable lineup of completely bizarre characters (although I don't suppose that's particularly likely now).
I love the intelligence with which he deconstructs the staples of the genre -- the costumes, the sidekicks, the ethics -- and especially of its politics (Chief Mighty Arrow, the graffiti-world's Batman-equivalent, the brief appearance of Gay Superman). It's also typical of Mieville's ruthless belief in universal humanity to turn an old woman and an obese man into superheroes, and eventually lovers.
The ending is obviously rushed, spinning out from the original concept with dizzying speed, introducing new characters and settings one after another only to kill or destroy them almost immediately -- a great shame, as it's epic in scale and deserve to play out at the appropriate length. (I suppose it could have been worse, though -- at least DC let him actually finish his own story arc.) It's more cosmic in scope than anything Mieville's written in the past, too -- his stories tend to be confined to individual cities or travelling convoys, whereas this widens out to include multiple universes, arbitrary apocalypses and a being aspiring to be God. Whether this is because comics invite that sort of material in a way that novels don't, I don't know, but it's interesting to see this alternative side of him, even while his more personal concerns remain intact.
The aspect I really didn't like -- and given the medium, it's obviously a huge one -- was the art. The character designs were fine, but I thought many of the actual panels and pages were murky, incoherent and sometimes thoroughly ugly. There were times when I had real trouble working out what the artist was trying to show me, and why. But then changing the artist halfway through didn't seem to make any difference, either. Is that just what DC comics are like these days?
The writing's excellent, with Mieville's usual combination of intellectual rigour and incredibly inventive weirdness. The way he'll create a superhero from an apparently random fragment of pop-culture or linguistic idiom or dream-imagery and write them with total conviction -- and do it over and over again -- is astonishing. That he then brings back a throwaway one-liner like Open-Window Man and gives him complete coherence as as superhero, as well as depth, humanity and integrity, makes me want to see him write a longer-term superhero series with a more stable lineup of completely bizarre characters (although I don't suppose that's particularly likely now).
I love the intelligence with which he deconstructs the staples of the genre -- the costumes, the sidekicks, the ethics -- and especially of its politics (Chief Mighty Arrow, the graffiti-world's Batman-equivalent, the brief appearance of Gay Superman). It's also typical of Mieville's ruthless belief in universal humanity to turn an old woman and an obese man into superheroes, and eventually lovers.
The ending is obviously rushed, spinning out from the original concept with dizzying speed, introducing new characters and settings one after another only to kill or destroy them almost immediately -- a great shame, as it's epic in scale and deserve to play out at the appropriate length. (I suppose it could have been worse, though -- at least DC let him actually finish his own story arc.) It's more cosmic in scope than anything Mieville's written in the past, too -- his stories tend to be confined to individual cities or travelling convoys, whereas this widens out to include multiple universes, arbitrary apocalypses and a being aspiring to be God. Whether this is because comics invite that sort of material in a way that novels don't, I don't know, but it's interesting to see this alternative side of him, even while his more personal concerns remain intact.
The aspect I really didn't like -- and given the medium, it's obviously a huge one -- was the art. The character designs were fine, but I thought many of the actual panels and pages were murky, incoherent and sometimes thoroughly ugly. There were times when I had real trouble working out what the artist was trying to show me, and why. But then changing the artist halfway through didn't seem to make any difference, either. Is that just what DC comics are like these days?
January 2, 2015
China Mieville's second volume of Dial H, Exchange is even more ambitious than the first volume. If you thought first volume was strange, wait until you read volume two. Volume two explores Nelson and Roxie further exploring the mysteries behind the dials as various enemies come forth to take away their dials. The mythology around the dials is expanded as we are introduced to new concepts, new characters, and just general weirdness.
Personally, I enjoyed the story (from what I understood anyway) but felt the series had gotten ahead of itself and in the process had gone off the rails. It came as no surprise to me that the book was cancelled due to low sales numbers but it was still disappointing due to being a different kind of book.
Why I think Dial H was cancelled
1.) Sales numbers play a large role, but the fanbase that was left was certainly committed to the book. However, the sales numbers were low compared to other books DC was putting out.
2.) Dial H was more of a Vertigo book than regular DC Universe. Rereading Dial H makes me realize that it doesn't really seem to fit the DC Universe at all, even in the most strange fringe parts of it. Alongside the fact it should have been a Vertigo book, the sales numbers required should have been considered the same.
3.) Dial H had no real prior history or following. There was the first series in the 1960s and then another in the 1980s but the book was doomed from the beginning unless Mieville's following came out bigger than expected.
4.) It was too strange, even for DC fans. The writing wasn't perfect in the book but far worse books stayed alive, even until now because of sales. Mieville's stories are like a puzzle, where you need to have all the pieces in front of you at once in order to try and understand it.
The equivalent of having Mieville write in this medium is like having someone start a puzzle with no picture of what the final product is and only giving them a couple pieces each month. It works for some books, but it doesn't for others. Unfortunately, Dial H falls into the latter.
Personally, I enjoyed the story (from what I understood anyway) but felt the series had gotten ahead of itself and in the process had gone off the rails. It came as no surprise to me that the book was cancelled due to low sales numbers but it was still disappointing due to being a different kind of book.
Why I think Dial H was cancelled
1.) Sales numbers play a large role, but the fanbase that was left was certainly committed to the book. However, the sales numbers were low compared to other books DC was putting out.
2.) Dial H was more of a Vertigo book than regular DC Universe. Rereading Dial H makes me realize that it doesn't really seem to fit the DC Universe at all, even in the most strange fringe parts of it. Alongside the fact it should have been a Vertigo book, the sales numbers required should have been considered the same.
3.) Dial H had no real prior history or following. There was the first series in the 1960s and then another in the 1980s but the book was doomed from the beginning unless Mieville's following came out bigger than expected.
4.) It was too strange, even for DC fans. The writing wasn't perfect in the book but far worse books stayed alive, even until now because of sales. Mieville's stories are like a puzzle, where you need to have all the pieces in front of you at once in order to try and understand it.
The equivalent of having Mieville write in this medium is like having someone start a puzzle with no picture of what the final product is and only giving them a couple pieces each month. It works for some books, but it doesn't for others. Unfortunately, Dial H falls into the latter.
March 19, 2014
China Mieville's take on one of DC's most ridiculous Silver Age properties continues.
Everything I hoped for in this title is still here, the wild invention of outlandish heros, a storyline in which social justice issues are a natural part of the whole narrative, engaging art, and a deep understanding of the comics medium and its history. Volume 2 brings us the history and true purpose of the dial. As such, the concentration is on exposition and world building over character, but the world of the exchange was interesting enough that I didn't feel the loss. For all the multiverses upon multiverses and different dials with different purposes, Mieville is still able to keep everything internally consistent. If there is a drawback it is only that the invented world(s) are so far removed from not only reality but comic book reality that it can occasionally require a little more effort to connect with the situation.
I am a little torn between a desire to see Nelson and Roxie make more regular appearances in the wider DCU, or for the H dial and its operators to drift even farther afield from it. Either way I'm happy to follow them for as long as DC sees fit to publishe 'em.
Everything I hoped for in this title is still here, the wild invention of outlandish heros, a storyline in which social justice issues are a natural part of the whole narrative, engaging art, and a deep understanding of the comics medium and its history. Volume 2 brings us the history and true purpose of the dial. As such, the concentration is on exposition and world building over character, but the world of the exchange was interesting enough that I didn't feel the loss. For all the multiverses upon multiverses and different dials with different purposes, Mieville is still able to keep everything internally consistent. If there is a drawback it is only that the invented world(s) are so far removed from not only reality but comic book reality that it can occasionally require a little more effort to connect with the situation.
I am a little torn between a desire to see Nelson and Roxie make more regular appearances in the wider DCU, or for the H dial and its operators to drift even farther afield from it. Either way I'm happy to follow them for as long as DC sees fit to publishe 'em.
July 18, 2015
This book closes out the Dial H reboot by upping the insanity to absurd levels, all the while building a remarkably coherent backstory and mythos and introducing some of the strangest characters you will ever meet. It starts off relatively sane, with Nelson and Roxie investigating cults that worship the dial, but soon veers off into an interdimensional chase after and away from villain the Centipede, before storming the gates of the Exchange itself in a massive conflict that verges on the incoherent in its action. This collection feels like it should have been two separate books, and the latter half needed a little more time to decompress; it comes through as a lot of telling rather than showing. Nelson and Roxie get de-emphasized in some sections (including a fascinating issue dealing with a civilization that exists in graffiti), as more dials come into play for the final battle. If you've read Mieville's books, you know what kind of imagination he has, and it is all on display here. Aside from being a little too abrupt, this is exemplary of what comics can be - unique and over the top in the best of ways.
April 20, 2016
The last of the four vacation graphic novels, this was also a good read, light years better than DCs prior Dial H for Hero reboot and deliberately trying to mirror the surreal nature of Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol. Again, I liked it - the story had some neat twists, I adored Open Window Man and the whole "you are not to be seen in public in that identity" issue and the sequence with the chalk drawing world. I think China didn't explain the idea of the exchange quite well enough for it to be clear to the readers, where things were rocketing along towards the end, and the Centipede got a little dull as a villain, but it was still an enjoyable sequence. I think I'm done with the run at this point, but I'm not sorry to have read it.
I will say that aside from one guest artist issue the artwork was still unclear in its composition, which hurts the book overall. It's a shame, really, but I shouldn't have to work that hard figuring out what's going on on each page. Again, simple nuts and bolts panel composition is lacking, which is what keeps me from giving this a 4.
I will say that aside from one guest artist issue the artwork was still unclear in its composition, which hurts the book overall. It's a shame, really, but I shouldn't have to work that hard figuring out what's going on on each page. Again, simple nuts and bolts panel composition is lacking, which is what keeps me from giving this a 4.
August 26, 2021
I’m glad I decided to stick with this one, I feel like this is definitly a step up from the first volume!
So this story follows the events of the first book and being the last book in this run it has the task of wrapping everything up but I feel like it did a good job of not only giving a good, interesting story in this book but also did good explaining what’s going on which wasn’t the first book’s strong point. The story easy to follow and I feel like it was a good ending for the time it had to tell it.
I really liked one of the villains in this book ‘the centipede’, gave me agent smith vibes and the new cast of characters introduced were also likeable. I just wish that the story didn’t have to be crammed into this one book so other things could of been explored in a bit more detail but things like this happen in comics a lot.
Overall this was a good ending to the series and was a very odd but entertaining story. I liked it and you could like it too! But then again maybe I just have an odd taste…
So this story follows the events of the first book and being the last book in this run it has the task of wrapping everything up but I feel like it did a good job of not only giving a good, interesting story in this book but also did good explaining what’s going on which wasn’t the first book’s strong point. The story easy to follow and I feel like it was a good ending for the time it had to tell it.
I really liked one of the villains in this book ‘the centipede’, gave me agent smith vibes and the new cast of characters introduced were also likeable. I just wish that the story didn’t have to be crammed into this one book so other things could of been explored in a bit more detail but things like this happen in comics a lot.
Overall this was a good ending to the series and was a very odd but entertaining story. I liked it and you could like it too! But then again maybe I just have an odd taste…
July 28, 2014
Well, it turns out that China Miéville is awesome at super hero comics. If I were an artist, I would love to work with him, the heroes are an uncommon lot, though there are a couple big names thrown around, most characters are completely new creations, and the artists really bring them to life.
Looking past the great character ideas and art, the storyline is also interesting and exciting. Miéville is able to weave a story that is complex and complicated, with a dozen different characters, yet still keep the momentum moving forward. Obviously I don't read a lot of super hero comics, and when I do I'm often blown away by the soap opera-ish web of relationships, vendettas, plots and side-switching, other unoriginal re-hashing of the world's oldest plots.
Dial H takes the best of that and leaves the other bits behind.
Too bad it was cancelled, DC lost a potential new fan base, not to mention a great writer.
Looking past the great character ideas and art, the storyline is also interesting and exciting. Miéville is able to weave a story that is complex and complicated, with a dozen different characters, yet still keep the momentum moving forward. Obviously I don't read a lot of super hero comics, and when I do I'm often blown away by the soap opera-ish web of relationships, vendettas, plots and side-switching, other unoriginal re-hashing of the world's oldest plots.
Dial H takes the best of that and leaves the other bits behind.
Too bad it was cancelled, DC lost a potential new fan base, not to mention a great writer.
March 11, 2014
Overall, as good a conclusion as a prematurely cancelled series can get. Mièville packs more ideas into a page than some writers into 6 issues. Multiple Universes, differnt kinds of dials, phone phreak electromechanics, the erotic side of being a sidekick and the different heroes and villains (centipede!) ....a lot of really interesting and pretty "meta" stuff that Michael Moorcock would be proud of (maybe a little too much?). At the same time pretty confusing and sometimes not too concerned about the plot. The weak points could also be caused by the cancellation and the need to wrap it up quickly. Still a very good first comic series from Mièville with very cool artwork throughout.
July 20, 2016
This is a refreshing area within the DC universe because it does not deal with the same heroes that are well known (and, quite frankly, getting old). It does, however, take this a bit too far in that, instead of focusing on one hero, the main character can become multiple heroes. Sometimes changing from panel to panel. It is too much and far too random. On the other hand, it gives plenty of material for future authors to focus on if they wish to expand the DC universe farther than the overdone heroes and areas that is the main focus of the rest of the comics.
*** I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads ***
*** I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads ***
October 20, 2015
Just as fun as the first volume. Strange dials allow people to transform into randomly-selected and strange superheroes, like Bumper Carla or Captain Lachrymose. This second arc hugely expands the world of the comic, and it's here that things get really rushed and complicated. They knew the series was being shitcanned, so they packed as much into the last few issues as possible, for better or worse. It's still great fun, very Miéville in scope and mood, and left me sad that we likely won't be seeing any more of this.
March 28, 2014
Cancelled far too soon, this off-beat, off-kilter, creative masterpiece of fun-house mirror superhero stories was awesome. I've never enjoyed the fiction of Mieville, but this was a hell of a book.
I won't forget the issue where Nelson dials up a hero that is a noble savage "chief" complete with a warbonnet and his partner won't let him go out in public as a racist stereotype. A perfect blend of consciousness raising, humor, and plot continuation.
I miss it already.
I won't forget the issue where Nelson dials up a hero that is a noble savage "chief" complete with a warbonnet and his partner won't let him go out in public as a racist stereotype. A perfect blend of consciousness raising, humor, and plot continuation.
I miss it already.
July 26, 2016
Really creative and indepth world building, but it's too much too fast and the story ends up being kind of incoherent. It starts clear enough, but there are some weird jumpy gaps that leave the reader--or at least this reader--with only a vague impression of what's actually going on.
The absurdity and humor continue, and no one can question Mieville's creativity, although they might question it's effectiveness or application in this book.
The absurdity and humor continue, and no one can question Mieville's creativity, although they might question it's effectiveness or application in this book.
January 2, 2020
As always with Mieville, enjoyable and strange. I can't help but feel that the story reached its end-game too soon. It felt as though the pace picked up a bit too much for the second volume. I'm not sure if the series was only ever going to be as long as it was, but the climax felt too large for the protagonist and his story.
I may give it another go at some point (being a quick read), but the series was sadly a step down from most of Mieville's prose fiction.
I may give it another go at some point (being a quick read), but the series was sadly a step down from most of Mieville's prose fiction.
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