Dial H is just so weird. I dig it like that.
Where else are you going to see a dog-headed man with a rocket pack strapped to his back chasing after a bug-headed guy in a suit?
China Miéville’s ongoing series about mysterious dials that can transform people into really strange heroes is sometimes hard to follow, but it’s so damned imaginative that you don’t dare miss an issue for fear of missing the next occurrence of Pelican Army.
In Dial H #10, the unlikely team of dial-wielders – the old woman Roxie Hodder and the fat guy Nelson Jent – have been reduced to sharing one dial, and they’re trying to gather more information on just where these things come from while infiltrating a military installation that’s studying a different sort of dial. Nelson has transformed himself into The Glimpse, who is invisible to the naked eye, but they’ve just trained a soldier to use the new dial, and he’s become Bristol Bloodhound, jetpack dog-faced guy. Oddly, Bristol Bloodhound seems unable to act unless given direct orders by The Glimpse, who briefly mistakes him for his partner, Half-Seen Boy. Yet, they make good their escape, and now Roxie and Nelson have two dials and a captive soldier.
However, the soldier has the secret that will allow Roxie and Nelson to actually work together – Dialing 4376 gets you a Hero, but dialing 7433 spells S-I-D-E. Sidekick! So you can Dial S for Sidekick, who is predisposed to doing whatever the Hero says. Of course, they try it out, with Nelson magnanimously offering to be the guinea pig sidekick, trusting Roxie to remain in control. They both dial up hot buff heroes, and working together as hero and sidekick brings them a more powerful charge out of their crimefighting, and they wind up completely making out – which moves Dial H into some interesting Harold and Maude territory that you defintely never see in your average comic book.
Alberto Ponticelli’s art tends to feel like it’s got really rough edges and awkward shapes – plus, there’s an awkward panel where Roxie’s alter ego Manteau is behind Nelson’s Copter, but her arm is in the foreground and should be getting ripped off by the copter-pack blades, but isn’t – a really questionable perspective problem. Yet, he’s doing pretty well with the wild and crazy character concepts like Bristol Bloodhound and The Copter – not to mention the nameless guy we see in a flashback with star-spangled pants and a law book for a head. Miéville’s story is obviously going somewhere, but it’s constantly taking directions you never see coming, and it’s just a lot of fun to let his ideas run wild.
Dial H is a really nutty book that will likely read better when collected in trade form, but I love that I never have any idea what to expect from it.
