Dial H for Hero #1 (of 6) Review

Writer: Sam Humphries

Artist: Joe Quinones

Letterer: Dave Sharpe

Published by: Wonder Comics (DC)

After reading this first issue of Dial H for Hero by Humphries and Quinones, the only thing I could think of was: “Wow, these guys just gave me exactly what I needed”. And what I needed was a fun, joyful comic that did everything right in its first issue.

The issue starts off with Miguel, our new Dial H for Hero hero, as he is recapping an incident that happened to him when he was 10 years old: he almost died after a dive went wrong but was transported to the hospital by Superman (who was in Kansas.. Saving people… right, that’s what he was doing). That moment marked him growing up as he has tried to recapture that rush he felt the day he was saved by Superman. Within a matter of three pages, Humphries quickly establishes the motivations behind this new character and gives us pretty much everything we need to know about Miguel for the moment.

It also establishes Miguel’s world we a few key factors:

• He seems to always have been a daredevil, but that incident turned up this trait of his to 100;
• He now lives with his uncle after some unspecified incident that happened to his parents;  
• He’s unhappy as nothing as exciting as being saved by Superman has happened to him since;
• He works at a food truck that specializes in mayonnaise;
• He still takes incredibly stupid risks.

We learn all of this within the span of a few pages and it’s not in a overbearing way either. Humphries’ script flows throughout the issue and we learn these facts about Miguel naturally.

Oh, and it’s one of those stupid risks that he takes that leads him to the Dial. And what a scene that is. Without spoiling anything, the whole introduction of the Dial does, once again, many things right:

• It establishes the Dial as a known tool in the DC Universe (so many cameos!);
• It establishes that the Dial, well, doesn’t give you necessarily the types of heroes you’d expect.

I’ll also mention that the first hero we get to see is amazing and Humphries and Quinones just killed that scene.

Speaking of Quinones, I’ve seen some of his work over the years, but after reading this first issue, he’s definitely an artist I’ll be keeping my eye out for. His character and layout work throughout is amazing, but it’s the whole scene with the Dial that sold me. Incredible work!