the_mighty_monarch's Dial H #6 - Offensive Content review

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    "Heap Big" Fun

    Dial H has quickly risen to be my 4th favorite series in the New 52, jumping past Swamp Thing and Animal Man to sit just below the pretty much immovable Batwoman, Batman, and I, Vampire. Dial H just has so much insane energy, and China Mieville is perfect at balancing the ridiculously over the top creative nonsense with an incredibly in depth sense of very serious bigger implications and plotlines. This is a serious where we can get such a sense of sorrow from sentient nothingness from another universe; and then next issue have a robbery foiled by flying horse feces. And of course every issue begins with a gorgeous Brian Bolland cover, this one being one of my favorites because of the detail in the simple design, and what it represents.

    Contrary to what the cover says, David Lapham does the interior art, not Mateus Santolouco. A lot of people had problems with the art from the zero issue, but I enjoyed it for being different from Santulouco, but a similar style; representing the different time period it was set in. Lapham's art somewhat resembles a more relaxed version of Santulouco for this side story. It doesn't have a lot of action, so where it mostly shines is in the facial expressions, and an equal ability to Santulouco for depicting the insane Dial Heroes Mieville can come up with.

    The story here is a fairly simple one, which we needed after the deep, complex, and mind blowing conclusion to the opening arc. It's essentially the superhero comics' equivalent of a sitcom's locked room episode. Nelson dials up a politically incorrect hero, and is banned from active duty by Manteau unless it's an absolute emergency. One of the important things that comes from this issue is a good summary of what the current status quo is, with two dialers sharing one dial and Manteau attempting to track down more secrets of the dials, or the location of another. We also get to see more of the long term effects of continued dialing outside of the frantic context of the first arc.

    The only problem I have is that we don't get any kind of look at the heroes in Manteau's Refusenik Dossier, relying only on our own imaginations to picture them from name alone.

    In Conclusion: 5/5

    The lack of action in this issue plays to it's benefit, developing the characters of Nelson and Manteau as individuals outside of their dialed heroes. Nelson is still on his dial high, while Manteau has developed very extensive measures to keep her sanity after dialing for so long. Who would've thought a comic would be so exciting when it's main characters are a fat wash up and an old woman?

    Other reviews for Dial H #6 - Offensive Content

      Dial H #6 Review 0

      Dial H is a series that really impresses month to month. This issue is a much needed cool down issue, after a frantic first five issues, along with the zero issue.This issue focus on the fact that Nelson dialed up a rather offensive transformation in Chief Mighty Arrow, and Roxie forces him to sit around and wait for the transformation to wear off (unless his help is absolutely needed). The premise is simple, yet effective and unique, delivering a funny issue that illuminates the further randomn...

      3 out of 3 found this review helpful.

      Dial H #6 0

      THE GOOD: David Lapham does the art for this issue and it still looks fantastic. He draws the characters well and makes the dials that you see in this issue fun to look at. The expressions are simple but they still get the point across and that are cool to look at. The backgrounds and and the machinery that he draws is what really takes it all. The story is less of a story and more of a break issue. Nothing happens in this issue, but it's the best filler issue ever created. The character sit aro...

      1 out of 1 found this review helpful.

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