The statement that China Mieville's Dial H series could well have been a Vertigo title has been well and truly made, not in the least just because of the Brian Bolland covers and Karen Berger editing, but also Mieville's unlikely cast and wild and winding storyline. Dial H Vol. 2: Exchange, the final volume, is arguably not as strong as the first, delving as it does more into the mythology than into the characters themselves; it is enjoyable overall, however, and the fifth and especially the seventh chapters (issues #11 and #13) shine as real paragons of comics writing.

[Review contains spoilers]

Early in Exchange, Mieville introduces a secret military organization that's been experimenting on the titular H-Dials. Mieville contrasts well in the story the sci-fi espionage elements on one hand, and the dimension-hopping fantasy that comes later; Dial H jumps genres like the characters change hero personas, and that's all right with me. At the same time, between Matt Kindt's Mind MGMT and Matt Fraction's Sex Criminals, not to mention the bevy of covert organizations in the New 52, Dial H loses a little something here, where I think I'd liked better the threat of the all-consuming Abyss monster in the first volume, Into You.

The winningest part of Mieville's story remains unlikely heroes Nelson Jent -- middle aged and overweight -- and elderly Roxie Hodder. These are atypical hero figures amid the musclebound superhero set, and Mieville expertly captures how a normal person might react in Nelson and Roxie's situations; Nelson more often makes the wrong decision than the right one, and his ever-increasing addiction to the H-Dial is compelling. I do only wish Mieville had not made the pair a couple, albeit temporarily. The book heads too obviously in that direction, and indeed pairing the male and female lead is too common; Mieville would have kept better with the books "nontraditional" themes had Nelson and Roxie's relationship remained platonic.

The awkward morning after, however, leads to the first of the book's best issues, in which Nelson's dials up the abilities of the Flash, costume and all. This is simply entertaining, as Mieville explores the Flash's powers through the normal person guise and also plays the Flash's speed off Nelson trying to avoid Roxie after their night together. But, Mieville also uses the notable occasion of Nelson receiving a familiar hero's powers to plumb some of the book's central mysteries, namely from where the H-Dial's gets the various powers and whether the dial duplicates or steals other heroes' powers. Obviously having the dial steal powers is an untenable situation for the characters, but Mieville gets around this (cleverly but maybe too slickly) by explaining that a broken dial steals, a fixed dial copies.

The second best (but best-est) issue of the book is #13, set entirely on a planet of living graffiti; Nelson, Roxie, and their new otherworldly team of dial-heroes have to figure how to bring a two-dimensional H-Dial into their three-dimensional space. Mieville succeeds here because the issue is more about the characters than about flash-bang superhero fights; the seemingly most absurd of heroes, Open-Window Man, guides a two-dimensional chalk Bruce Wayne-equivalent through mourning his parents and becoming the chalk Batman.

Not only does Mieville end the issue with a strong statement about Bruce's choice to become Batman, but also the depth and breadth of alternate universes has never been more staggering than when we understand Open-Window Man is an alternate Batman, too. The issue is unique, surprising, and moving, and I encourage even those who never read an issue of Dial H to pick up #13 for the sheer beauty of it.

Unfortunately, I felt that Exchange began to come apart a bit as it neared its conclusion. Late in the book Mieville introduces these different H-Dialers of various powers, and I couldn't help but feel they crowded out the real engines of the story, Nelson and Roxie. Artist Alberto Ponticelli has driven this book well all along, but some crowded, dark, and sketchy panels made it tough to tell who was doing what in the end, especially in the already-less-effective big fight scenes. At the point in which the heroes fight the Fixer and the Operator -- a purposefully complex sequence as is since the Fixer and the Operator had been opponents, now suddenly allies -- Ponticelli tends to draw the two characters looking the same, again making it tough to tell who's where.

Included at the end is Justice League #23.3, the "Dial E for Evil" Villains Month issue. I'm certainly pleased DC Comics included this issue in this collection, and I appreciated that the issue does serve specifically as an epilogue to the Dial H series instead of being just a one-shot (whether said elements, now part of the New 52 firmament, appear again remains to be seen). At the same time, while the issue features a different artist per page -- of the likes of Jock, Frazer Irving, and Jeff Lemire -- there's no guide to who drew what page, and here too in some of the art it's tougher to discern the action than others.

The sheer difference of China Mieville's Dial H over other titles on the stands is an argument toward its continuation (though I'm heartened now by the coming of new DC titles like Gotham Academy and Klarion). Surely it would only benefit the New 52 to host more titles with Vertigo sensibilities. But in the end Dial H Vol. 2: Exchange gets too superhero-y for me (leaving aside the understood "hero" in the title); I hate to be down on the final volume, but this one didn't work as well for me.

[Includes full covers, including "WTF" gatefold cover, sketch pages]

Coming up ... Damian: Son of Batman!

How difficult it is to decide exactly where China Miéville’s Dial H Vol. 1: Into You fits in the literary continuum is just the first indication of what a pleasantly oddball book this is. It starts out as a crime drama and never quite loses that crime noir aesthetic; toward the middle, Dial H would seem to offer some generally familiar superheroics, but this, too, is supplanted by some unexpectedly vigorous sci-fi — aliens and creatures from other dimensions and time travel.

Dial H is interesting and well thought-out, and Miéville would seem to have a thorough mythology for the “H Dial” planned out that could last this title many moons. Whether that will happen or not, however, remains to be seen — the second volume of Dial H, already solicited, collects issues #7-16, more than a normal trade and also cutting off at the September issue where many expect DC may release a new “wave” of titles. Dial H is the kind of oddball that the DC Universe needs, a diverse voice instead of another franchise title; we’ll learn shortly whether there’s public support for that kind of thing, or if Dial H is soon to dial its last.

[Review contains spoilers]

Dial H requires a lot from the reader at the start, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing — Miéville doesn’t pause much for explanations, so the reader must stay sharp for follow who’s X.N., Manteau, and others. Miéville and artist Mateus Santolouco depict Nelson Jent’s first transformation with the H Dial, to Boy Chimney, using fractured panels and disjointed narration; the difficulty increases when Squid comes on the scene in the second chapter, a seeming prisoner who’s suddenly the captor instead of the captive. All of this distinguishes Dial H as a book unafraid to tell a complicated story and trust the reader to keep up.

The other weird, wild thing about Dial H is that, by the climax of the first main storyline, the book’s supporting cast consists of portly, unemployed Nelson; Manteau Roxie Hodder, who turned out to be an elderly woman; and Squid, a trans-dimensional alien who previously murdered Nelson’s best friend. They are a motley crew, to be sure, but moreover they’re specifically different than the svelte superhumans of the Justice League or Teen Titans. Dial H’s unspoken message is that anyone can be a hero, no matter how unlikely; but also it’s simply nice to see a comic where every character isn’t built like a god.

H Dials abound toward the middle of the story — there’s not just one, Miéville establishes, but scores hidden in unexpected places — but one interesting complication is when those dials are stolen or broken until Nelson and Roxie have to share. Nelson is the story’s first “bad actor,” swiping the dial out of Roxie’s hands; later he and Roxie make a grudging deal to take turns dialing up super-powers. I began to wonder if more than just the thrill of superheroics was at play here, but rather whether Neslon and Roxie may be becoming addicted to the dial; there’s plenty story potential should Nelson and Roxie’s partnership become not-so-friendly for want of the dial.

Perhaps most startling is the last chapter collected here, Dial H’s Zero Month issue #0. It begins in Babylonian times with the pseudo-origin of the H Dial, in which Syrian leader Laodice fights off the marauding Parthan army with the help of a sun-dial that grants her powers. Strangely, however, Laodice becomes Bumper Carla, a carnival-themed superhero long before automobiles have been invented. The story gets more bizarre when Carla returns years later to murder Laodice in revenge; apparently when Laodice summoned Carla, the process stole the powers from an actual superhero named Bumper Carla, causing the people Carla had been saving to die.

With this, Miéville has rightfully made Dial H his own, different now from any iteration of Dial H for HERO that DC has published before. The H Dial’s user doesn’t simply gain powers and a heroic identity, but rather those powers and identity are stolen from a hero in another dimension, and that hero still exists for the time the dial is in use, just without their powers. In a way this enriches all the “random” Dial H characters — each one actually comes from somewhere, with their own culture and origin — though it creates an extra burden on Miéville to imagine not just new power sets, but entire lives for each of the beings Nelson and Roxie turn in to.

It’s probably to Dial H’s benefit that, while some of DC headline superheroes get a mention here, this book is largely removed from the rest of the DC Universe. At the same time, when Carla’s teammate Slim explains that “there’s more than one world,” I couldn’t help but hope the H Dial is tapping into not just different dimensions, but the multiverse, and that maybe a crossover with James Robinson’s Earth 2 or such might be in the offing, if Dial H lasts that long.

I don’t want to jinx Dial H’s chances by adding to the chorus suggesting this book might be on its way out — if anything, if this review has piqued your interest, probably the best thing you can do to save this title is to pick up a copy of Dial H Vol. 1: Into You and pre-order the second volume as well. In some of the esoteria of the characters here fighting an abyss monster made of nothing, Dial H is not as compelling as, say, Animal Man Buddy Baker trying to save his family, but neither is it yet another Batman title; the best way you can support a diverse catalog of DC Universe titles is by giving the oddballs notice when they come about.

[Includes original and variant covers, sketches and designs by Santolouco, profile page]

Now for something completely different — on Monday, a review of Grant Morrison’s Happy. Don’t miss it!