CBR: China Miéville Revives "Dial H" for DC Comics

[CBR News]

Speaking exclusively with CBR, award-winning novelist China Miéville discussed "Dial H," teasing details about the opening arc, the book's role in the DCU and the significance of the dials in the New 52.


Full article here.

[Chachi]

I'll be on board for this come May. Was a big fan of 2003's Hero title.

[Roland Gunner]

I appreciate that Mieville wanted to keep details of the new book sketchy but this still sounds awesome. Super excited for Dial H to come out.

[Desaad]

Sounds awesome, and I love his enthusiasm.

Hope this is the first of a lot of new work from Mieville at DC.

[Uxas]

Haven't read any of his previous work, but his ideas sound intriguing. This might be the next Animal Man.

[Desaad]

Haven't read any of his previous work, but his ideas sound intriguing. This might be the next Animal Man.

I think that is going to be true, but I think in a different way than you meant.

I think this might be to Dial H what Morrison's Animal Man was to Animal Man.

[Rakzo]

Well the guy certainly sounds excited and the premise looks intriguing. I'm definitely going to give him a chance.

[Uxas]

I think that is going to be true, but I think in a different way than you meant.

I think this might be to Dial H what Morrison's Animal Man was to Animal Man.

Oh, I can see that happening as well. Dial H is an idea that has great potential, especially with this more serious, psychological take.

Definitely sounds like a great addition to DC's Dark line.

[Desaad]

Oh, I can see that happening as well. Dial H is an idea that has great potential, especially with this more serious, psychological take.

Definitely sounds like a great addition to DC's Dark line.

The reason I make the distinction is that Animal Man under Lemire is just a really good execution of everything that came before. It's not really doing anything different, per se, just expanded and exploring the mythology and the tone that was already established with incredible aplomb.

Ditto Snyder's Swamp Thing.

Morrison's Animal Man (and his Doom Patrol, and Milligan's Shade, and Moore's Swamp Thing) were catastrophically different from what came before and represented a real leveling up, a GROWING up, if a fairly childish concept or a lackluster hero.

I don't know, this just feels like those early Vertigo comics did to me, or at least that it has the potential to be that.

Who knows, execution could fall completely through. But I'm excited!

[Uxas]

Yeah, who knows, maybe the H-dial will become a mainstay in DC books.

I'd like to see more of these fairly obscure, fan favourite ideas and books revived with solid creative teams. I love how DC seems to be more willing to do something different with the DCnU.

[Uxas]

I wonder if how far Mieville will take the psychological aspect of the book. How much of his identity will the main character lose, will he do things in these alternate forms he'll grow to regret?

What about antagonists? Is there something that the main character has to actively fight against, or will it just be him trying to be a hero? Is he even a hero?

[AdamYJ]

My thinking about it was to do an homage to that classic title, but to take it quite seriously. In the original runs, it tended to be quite fun and goofy, which I loved, but I wanted to take, psychologically, what would be the real impact of having this immense but completely unpredictable power -- the idea of how destabilizing it would be to your identity to change who you are every time you dial up.

No! The goofiness is what made the old title so great! I think you might have to count me out.

[blackphoenix]

No! The goofiness is what made the old title so great! I think you might have to count me out.

I take it that you didn't read the 2003 H.E.R.O. series. It was a pretty good read, and it ditched the comedic elements for the most part. One of my favorite issues of the run was when a male construction worker got the dial and turned into a female heroine with electrical powers. Then he lost the dial and was stuck in feminine form for a bit. I hope things like that will be explored in the new book.

I'm also looking forward to the exploration of just what the H-Dial really is. In all these years, the powers that be at DC have never given an origin to the dial. There were two dials at one point in the '80's run of Adventure Comics, one in the form of a wristwatch--I wonder if it will figure in this series? Mieville did mention "dials" in his interview.

[AdamYJ]

I take it that you didn't read the 2003 H.E.R.O. series. It was a pretty good read, and it ditched the comedic elements for the most part. One of my favorite issues of the run was when a male construction worker got the dial and turned into a female heroine with electrical powers. Then he lost the dial and was stuck in feminine form for a bit. I hope things like that will be explored in the new book.

No, it didn't seem like my kind of thing.

I fell in love with the Dial H idea when I bought a copy of Showcase Presents Dial H for Hero to take with me on a car trip. Boy, was that some fun vacation reading.

[Johnny P. Sartre]

This news completely caught me off guard, Mieville doing a ongoing comic. Wow, completely stoked on this