Dial H #4: The Abyss that walks like a man

[arbre_rieur]

Four pages from the issue...

Last issue, Nelson gained an ally, the enigmatic Manteau. Who she is underneath her mask is a mystery, but she's a fellow HERO dialer like himself, only much more experienced.

But now she's been kidnapped by the same parties who have accidentally let loose Abyss on Earth. What precisely is "Abyss," you ask? Well...

Comments

[icon_uk]

Would I be right in recalling that there being villains called the Squid and Abyss in the 1980's Dial H for HERO series?

[icon_uk]

And I was right! Abyss and Squid appeared in Adventure Comics 490 in 1982

Sometimes the levels of my geek-memory scare even me!

[crinos]

Yeah, that was actually the only Dial H for hero story I owned before I bought the digest a while back. It was a great story, and I totally marked out when I saw the Squid in an earlier post from this book.

[wizardru]

I would say it's a little terrifying that you could remember that...but then again, I remember one of the characters turning into "The Flying Buttress", which was the first time I'd heard that term. It was both hysterical and ridiculous (but did get me to look up the term, which then made me think someone worked REALLY HARD to make a superhero fit the term).

[icon_uk]

I love the names of some of the Dial H characters; Alchemiss, Interchange (The Metamorphic Man), the Evil Eight... fun times (if occsionally looney tunes)

I actually remember the Abyss from the moment where he loses control of his powers and collapses in on himself.

[mrosa]

This series looks really good.

[pyrrhocorax]

Oh noooo, I hope the alien person is okay! I'm really interested in this series.

[kraesil]

First an overweight hero, now an old lady? Wooooot. I like this!

[icon_uk]

Remind me to introduce you to Twilight of the DP7 sometime. Actually, some DP7 is long overdue on SD. Icon_UK makes mental note....

[werehawk]

DP7 was certainly a (the?) highlight of the New Universe. Twilight was one of the greats from that series, though I really related to Antibody more (and what young man wasn't supposed to). And some of the later issues (post-Pitt) really had some interesting interactions (like Chrome & Antibody & Friction) and unique characters like Mutator. If only my collection wasn't buried in the attic.

[icon_uk]

Definitely THE highpoint to me, with Mark Gruenwald perhaps at his best in looking at how superpowers could suck if you were an otherwise normal person in a world where caped heroes didn't exist.

[akodo_rokku]

What I find interesting is not just that he's overweight, but that he's less overweight now than in the first issue. Because he realized, "Shit, if I'm gonna be fighting supervillains I better get in shape!"

[shadowpsykie]

heh yeah. i am all for more inclusiveness (I am not exactly slim jim) but if he's gonna be superheroing even if he doesn't think he should loose weight, he probably WILL lose weight just from the sheer exerstion of crime fighting

[salinea]

... I'm not sure that this is how it necessarily works.

[shadowpsykie]

really? i found myself losing some weight just from my work load at work (we had a a series of projects that turned out to be very labor intensive to me.) ... i admit i also missed a few meals because of the work load but still... I mean if you are more active you burn more calories, what's more active than superheroing (or runing for your lives?)

[salinea]

I said "necessarily". It might, but biology when it comes to weight is really fucking complicated and full of counter intuitive mechanism and not even wholly understood (or we'd be better at helping people keep fit).

[shadowpsykie]

It might, but biology when it comes to weight is really fucking compl

Oh okay, yeah i get it. and yeah i understand. yeah its complicated as all fuck.

[zapbiffpow]

Not exactly Robin the Boy Wonder there, Nelson. I really like this series, even if it's a bit incomprehensible at times.

[kirke_novak]

Dial H is like a new Manhunter to me - which means it's probably going to get cancelled pretty soon. :/

[donnblake]

Well, Miéville's a well enough known prose writer that I'm hoping he'll get some breathing room to get into the stride of comics.

[donnblake]

Not that I think he's not in stride now- I'm loving Dial H for Hero, just that hopefully DC will think twice before puling the plug.

[red_cyclone]

So sad my comic shop didn't have this :( I really hope it hangs on long enough to be put in a trade, the more I see the better it is.