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merricatct's review against another edition
2.0
The best part of this was Mieville's dialogue, especially Boy Chimney and the Abyss. I wonder if the Abyss and the Weaver from Perdido Street Station are friends, because if they're not, they should be. ^_^ This is definitely a case of "it's not you, it's me", because I'm not a big fan of comics or graphic novels - I just read this because it was Mieville's work.
otherwyrld's review against another edition
4.0
One of the hottest author's around reinventing an obscure DC comics character? Oh yes please!
China Mieville always does weird so well, so his take on Dial H For Hero was always going to be "out there". It's certainly a fun and challenging story, and I like the characters he creates here, especially ordinary guy Nelson, who gets in well over his head when he accidentally dials himself into a superhero, then another one, then another one. In this he is well-supported by the mysterious Manteau, who turns out to have a dial of her own, and faces great villains in Ex Nihilo and the Void.
For all that imagination, I had a nagging sense that I had read all of this before, and I finally realised that Mieville seems to be channeling Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol, and Crazy Jane in particular. Now this is no bad thing, as I loved this series and wish I could re-read it (I think it's long out of print though). DC Comics need a few more of this kind of series to pull back old readers like me, because most of their superhero stuff is tedious as hell (Marvel is not much better either).
The main story is backed up by two additional stories, one of which is hysterically funny (villain gets taken down by flying horse poop - now why has that never appeared in Clash of the Titans!). It makes a welcome relief form the seriousness of the main story. The second backup tale delves a bit more deeply into where all these superhero powers comes from, and the consequences of what happens when those powers disappear so they can be used by a person with a dial. Answer - not very nice things usually.
While I enjoyed this story, I think that 4 stars is a bit high - 3 1/2 stars would have been closer.
China Mieville always does weird so well, so his take on Dial H For Hero was always going to be "out there". It's certainly a fun and challenging story, and I like the characters he creates here, especially ordinary guy Nelson, who gets in well over his head when he accidentally dials himself into a superhero, then another one, then another one. In this he is well-supported by the mysterious Manteau, who turns out to have a dial of her own, and faces great villains in Ex Nihilo and the Void.
For all that imagination, I had a nagging sense that I had read all of this before, and I finally realised that Mieville seems to be channeling Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol, and Crazy Jane in particular. Now this is no bad thing, as I loved this series and wish I could re-read it (I think it's long out of print though). DC Comics need a few more of this kind of series to pull back old readers like me, because most of their superhero stuff is tedious as hell (Marvel is not much better either).
The main story is backed up by two additional stories, one of which is hysterically funny (villain gets taken down by flying horse poop - now why has that never appeared in Clash of the Titans!). It makes a welcome relief form the seriousness of the main story. The second backup tale delves a bit more deeply into where all these superhero powers comes from, and the consequences of what happens when those powers disappear so they can be used by a person with a dial. Answer - not very nice things usually.
While I enjoyed this story, I think that 4 stars is a bit high - 3 1/2 stars would have been closer.
thewargrave's review
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
crowyhead's review against another edition
3.0
I feel like China Mieville must have read a lot of Doom Patrol in the 80s; there's a very similar embracing-of-the-weird here. I found the whole book kind of difficult to follow, frankly, but I'm sufficiently engaged that I'll read the next volume. Frankly, just the character of Roxie is enough to keep me reading a little longer.
rdebner's review against another edition
3.0
A mystical phone dial turns average joe Nelson Jent into a variety of superheroes. He battles the Abyss with alien Squid and fellow dialer Manteau.
theartolater's review against another edition
2.0
So I don't know what didn't work for me on this one. It might be that I've traditionally had a hard time with Mieville, it might be that the old-style tropes, while sometimes fun, mostly felt weird and disjointed, maybe it's been that this arc/reboot has been way overhyped for me, I'm not really sure. All I can say is that this really felt overwrought and overdone. The artwork was great, the callbacks interesting, but none of it connected with me.
ddb883's review against another edition
2.0
Meh. It's not bad, I just expected something more from China Mieville.
dr_matthew_lloyd's review against another edition
4.0
I imagine that many of China Miéville's fans were anxious when it was announced that he would be penning a comic book for DC. I know I approached it with some anticipation - nothing that came close to stopping me, but certainly I wondered if it would be possible for the wonderfully weird Miéville to translate to the DCU. On the other hand, I also wonder how those who have not read any of Miéville's works responded to this announcement - clearly he's a very well renowned author, but if you don't know his work then you might not know what to expect. I can only speak for one of these approaches, as I love most of the Miéville books I've read and would recommend [b:The City & the City|4703581|The City & the City|China Miéville|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320475957s/4703581.jpg|4767909] to anyone. As for the other side, well, apparently DC did not see fit to renew this volume past #15, so it seems that they were not impressed. On this, I have no comment.
I suppose the place to start would be: how Miéville is it? To begin with, it doesn't seem very much of his oeuvre, but the further through I read the more it started to chime with his novels. Very early on we have some "unseeing", as Nelson and Darren both pass a homeless man on the street of Littleville, completely ignoring him. Then we have the setting: dirty, urban, lower-class; the very subject, a powerful old-style phone booth, has rings (pun intended - and if you don't like puns, this is not the book for you) of [b:Un Lun Dun|68496|Un Lun Dun|China Miéville|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1170692699s/68496.jpg|2959401]; Abyss talks like the Weaver; and Manteau, well, this is a bit of a, but it does seem like Miéville sat down and thought "what would [a:Ursula K. Le Guin|874602|Ursula K. Le Guin|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1244291425p2/874602.jpg] look like with superpowers?" . Indeed, while the feel of this book is decidedly Miévillean, it most closely resembles Un Lun Dun and [b:Kraken|6931246|Kraken|China Miéville|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320551670s/6931246.jpg|8814204], for me - books which are so full of wonderful, visual ideas of weird London that it's hard to appreciate them all crammed together into two very long books; but Into You gives these ideas a purpose - they are various new heroes - and, this being a comic book, the visuals are right there in front of you.
I'm not familiar with the work of the artists credited in this book - Mateus Santolouco seems to be the primary artist, with David Lapham and Riccardo Burchielli also credited and Tanya and Richard Horie as colourists. But all of these artists deserve credit because at no point did this look like an illustrated China Miéville novel rather than a DC comic book. Most of the heroes we see look like they belong in the DCU - perhaps cover star Boy Chimney is overly Miévillean - and the heroes and villains all look like they could easily pass into other superhero comics and look like they belong there. It's true enough that this is also in Miéville's writing, but I could imagine a 400+ page novel by him much the same as this but not in the DCU, so I like to give the artists some credit.
While the #1-5 provide a good, introductory story for what should have been a long-running series, it is #6 and #0 which contain the most interesting ideas. #6 plays with the idea that there are some heroes you just cannot be in public, and playfully prods American ideas about race and representation; it's perhaps undermined a little by the choice of a blonde, white man as the star of the series, although Manteau does somewhat make up for that boring route. Meanwhile, #0 explores the consequences of what the H-Dial actually does. Hopefully, those will be the beginnings of whatever storyline rounds off this series.
On a personal circumstances note, it was nice that the final New 52 collection I'm going to get to read from my local library before I move was the only one to match the first one ([b:Batgirl, Vol. 1: The Darkest Reflection|13228436|Batgirl, Vol. 1 The Darkest Reflection|Gail Simone|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1361895856s/13228436.jpg|18420381]) in my affections. It's a shame in some ways that DC chose not to continue this series, but on the other hand I'll be happy to read new Miéville books.
I suppose the place to start would be: how Miéville is it? To begin with, it doesn't seem very much of his oeuvre, but the further through I read the more it started to chime with his novels. Very early on we have some "unseeing", as Nelson and Darren both pass a homeless man on the street of Littleville, completely ignoring him. Then we have the setting: dirty, urban, lower-class; the very subject, a powerful old-style phone booth, has rings (pun intended - and if you don't like puns, this is not the book for you) of [b:Un Lun Dun|68496|Un Lun Dun|China Miéville|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1170692699s/68496.jpg|2959401]; Abyss talks like the Weaver; and Manteau, well, this is a bit of a
I'm not familiar with the work of the artists credited in this book - Mateus Santolouco seems to be the primary artist, with David Lapham and Riccardo Burchielli also credited and Tanya and Richard Horie as colourists. But all of these artists deserve credit because at no point did this look like an illustrated China Miéville novel rather than a DC comic book. Most of the heroes we see look like they belong in the DCU - perhaps cover star Boy Chimney is overly Miévillean - and the heroes and villains all look like they could easily pass into other superhero comics and look like they belong there. It's true enough that this is also in Miéville's writing, but I could imagine a 400+ page novel by him much the same as this but not in the DCU, so I like to give the artists some credit.
While the #1-5 provide a good, introductory story for what should have been a long-running series, it is #6 and #0 which contain the most interesting ideas. #6 plays with the idea that there are some heroes you just cannot be in public, and playfully prods American ideas about race and representation; it's perhaps undermined a little by the choice of a blonde, white man as the star of the series, although Manteau does somewhat make up for that boring route. Meanwhile, #0 explores the consequences of what the H-Dial actually does. Hopefully, those will be the beginnings of whatever storyline rounds off this series.
On a personal circumstances note, it was nice that the final New 52 collection I'm going to get to read from my local library before I move was the only one to match the first one ([b:Batgirl, Vol. 1: The Darkest Reflection|13228436|Batgirl, Vol. 1 The Darkest Reflection|Gail Simone|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1361895856s/13228436.jpg|18420381]) in my affections. It's a shame in some ways that DC chose not to continue this series, but on the other hand I'll be happy to read new Miéville books.