House of Mystery #156 (1966)
by Dave Wood & Jim Mooney
New retrospective! We’ll have a look at the classic run of “Dial H for H.E.R.O.”, a minor but surprisingly durable DC franchise.
The premise is a stroke of genius in its simplicity: just dial H.E.R.O. and turn into a random super-hero!
Our protagonist will be teenager Robby Reed, an orphan from Smallville Liddleville who lives with his aunt May his grandfather Gramps.
(we don’t know his actual name)
Robby is also a scientist in his spare time. You would think that ties into his origin story, but not really: apparently this is just something that normal teenagers did in 1966.
Robby has one of the most awkward catchphrases I’ve seen, exclaiming SOCKAMAGEE! every five minutes.
If anyone can explain to me the etymology of that word I will be immensely grateful.
This is also when he spots his nemesis Thunderbolt.
Thunderbolt gets VERY close to getting rid of Robby before he even becomes a problem…
…but instead he just falls into a cave.
That’s where he discovers the device that will eventually be called the H-Dial™, and which will be VERY inconsistent on how many letters that thing has.
Despite the fact that the letters from the H-Dial are completely unrecognizable, Robby SOMEHOW manages to translate its alphabet. (WTF!?!?)
This is Robby’s first transformation and one of the very few recurring ones: Giant Boy.
In addition to being giant, he can also fly. Colossal Boy must be SO jealous.
After randomly saving a plane from crashing, Giant Boy then remembers he’s supposed to fight Thunderbolt so he goes back to the giant robot.
Thunderbolt’s minions are not exactly impressive.
The “teen superhero” aspect is surprisingly underplayed.
We will slowly learn there are other things you can dial, besides H.E.R.O, which have a variety of effects. For now, we just have the reverse.
Later, Robby hears over the radio of a new attack by Thunderbolts, and he turns into his second identity: Cometeer. Who, despite the way he’s drawn, doesn’t seem to be invisible.
Robby comes up with the “Cometeer” name before he learns that he leaves behind a comet’s trail when he flies. In this period he has to think of the hero names, but in the future he will IMMEDIATELY know both the power and the name of the hero.
Cometeer is decidedly less useful than Giant Boy: he barely lasts a page.
Robby’s third transformation looks far sillier than the first two.
“The Mole” is surprisingly more useful than Cometeer, though.
Robby is also a good detective, solving the case with little effort.
But while he captures the Thunderbolt goons, he lets their leader Mr. Thunder escape.
Still, not bad for Robby’s first day on the job!
Historical significance: 5/10
The H-Dial keeps showing up with multiple relaunches, but the franchise never really made a huge impact on DC at large.
Silver Age-ness: 7/10
Nothing TOO crazy for the times, but the general vibe is VERY 60s.
Does it stand the test of time? 5/10
It feels more than a bit dated, especially given the short length by modern standards (it’s 13 pages). If only Robby had any personality and if the Thunderbolt plot had any depth to it, it would certainly rank higher.
Dial S for SOCKAMAGEE! : 6
I’m going to regret starting this count, isn’t it?
Dial I for superhero identities: 3
Giant Boy, Cometeer and Mole. The cover boasts that Robby can turn into 1,000 superheroes: how high will he get?
Dial C for the superpowers count: 6
Will Robby have more superpowers than Jimmy Olsen? He’s off to a great start.
For Giant Boy, I’m considering size increase, super-strength and flight. Cometeer can also fly and emit SOMETHING… well it’s not exactly clear, but I’m going with heat generation. The Mole also has super-strength but I’m adding super-digging and vibration sensing.
Dial D for dialing options: 2
Obviously, when you dial H.E.R.O. you turn into a superhero. Which is reversed by dialing O.R.E.H. We’ll get other effects with different words!
There’s a twelve-year gap between Alfred Hitchcock’s movie DIAL M FOR MURDER and this series debut, but I’m willing to bet that the title, at least, was based on the movie’s title.
This series has the same appeal to kids as the original Captain Marvel; ordinary kid says magic word or uses magic artifact, and becomes powerful hero. The difference is that Robby’s various alter egos are nowhere near as invincible as Captain Marvel, but much more varied in powers.
From what I remember, there are much weirder heroes to come.
You are correct that being an amateur scientist was a fairly normal thing for teenaged American boys in the mid-60s. Chemistry sets were very popular in the 50s & 60s and a pretty big chunk of households with boys would own a chemistry set. They fell out of favor in the 70s because people started to realize that providing youngish boys with chemicals and acids and crystallized heavy metals wasn’t the best idea and the government began tightening the restrictions on what the sets could contain until they just weren’t much fun anymore.
I never read Dial H For Hero, but am familiar with “Sockamagee!” but don’t know from where. Checking online, it definitely appears that Dial H coined it, so I guess wherever I know it from was referring back to this.