House of Mystery #159

House of Mystery #159 (1966)
by Dave Wood & Jim Mooney

This is the issue where Robby fights his first true supervillain who doesn’t get powers from the H-Dial. And it includes one of his worst transformations.

Said supervillain is a criminal who has a body of clay.

To catch the criminal, Robby first transforms into Human Starfish.

Monster-looking superheroes are rare in general, and even more so at DC, so it’s interesting that Robby has multiple forms in the category.

It’s not a bad transformation! Lose the goofy helmet and I can see this as a minor superhero.

Unfortunately, unlike people like the Thing he doesn’t have enough recognition to act like a normal superhero.

After returning human, Robby recalls the criminal dropped something before he caught him: a playing card.
And BASED ON THAT ALONE he figures out where the criminal’s boss is hiding!!!

We are still in the era when Robby doesn’t instinctively know what powers he gains, so he’s almost caught by the criminals once he transforms again.

If you told me this Hypno-Man was legitimately a superhero for, say Quality Comics, I would have no trouble believing you. In fact, why there is no hypnotism-themed superhero around?

Maybe because it’s an incredibly overpowered ability.

This is where Robby learns who is behind this: the Clay King.

Robby’s love for chemistry finally comes into play. He really is quite the detective.

The Clay King is an interesting idea. Basically there are underground chemicals that turns you into Not Clayface for a while, and he uses them to give powers to his gang.

In addition to being a good detective, Robby is also a master of disguise (!!!) as he manages to infiltrate the Clay Gang. He only goes as far as the entrance, but for an untrained teenager, not bad!

But Robby is not all that great at this whole superhero stuff, because he only hypnotizes the goons and allows the Clay King to take away his only gimmick.

Still, for an untrained teenager that is treated as an ordinary nerd, he knows how to throw a few punches.

Then he makes a break for it, and here we reach what I hope is the bottom of his transformations.
Meet *sigh* Mighty Moppet.

Mercifully he retains his mind and doesn’t start talking as all babies in DC Silver Age do. But it’s still a crappy transformation.

He does, however, have age-altering magic baby bottles.
Adding THAT to the ever-growing list of words I never thought I’d ever put together.

We never hear from the Clay King ever again. Either because the effect of the chemicals faded, or because he couldn’t show his face again after losing to a baby.

Also Robby is at least 16, since he’s shown driving.

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Historical significance: 0/10
Human Starfish is sometimes used as a recognizable transformation in flashbacks, but that’s about it.

 Silver Age-ness: 8/10
Again: age-altering magic baby bottles

 Does it stand the test of time? 3/10
Both Human Starfish and Hypno-Man COULD be used today… but not only *sigh* Mighty Mopped considerably brings down the score, the story itself is way too simplistic to really work today without major rewrites. The Clay King’s gang is a neat idea, though, someone should apply that plot to Clayface. 

Dial S for SOCKAMAGEE! : 23
Robby breaks his own record, exclaiming his lame catchphrase 7 times in a single issue.

Dial I for superhero identities: 11
Adding Human Starfish, Hypno-Man and *sigh* Mighty Moppet.

Dial C for the superpowers count: 17
Hypno-Man is the only straightforward one, adding hypnotism. For Human Starfish, should I count that he has additional arms and can stick to walls? I’m saying no to the former and list the latter under “suction cups”. As for Mighty Mopped, I’m counting his power to reduce the age of his targets. And to increase it: since the different bottles do different things, I’m treating them as separate powers.
Some of those are technically gadgets, yes, but since they’re seemingly created by the H-Dial I’m considering them full superpowers. Good thing I’m not taking this list super-seriously!