House of Mystery #163

House of Mystery #163 (1966)
by Dave Wood & Jim Mooney
cover by Carmine Infantino

If there are worse ways to go than “executed by a firing squad of giant mosquitos while you’re wearing a dress”, I don’t want to know them.

We begin with GIANT BEES robbing a bank.

Hearing this from the news, Robby uses the H-Dial for one of his weirdest transformations: he turns into TWO heroes at once!!!

Props to Jim Mooney for the hairdo of Castor and Pollux, since it kind of reminds me of at least a couple of Roman statues depicting the two demigods.

The adventure is going to take place in Zenith City, because I guess Littleville is not enough anymore. The twins introduce several powers, starting with flight… which is not added to the list because the vast majority of Robby’s transformations can fly anyway.

The villain is going to be Bug Baron (yes, really), who has the technology to make insects obey his commands AND to make them grow.

Castor and Pollux arrive to fight the giant ants, demonstrating they can create “stardust”, shoot “meteor missiles” and emit light.

I’m counting those as separate powers, but I’m considering both “meteor missiles” and “cosmic ray bombs” as the same thing.

The same for the “zodiacal ack-ack” and the “supernova star grenade”.

The “twins” are separated, with Castor getting himself captured.

Fortunately for him Pollux notices that the ants he was fighting are being controlled by tiny collars. Since he notices this AFTER they’re shrunk back to their original size, I’m adding microscopic vision as a new power.

Robby seems certain that he’s transformed into the ACTUAL demigods, which means Pollux should be immortal. But since it’s not demonstrated in the story itself I am not counting it as a superpower.

Also I’m pretty sure Zeus would’ve disavowed his son if he could be trapped by flypaper.

But since one twin is able to sense the other one’s danger, I am considering THIS as a superpower.

Castor is the one with the H-Dial, so when he dials O.R.E.H. it means Pollux disappears, right before he’s impaled by giant mosquitoes.

Robby tries to use the H-Dial immediately, but it’s too soon for it to work. Even at this point, the rules have not been fully established.

So he has to bike up to Bug Baron’s hideout (!!!) where he transforms into King Coil.

Because the first thing anyone would think about that thing is “that is surely a superhero”.

Even the insects are not sure WTF they’re supposed to do here!!!

King Coil is pretty lame, but the Bug Baron is not a match for him.

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Historical significance: 1/10
As incredible as it is, Bug Baron shows up in 2006 on “52” and in 2009 on Doom Patrol. He’s grouped together with much more interesting super-scientists and doesn’t get to do much.

Silver Age-ness: 10/10
General vibe aside, the twins are weird even by Dial H standards.

Does it stand the test of time? 0/10
There’s some potential in the premise of separating the protagonist into two separate beings, but absolutely nothing is done with it. Bug Baron has some visually interesting panels for his insects, but other than that there’s very little here. 

Dial S for SOCKAMAGEE! : 46
Just three uses of the catchprase, the least so far.

Dial I for superhero identities: 21
Castor and Pollux count as two separate identities, as does King Coil.

Dial C for the superpowers count: 34
The twins ALONE add a whopping 5 superpowers: stardust creation, energy blast, lLight generation, microscopic vision and twin precognition.
King Coil doesn’t do anything that Plastic Man didn’t do way better, but he does have a metal body so I’m considering that a superpower.

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Interesting letters: our first theory on how the H-Dial works!

Sounds legit.