Zero Month strikes the weird world of “Dial H.” It’s definitely an origin story for the dial, but does it work as a jump-on point for new readers? Did we even need this issue in the first place?
Written by China Mieville
Illustrated by Riccardo Burchielli– One of the first users of the H Dial learns a horrible secret that spells certain doom for the future!
When we last left the Dial H corner of the DC Universe, our overweight hero Nelse was finding a hero in himself and made an unlikely ally. Things were really starting to come together for the series as several threads paid off for faithful readers. Zero Month puts the breaks on all that good stuff to deliver us what seems like the ancient origins of the H-dial. The issue opens on an ancient warrior people preparing for the coming of a horrible creature, while one of the women in the community fools around with a giant sundial that contains a mystical power. She does this with the intentions of using the power to defend her people with what she thinks will be a shielding force. What she gets instead is what we’ve seen the H-dial to be in other issues – a costume change and a wacky power set.
For current “Dial H” readers, this issue parallels Nelse’s adventures in a recognizable way. Despite it being filled with characters that we’re unfamiliar with, it does inform what has been going on in the modern setting of the story. The ancient superpowered sundial that takes 4 days to use is a fun concept and the story is compelling enough on its own, but that comes with a caveat. What was going on with Nelse and Squid in “Dial H” #4 was so satisfying that this issue feels like more of a roadblock than a boon to the overarching story. The book has already lost that momentum and readers who were lukewarm on the series so far are going to find nothing to convince them of the story’s greatness here. Zero Month could have been a jumping-on point, but “Dial H” #0 balks on that. For anyone waffling on dropping this title, sadly, this month gives them reason to do it. Readers that loved what the series was doing in issues 1-4 are going to get a less satisfying story with a tenuous connection here.
DC Comics’ Editor-in-Chief Bob Harras introduced Zero Month as issues that will ” tell the origins of a character or a team, or in some case where an origin has already been told, they will fill in the blanks in terms of questions readers may have about the New 52 DC Universe.” That definitely happens in “Dial H” #0, as one major question as to how the dial delivers power to the user is answered. It’s actually quite an intriguing twist. That said, this issue is not an entry point for new readers in any way, shape, or form. I guess he never promised that these issues would be an entry point in the Zero Month press release, but this would have been a great opportunity to usher in a new set of readers on a book that is frankly struggling with sales. Instead, this issue has nothing to do with our modern heroes, yet only answers questions that current readers would have. Truthfully, it will do nothing but confuse readers that try to jump in here.
The art goes even further in making the Zero issue non-essential. Most of the fun with the art in the regular issues was seeing what intricate and strange designs Mateus Santolouco was coming up with for Nelse’s transformations. We get a small handful of them here from Burchielli, but none of them have the detail or the conviction of Santolouco’s sensibilities. Detail is a thing that is sorely missing in the art in this issue, in general. Burchielli has a bolder-lined, cartoonier style when compared to Santolouco. It’s fine enough on its own, but it doesn’t fit the tone of this story at all. An ancient people preparing for the sobering revelation that a beast is coming to kill them doesn’t have the appropriate ominous feel to it. There were also a few storytelling problems in this issue that had to do with the way the art matched the writing. There was a noticeable number of panels where characters who were off-panel were saying things, but it was rarely clear who was speaking in these instances. It’s easy to ignore or figure out who it is when it only happens a time or two, but so much of the issue was peppered with dialogue from off-panel that it was distracting here. Even some of the action occurs off-panel, which makes a reader do a double-take as they wonder if they missed something.
All in all, this should have been a month for curious readers to take a shot on a weird book that they missed the first time around. A book that isn’t selling well could have benefited from a new jumping on point. I guess that isn’t the way writer China Mieville (nor the editorial staff) wanted to go. But with a story that doesn’t take place in the regular narrative, it just feels like a missed opportunity. With a story that doesn’t live up to the fun of what was going on in the first 4 issues and art that misses the mark as well, this is an issue that is easily skipped for new and old readers alike. Unfortunately, a month of “Dial H” feels tossed off, and I’m not sure this wonderful, struggling book can afford it.
Final Verdict: 4.5 – as a major Dial H fan, it pains me to say this, but skip this one unless you’re a completist.
