DC Comics
Will Pfeifer, writer
Kano, Patrick Gleason, Leonard Kirk and Dale Eaglesham, artists
I recently re-read this series, rediscovering all of the enjoyment and wonder that kept me coming back issue after issue when the title was new. Picking it up again now, several years after those initial readings, I recognize the name of the writer where I didn't know him as well before. Will Pfeifer wrote that incredible run on Catwoman between 2005 and 2008, and he did a great job when he was handed the reins to the Aquaman title in 2004 for a brief eight-issue stint. I haven't read everything Pfeifer has written, but I enjoy much of what I have read. OK, he wrote the mess that was Amazons Attack! in 2007, but I can forgive him that if we can all just agree that series never happened.
But getting back to this series, it is an updating of the 1960s Dial H For Hero concept, which debuted in House of Mystery and was later revived in Adventure Comics. In those stories, a kid named Robby Reed finds a mysterious dial with the letters "H," "E," "R," and "O" on it. When Robby punches the letters in sequence, he is transformed into a super-powerful individual. Each time he uses the dial, he is transformed into a different powered being, but instantly with each transformation, Robby instinctively "knows" the hero name and abilities that go along with his new body.
During the initial runs of the feature, readers were encouraged to write in with their own hero suggestions and costumes. Contest winners then had their creations appear in a future issue as the next hero Robby Reed would transform into. The entire thing was based on randomness; Robby never knew what kind of powers he was going to get with each use of the dial, and sometimes had a challenge figuring out how to use what he got to resolve the situation he found himself in.
With this series, Pfeifer upped the randomness factor of the entire thing. Instead of focusing his series on a single dial-user, Pfeifer had the dial changing hands often through various means. For instance, one group of users in Pfeifer's series starts out sharing the dial, taking turns transforming themselves. But later, they begin to fight over who will use the device next and end up losing the device out a moving car window. Some people lose the device when it is stolen from them. Others, like Robby, simply find the device somewhere unexpectedly.
Pfeifer takes things even further. Punching the buttons on the dial results in the person possessing it being transformed into someone with superpowers; it does NOT, however, guarantee that a "hero" will result. Some folks have more selfish aims in mind when they learn the power the device gives them. Some of the people who find the dial are villains even before learning what it can do, and they see it as a means to further their criminal goals.
This series was a bit darker in tone than the other works I've enjoyed from Pfeifer's pen. The first issue starts out with a young man contemplating suicide after his disastrous encounter with the device. And that early issue pales in comparison to later ones when a deranged psychotic killer gains control of the device. But that's part of the appeal of this series; you never know from issue to issue what is going to happen next!
All in all, H.E.R.O. was a good read from a talented writer whose work I've often enjoyed. In fact, rereading this series and looking back at his past work I have enjoyed has inspired me to pick up Pfeifer's forthcoming relaunch of the New 52 version of Teen Titans and give it a try after writing off this incarnation of the team previously.
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