Read this comic a dozen times at least, probably more like 2 dozen but was happy for an excuse to read it again. It’s one of my favorite comics from my childhood.
I really loved the idea of that version of Dial H For Hero. Chris and VIcki at least to my kid mind felt relatable, and relatively fleshed out for the time.
Especially given that in their original book and I believe all the Superboy stories they rarely did a full length story due to wanting to fit in as many heroes and villains submissions as possible. Even in the Superboy backup while they had some multi part stories most never were a full 22-25 pages. This is one of the few “full lenght” tales featuring Chris and Vicki.) and I loved the idea of kids like me being able to create heroes.
Interesting memory I have of those hero submissions. I bought an issue of their run in Adventure in the back issue bins, and whoever owned it before (from another state) had filled out the submission form but I guess never sent it in with a hero. In it (I assume to get info on what their readers interest was) it asked questions like favorite TV show, Favorite Movie, interest, etc. So it was an interesting look into what a 14 year old kids interest of the time were. I am sad I sold it even if the writing in it made it mostly worthless, it was still cool. Sad I sold most of my collection back in the day but that is a whole other story.
This issue served as a bridge from their short run as the feature in Adventure Comics to a backup in Superboy where they spent most of that titles run as backup features.
Interesting tidbit, and I am going off stuff I read a LONG time ago so feel free to take it with a grain of salt as I checked and can’t find conformation now. But I remember in the letter colums of Adventure Comics when Dial H was the star of the title, as well as during their run in Superboy occasionally mentioned an animated series of Dial H For Hero in development (although think they called it a cartoon… it was the 80’s), which was going to like the book have viewers send in ideas for the heroes and villains featured in the cartoon.
Apparently part of the reason they had such a long backup run in Superboy, despite not being especially popular, is because while the animated series was in devlopment they wanted to keep the Dial H For Hero characters going in comic form somewhere to generate interest and not let them be forgotten. But when the series eventually fell through, I would assume at least in part due to the turnaround of animation making using reader submissions incredibly hard to do, then they finally pulled the plug on their Superboy backup feature.
They also did a sort followup in Teen Titans that told what ever happened to Chris and Vivki who at that point had not been seen in comics for years. Forget the issues but if anyone can track them down (think they are on DCUI) they are a good read.
But sorry got caught up talking about Dial H (love them and never get a chance to do that) but my thoughts on the book. I liked it, the heroes were creative and them showing Chris experiment with the dial was a fresh idea at least for this team of H dialers.
It was not a very complex story but it served the purpose of generating interest in Dial H For Hero so readers would hopefully go to Superboy. I remember this issue was my introducetion to Dial H For Hero and I have loved it in all it’s incarnations since. Was also a fun story as a fan because this was the only time, at least during their initial run, that Chris and VIcki really got to be part of the bigger DC UNiverse. Other than a 1 panel appearance of the JLA in an issue (the energy fiend Clark referenced) and one of their villains being a former Joker henchman they never really interacted with the rest of the DC Universe or got to share the pannel with other heroes and DC Characters save this issue.
Thanks for the nostalgia. I really enjoyed getting to read this one again.
And I’m loving these stories so I want to catch up, we’re just not hitting our normal workload stride for some reason this year and it’s been so crazy!