Not that I would ever pick on a kid who wrote into DC with a suggestion for a hero to use in Dial H For Hero, but there's a reason most of them never became professional comic writers:
Nothing personal against Dino Prince of Cincinnati...but pretty much every reader submitted hero for Dial H in that era came across as someone who would be rejected in one panel by the Legion of Super-Heroes in their tryouts. Heck, most of them come across as the rejects who wouldn't even make it past the Day 1 auditions to make it to the big try-out. They'd lose to Arm Fall-Off Boy.
That's the metaphor I've been looking for...reader-created Dial H heroes are the William Hungs of the comics world...
snell picks on children because of Superboy #33 (1982).
Nothing personal against Dino Prince of Cincinnati...but pretty much every reader submitted hero for Dial H in that era came across as someone who would be rejected in one panel by the Legion of Super-Heroes in their tryouts. Heck, most of them come across as the rejects who wouldn't even make it past the Day 1 auditions to make it to the big try-out. They'd lose to Arm Fall-Off Boy.That's the metaphor I've been looking for...reader-created Dial H heroes are the William Hungs of the comics world...
snell picks on children because of Superboy #33 (1982).
New Adventures of Superboy still had better write-in heroes than Adventure Comics, especially towards the end of the series.
ReplyDeleteI've always been fond of Venus the Flying Trap and Trouble Clef, for example.
I love Dial H for hero.
ReplyDeleteThe spirit of Dial H lives on in Ben 10 (and the current "Alien Force" sequel). Thankfully without weird heroes like that. I'm assuming fan-created heroes like Infra-Violet had more to do with lack of imagination on the writer's part. Having to come up with a new hero every time has to be difficult.
ReplyDeleteNo, I think it was a great interactive idea for a series, getting fans involved etc.
ReplyDeleteEverybody's so damn into defending their intellectual properties these days that I doubt a Dial H series like this could exist ever again.
After all, your designs would then belong to DC. Zeep the Living Sponge actually made it into Hero Hotline. I'm not sure if any other Dial H-er ever became a true blue DC character though.
Robby Reed turned into Plastic Man one time, I think. But that doesn't really count.
ReplyDeleteI too love Dial H for Hero and it's the one DC movie I would love to make. As others have noted all over the place, Ben 10 is indeed Dial H in other livery.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of readers getting their moment of fame in a comicbook too! If DC had taken on more of that spirit of Stan Lee- staying on the reader's level instead of trying to be the Yale / CIA of comicdom- Marvel wouldn't have come close to whipping DC so perennially.
More power(s) to Dial H!