H-E-R-O was one of the best new comics to come from DC Comics in 2003. Its premise is simple: when H-E-R-O is keyed on a mysterious device, the owner is given random superhuman abilities. It's a concept borrowed from a comic series that debuted almost forty years ago. In 1966, young Robby Reed discovered the Hero device and dialed those fateful letters for the first time. In 2004, Robby Reed, now a grown man, is desperate to get his hands on the Hero device once again. The good-hearted kid is long gone. Reed is now an adult nutcase. To celebrate Reed's return to comics and to shed some light on his past, comicreaders.com explores the original series that introduced him and the H-dial to the world: Dial H for Hero.

House of Mystery #156: Robby Reed's big debut

First series...

In January 1966 in House of Mystery #156, Robby Reed made his debut. In a story written by Dave Wood and illustrated by Jim Mooney, young Reed was being chased by criminals. To escape, he fled into an old cavern where he found a mysterious device. The dial shaped trinket was inscribed with an alien language, but Robby was able to decipher the symbols immediately. It was as if he had formed a mental connection with the dial. He dialed H-E-R-O and turned into Giant-Boy. In this new form and with new powers, Robby set out after the crooks.

At this time, Martian Manhunter, J'onn J'onzz was the headlining superhero in House of Mystery. Comic readers took quickly to Robby Reed, however, and soon J'onzz was moved to the rear pages, playing second fiddle to the "the boy who can change into 1,000 superheroes". Each issue had Robby turning into three different superheroes to fight crime. He would turn into a hero each time he dialed H-E-R-O, but he never knew what he would become. A premise such as this tears through superhero concepts faster than Flash with a case of the shits. As the series progressed, Dave Wood seemed to run into trouble coming up with good ideas; even the Legion of Superheroes would have laughed at heroes like King Kandy, Mighty Moppet and Human Starfish.

Wood and DC Comics pulled out some gimmicks to attract new readers. In House of Mystery #160, for instance, Reed turned into Plastic Man, an actual hero that gone into retirement years earlier. The writer never explained how this could be possible, but the actual Plastic Man would play a role in Reed's future. With issue #174, House of Mystery reverted back to its original format: an anthology of fantasy and horror short comics stories. Robby Reed and the Hero device had been put to bed, but DC wasn't done with either of them for good. In 1977, Plastic Man, now enjoying his own ongoing series, encountered Reed and took from him the Hero device as punishment for using it irresponsibly.

The original H dial

Second series...

In 1981, DC Comics re-launched Dial H for Hero in the rear pages of Legion of Superheroes. Robby Reed was no longer the protagonist, but he would eventually get wrapped up in the adventures of teenagers Chris King and Vicki Grant. As with the original series, the device was discovered in a seldom-visited place; this time the attic in the old house Chris' family had just moved into. He and Vicki were drawn by a mysterious voice to the attic where they found two Hero devices. Vicki and Chris stuck around in Legion of Superheroes for only one issue. They moved to Adventure Comics in which Dial H for Hero would run in #479 to #490. From there, Vicki and Chris were seen in DC Comics Presents #44 and then New Adventures of Superboy issues #28 to #49.

The new series was written by Marv Wolfman and drawn by Carmine Infantino. This time around, DC had a nifty gimmick lined up for the series. Readers were encouraged to write to DC Comics with their original superhero ideas. Each issue of Dial H for Hero would then feature the best of the readers' submissions. This gave the creative team a steady supply of fresh ideas and ensured at least a small crowd of regular readers, but this newest incarnation too eventually ran out of steam. The last issue of Dial H for Hero was published in January 1984 in New Adventures of Superboy #49.

Work your magic, you little geek

The first series was basically a series of stand alone tales in which Robby Reed became three different heroes each time to battle criminals. The second series actually had a continuing storyline, and this one actually reached a conclusion when the series was ended. It was revealed the person behind many of the series mysterious goings-on was none other than Robby Reed. It was Reed, in fact, who created the two new Hero dials and placed them in the attic. A few years prior, Reed had been in one of his hero identities when he was captured by a supervillain. Reed dialed D-I-V-I-D-E, splitting himself into two entities: the good Wizard and the evil Master. The Wizard created the two new dials while the Master plagued Vicki and Chris throughout the second series. The two Reeds ultimately merged back together, and Robby, tired of the role of hero, gave his dial to Vicki and Chris' friend, Nick Stevens. It was never explained, however, how Reed got the original device back from Plastic Man.

Beyond the series...

After their high school graduation, Vicki and Chris went their separate ways. Vicki moved to San Francisco where she fell in with a bad crowd. She was recruited and corrupted by the evil Children of the Sun who taught her how to internalize the powers she received from the H dial. The dial itself was then stolen from her by a villain named Scavenger. It was in turn stolen from Scavenger by Hero Cruz in Superboy & The Ravers #5, which was published in the mid-1990s. In issue #13 of the same series, Hero Cruz encountered Vicki Grant, still twisted and evil thanks to the Children of the Sun. When she touched dial #3, she reverted to her human state and moved in with the parents of Titans hero Sparx to recuperate. The device remains in the possession of Hero Cruz.

Dial #2 was last seen in the possession of Vicki Grant. While under the influence of the Children of the Sun, Vicki confronted and fought Chris King, who had become associated with the Teen Titans. He too had learned to internalize his power, but she stole his H-dial anyway. She was not in possession of this dial when she reverted back to her normal self. The current whereabouts of the Dial #2 is unknown, though one could surmise it must be in the hands of the Children of the Sun.

Bad girl Vicki Grant harasses Chris King in New Teen Titans #46 in 1988

Haven been given to him by Robby Reed, the original H-dial was last seen in the hands of Nick Stevens. We don't know what became of Nick or how the original device came to be in the hands of the woman who loses the device in issue #1 of H-E-R-O. We also don't yet know how the original Hero device arrived in the cavern where Robby first discovered it. We also never learned how he got the device back from Plastic Man. In the new H-E-R-O series, Robby has returned, now a grown man, a nutcase intent on finding the device he possessed for longer than anyone else. It looks like writer Will Pfeifer might be in the position to give us some answers to these long-standing questions.