Dial H #2

Let me take a guess at his Super Hero Identities: Dieu Deux, Pelican Patrol, The Contagious Thriller Dancer, and Shamanticore!

Ooh! The first page has all of these heroes and an extra one as Nelson does research by dialing HERO over and over and over.

My guess: The Contagious Thriller Dancer. Score: 0 out of 4!

My guess: Shamanticore! Ding ding ding! Score: 1 out of 4!

My guess: Pelican Patrol. Judges? Score: 1.5 out of 4! Yes!

My guess: Dieu Deux. I like mine better! Final Score: 1.5 out of 4! Not bad!

While researching the phone booth, he discovers that if he uses the booth too many times in a row, it stops working until it can recharge. He always remembers the form he took and things he did in that form. And eventually he simply reverts back to Nelson but I don't know if that happens over time or due to the amount of energy he expends.

He thinks his normal identity is worse than when he became Rancid Ninja?

Nelson calls his ex, Julie, because he needs someone to talk to. But he never actually says what's on his mind; he simply makes small talk as he thinks about the things he'd really like to say to her.

Nelson also visits Darren in the hospital and finds out that Darren got his ass beat by a bunch of guys he was supposed to meet. They were going to rob someone that night but it never happened. Darren tells Nelson who they were supposed to rob, so Nelson decides he'll check it out tonight as a super hero and see if he can't find a way to help out Darren.

Nelson transforms into Ctrl-Alt-Delete and searches the apartment that was meant to be robbed. While doing so, he bumps into Manteau who attacks him believing he's one of the bad guys. Or maybe Manteau is one of the bad guys. I'm pretty sure this is one of those miscommunication fights though.

What the fuck is he winking at?!

Manteau has some kind of purple flash bang power that winds up cracking Ctrl-Alt-Delete's face. After he panics for a bit since he's never actually fought against another super-powered being, he uses his REBOOT power! Shit! Is he going to fuck up DC's continuity all over again?

Luckily, the reboot only seems to affect Manteau.

The newly transformed Manteau grabs the phone from the apartment and retreats. Nelson transforms back into his fat normal self and heads home, believing he stopped Darren's old crew from robbing the place. Well, she did get the phone which is kind of weird. But he mostly stopped her.

Meanwhile at the bad guy's headquarters, Ex Nihilo ("out of nothing") is busy talking to Vernon about finishing off Darren. X.N. (Ex Nihilo!) wants to send a super villain to do it, so he decides he's going to let The Owner free and send him. But The Owner has already freed himself. He lets Ex Nihilo know that he has never been his prisoner and that X.N. can never force him to do something he doesn't want to do. But The Owner wants X.N. to be successful in whatever endeavor he's currently set for himself. The Owner heads out to kill Darren.

Oh look! There he is killing him now!

Nelson just happens to call while The Owner is busy and the nurse reports that nobody can get into his room. Nelson heads to the phone booth. He'd better hope for something that can get him to the hospital fast! Like a teleporter! I wonder if his needs or wishes can somehow guide the transformation. Perhaps when he's experienced enough, he can transform into whoever he wants.

Fuck. That's just a bit on the opposite side of fast.

Nelson indeed gets there too late to save Darren. Once at the hospital, The Iron Snail battles The Squid! The guy who I thought was The Owner is apparently known as The Squid. So go back and reread that section where I called him "The Owner" and call him "The Squid" instead. I think The Owner must be the guy in the organization above Ex Nihilo. And since his name is The Owner, he's probably the top guy.

The fight between The Iron Snail and The Squid is a stalemate with neither one really able to hurt the other. But The Iron Snail suddenly feels the coming onset of normality and turns snail trail tail to run. The Squid commands Vernon and the crew to see where he goes but they lose him because Darren transforms and gets in a cab before they see his real self. The Squid commands them to follow the taxi and figure out what's going on.

They don't know what's going on with Nelson but I learn a little bit about what Ex Nihilo and his gang are doing. Something is "touching" people in the city and putting them into comas. Whatever it is, Ex Nihilo and The Squid want it, whatever it is, to come back. Ex Nihilo has his thugs search the apartments of people who fall into this strange coma to find documents and clues as to what they were doing that might have gotten them close enough for this thing to touch them. They are doing research to help bring it forward. Sounds a little Lovecraftian.

When Darren arrives at his apartment, he finds Manteau waiting for him.

Does everybody know about the phone booth?

Dial H #2 Rating: +1 Ranking. This is what an entertaining comic book looks like. This one. Right here. Not that Justice League International crap. Look away from that! Hurry! That's bad! This is good!