Dial H Vol. 2: Exchange collects issues 7-15 of the DC 52 reboot of Dial H for Hero, plus the series’ epilogue (Justice League 23.3: Dial E). It was written by China Miéville and drawn by Alberto Ponticelli and Dan Green. [Here’s my review of the first Volume.]

Plot:
Nelson and Roxie are traveling around the world to try and figure out everything about the H-Dial they share and to maybe find a second one, so they don’t have to share anymore. As they are trying to uncover new things, they are hunted by Centipede, a Canadian spy who has his own powers and his own agenda.

It really is a pity that this series was cancelled already. It had so much promise. And I really enjoyed the second volume, despite a slightly bumpy second half.

True to your usual Miéville stuff, there are so many ideas in this book you can barely keep up with them. All the amazing superheroes. The worlds they go to. The backstory. It all creates such a complex world, I’ll gladly return to it and I’m sure I will discover new details.

Unfortunately that density paired with the fact that the entire thing was cut short by its early cancellation, means that some things are rather confusing. I wasn’t always entirely clear on what was going on – especially in the last couple of issues things happened a little too fast, which also made the ending a little weird. And the added epilogue didn’t help that much, even though it was fun.

But that didn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it. I love Roxie and Nelson. I really liked the storyline involving The Flash. The Centipede was a pretty amazing villain. And Open Window Man is such an absurd idea and yet so utterly brilliant. Oh, and the graffiti world!

I did like Santolouco’s art a little better than the art in this one, but this one certainly had its moments, too. Especially the Planktonian looked awesome:

Summarizing: Fantastic. I wish there was more of it.