100 by 30 book 49 - Justice League Dark & Dail "H" for Hero

Today we take a short and disappointing tour of the weirder edges of the DC Universe.

DIAL 'H' FOR HERO- This book has such an inventive premise that I expected great things. The book follows a big fat loser who discovers that every time he dials the word H-E-R-O into the payphone in the alley, he is transformed into a different, bizarre super hero. The different heroes are delightfully silly. I especially loved the Iron Snail and Cock-a-Hoop (which is a chicken with a hula hoop for a body) Unfortunately, the fun ends with the premise. I forgot the plot almost as soon as I finished and the characters leave no lasting impression. It's a shame for a hero that should be a gold mine for humorous situations to be so dull.
5/10

Justice League Dark, vol. 1 & 2 - Hey what if all of the magic/supernatural- based characters in the DC universe got together to fight evil? Wouldn't that be super dark and kick-ass? It should be. But it isn't. This is the Hugh Jackman's Van Helsing of Comic books. We have another great premise that fails to live up to even the lowest expectations. Characters join and leave the group with barely an introduction, and the ones that do stick around don't make much of an impression on you. The main character ends up being John Constantine. (Keanu Reeves played him in the movie, even though he can't speak in a British dialect and James Marsters was available and would have been perfect.) John is a British warlock/antihero. He's the closest thing to interesting here and I'm willing to bet that his solo stories are actually engaging. The interchangeable cast is a big problem though. With people dropping in and out all the time, it feels like the writers are actively struggling to find something interesting to do with a bunch of weirdo misfits. It's a shame no one has ever created any cool plots with a team like that, except for Buffy, Angel, X-Men, Avengers, Firefly and the countless others that I missed. I've never been so bored reading fantasy fiction in my life. So you can skip these.
3/10