Dial H for Hits

Trouble Clef and Venus the Flying Trap is my favorite ever Dial H pairing. Part of it is the pleasant design and neat powers. Part of it is surely Howard Bender's clean superhero art, in my book the best artist to tackle the Chris and Vicki adventures (yes, more than the overly stylized 80s Carmine Infantino). And part of it is that they were among my first, got to stick around for two issues, and fought a whopping 14 supervillains of pretty good design! It's gonna take me a couple weeks just to get through this one fight!

Case 52: New Adventures of Superboy #46
Dial Holders: Chris and Vicki
Dial Type: Watch and Pendant Dials
Dialing: Nick's psychic link to the Dials also helps him locate the Master's lair.
Name: Trouble Clef (great pun for the self-styled "Master of Magical Music")
Created by: Jason Cooke, of Edmonton, Alberta
Costume: Clef wears a standard green superhero costume, with an open cowl to let his reddish hair stick out. On the chest and back, a big, black treble clef. His gloves and shorts are blue, his belt is white and sports musical notation, and his boots are yellow, as is his magical horn. The color scheme is a bit messy, but otherwise, clean and attractive.
Powers: It's all in the horn. By playing, Trouble Clef creates solid notes (or at least, that's how it looks to us) on which he can climb and run through air, make things explode (even metal), counter energy beams and sonic powers, and deafen opponents.
Sighted: In the Master's lair, fighting 14 supervillains.
Possibilities: If Chris and Vicki could have ended their journey becoming permanent heroes, these are the identities I would have given them; they might even look like adult versions of the teen heroes. Otherwise, Trouble Clef would certainly fit any number of super-teams. A secret identity as a symphony musician might be interesting and unusual.
Integration Quotient: 100% (I fully admit I'm biased)
Name: Venus the Flying Trap (this pun shouldn't work, but I inordinately love it)
Created by: Katrina Styles, of Liverpool, England
Costume: A pink one-piece bathing suits with fringes, with pink, high-heeled boots, white gloves, and a black hair band. Her blond hair is coiffed in a 50s style, and she wears starburst earrings.
Powers: Venus can fly, and can project pink-hued force fields (or "traps" of any shape) that also defy the laws of gravity (seeing she can carry a full-grown boy in one without breaking a sweat, but isn't otherwise super-strong). Over the course of two issues, we see cages, bubbles, skin-tight fields that can expand to break her bonds, power/weapon-redirecting funnels and prisms, and nets.
Sighted: In the Master's lair, fighting 14 supervillains. 
Possibilities: See above. But if she isn't Vicki, then what? Well, again, could serve on many teams, both as eye candy and versatile power suite. A link to the goddess Venus might be indicated, though there the concept gets a little muddled. Wonder Woman's version of the Birds of Prey might appreciate someone like her though, were that ever a thing.
Integration Quotient: 100% (still biased)

Bonus Supervillains
Name: Hitpin (some punchy bowling lingo)
Created by: Dean Spezaferro, of Marlboro, MA
Costume: Purple and green, with a black full-face mask, spiky collar and tiki flares on gloves and boots. In no way does this voodoo nightmare have anything to do with bowling pins, but it's striking and atypical for a female character.
Powers: Hitpin generates and throws hard-hitting bowling pins. From the issue, you almost get the impression they are explosive, but it's only really the heroes destroying them with their powers.
Sighted: Part of a quartet defending the Master's lair.
Possibilities: Where do the pins come from? Possibly the same place Bloodsport's weapons do, teleporting from some hidden location/bowling alley. It's silly, but the kind of super-powered assassin you see all the time. If Marvel can have the Death-Throws, DC can have this. Some people will turn any special skill into a super-power.
Integration Quotient: 50% (somewhat incoherent design, but an okay mook to defeat in an issue's first couple pages)
Name: Decibel (sounds classic, you'd think there would already be a sound-based villain with that name)
Created by: John Millington, of a military base in New York
Costume: Standard superhero costume, with blue shirt, mask and boots, red gloves (with gray trim) and shorts, and gray pants to break it up a little. The collar is pleasantly asymmetrical. The letter "D" appears over his heart, on the belt buckle and at the center of the mask on a yellow badge. There are yellows Ds on the gloves as well.
Powers: Decibel has a sonic scream like Black Canary's. He claims it can "shatter your very mind".
Sighted: Part of a quartet defending the Master's lair.
Possibilities: A generic villain to throw at the shallow end of a supervillain team, or to rob a bank in the opening pages of a comic so he can get his ass handed to him.
Integration Quotient: 80% (would never become a big gun, but easy to imagine as a utility player)
Name: Electron (another pretty basic, and classic-sounding name)
Created by: Brian Helgeron, of Lacrosse, WI
Costume: Could almost be Decibel's brother. In blue pants with slightly darker shorts, but lighter asymmetrical shirt and half-mask. The latter two look like they're made of chain mail. He wears bracers on his wrists, a yellow belt sports an atom design, which is also found on his left breast.
Powers: Electron can shoot blasts of electricity. They are blue rather than the traditional yellow.
Sighted: Part of a quartet defending the Master's lair.
Possibilities: Because the design is so similar to Decibel's, I think these guys should be partners. They might even be part of some kind of "physics" inspired villain team. Like his bro, a generic utility player.
Integration Quotient: 80% (same as Decibel)
Name: The Overseer (generic villainy, should have gone to a big boss type)
Created by: Alicia Shing, of Shrewsbury, MA
Costume: A slightly spacey green one-piece bathing suit with rocket-age epaulets and trim. She wears silver bracers and high boots with a link of chain reaching for a band on the thighs. Another piece of chain goes from her cleavage to her choker. She wears her long brown hair in a high ponytail.
Powers: The Overseer wields an "energy-chain", a glowing chain whip that can entangle opponents. It is not clear if it can also discharge energy.
Sighted: Part of a quartet defending the Master's lair.
Possibilities: She might be a slave driver from an alien world, someone for a Green Lantern or L.E.G.I.O.N. member to encounter.
Integration Quotient: 75% (a little old-fashioned, but there are uses for such characters)

Next: So many villains!

Comments

American Hawkman said…
Venus' power similarities to the Star Sapphires is interesting as a hook. Trouble Clef made my version of an expanded Global Guardians roster as a symphony musician from Vienna using tech scavenged from Anton Allegro.
Unknown said…
Thrilled that someone likes Venus! Thanks! - Katrina Styles Fishlock
Siskoid said…
Like her? I think she was the best identity Vicki ever dialed!

Thanks for stopping by Katrina :)
Jason Cooke said…
Hi Siskoid! As Trouble Clef's creator, I was blown away to find this today! Thank you!
Siskoid said…
I've covered every Dial H story at this point and my enthusiasm for Trouble Clef is undiminished! Thanks Jason!