Dial O for Origin

Chris and Vicki have taken Nick into their confidence (well, not much of a choice, really), and it's time to retell their origin story. After all, it was originally told years earlier, as the reader's eye flies, and for THIS reader, it was the first time I'd ever heard it. Of course, they add a lot to it, and one wonders if legally, Chris had to forget the name of Vicki's first heroic identity. Can they show the character of Futura, but NOT mention her name without giving her creator compensation that goes beyond a simple credit? Because the form you have to fill out and send with your designs explicitly says DC then owns your character lock, stock and barrel. And that credit shall only be given the first time the character is used. So what's with the brain fart there? Weird.

Case 51: New Adventures of Superboy #45
Dial Holders: Chris and Vicki
Dial Type: Watch and Pendant Dials
Dialing: Nick's mysterious connection to the Dials nevertheless doesn't allow him to draw the Master from memory, nor see the box the Dials were found in. It is only visible to Chris and Vicki, the "chosen ones". When the Dials are put back into the box, then Nick can see it, and touching the box, a holographic, soundless history of the Dials plays out before the three teenagers. The Dials were apparently created with a mix of science and magic by a former inhabitant of the King house called the Wizard. It seems he created them to create champions to fight his archfoe the Master who was hard at work building a "clone factory" from which Fairfax's many supervillains would one day come. The Master attacked and killed the Wizard - a fight described as between magic and science - but the latter managed the hide the chest containing the Dials elsewhere in the house, and invisible, was never found. After this experience, Nick is able to draw the Master, but we are not shown his face.
Name: The Wizard (generic, but it fits, I think)
Created by: Jerry Baker, of Thomasville, GA
Costume: A classic purple and red super-suit is broken up by a green sash belt, a gold pyramid with an eye on it on both his chest and forehead (that's one redundancy too many, I admit), and striking pink locks and two strands of beard. I like it. It's like something out of an Alejandro Jodorowsky movie.
Powers: The Wizard is a magician, seen casting spells that summon a dragon, mystical blasts, tornadoes, remote viewing, and levitation. When he is killed, his astral self manages to escape through the ceiling with a chest which he promptly turns invisible. He's also an alchemical electronics engineer, creating the magical artifacts we know as the H Dials.
Sighted: In Fairfax, sometime in the past, building the H Dials and fighting the Master in the house Chris King will eventually move into.
Possibilities: The DCU has many mystical superheroes, but none that are this New Age, and though his tricks here are pretty typical, I think he'd do great in a high weirdness Vertigo series, or even in more mainstream fare as a contrast to the more usual mumbo-jumbo. Don't tell me J.M. DeMatteis wouldn't have a transcendental field day. And of course, you could keep him around as the creator of the Dials...
Integration Quotient: 100% (you heard me)

Bonus Supervillains
Name: The Master (Doctor Who might have something to say about that)
Battle outfit created by: Loreto R. Adrales, of Independence, Missouri
Costume: Though mostly a blue, purple and gray battlesuit with gun holsters, I love love LOVE the helmet design, with its shuriken face plate evoking eyes and mouth. Sure, it also evokes someone controlled by Starro, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Powers: The Master is a super-scientist who creates artificial (and temporary?) supervillains. In a pinch, it seems like he also has a powerful battle armor that flies, throws up force fields that work on magic, and fires blasts from chest plate and wrists. "Gyros" are an important part of the armor, so it can be disabled temporarily by spinning the Master around violently.
Sighted: In the battlesuit, some time ago killing the Wizard. He's also been working behind the scenes in Fairfax, creating supervillains and trying to get his hands on the H Dials.
Possibilities: As a recurring villain for the H Dials, he works great, and in fact, HAS more or less been integrated into the DCU that way. Later revelations about him make the point moot, but if we accept the Master a given, the real problem would be his creation of disposable villains, which is frankly no way to treat creators' ideas. What if your new villain is a hit, then doomed never to reappear? Still, as a mastermind who perhaps experiments on heroes, he could cause trouble for others, and like a shadowy Lex Luthor, he's got a cool battle suit for when the going gets tough.
Integration Quotient: 90% (some limits may apply outside the Dial H franchise)

Bonus Fashions!
Yep, someone sent in this pretty in pink number for Vicki. Thank you, Richard O. Kenney, of Lynn, Mass.!

Next: My favorite Dial H heroes of all time.

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