''H.E.R.O.'' is an

American comic book An American comic book is a thin periodical originating in the United States, on average 32 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publication of ''Action Comics'' ...

series published by

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

that started in 2003 and ran for 22 issues. The series was written by

Will Pfeifer Will may refer to: Common meanings * Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death * Will (philosophy), or willpower * Will (sociology) * Will, volition (psychology) * Will, a modal verb - see Shall and will ...

. Artists included

Kano Kano may refer to: Places *Kano State, a state in Northern Nigeria * Kano (city), a city in Nigeria, and the capital of Kano State **Kingdom of Kano, a Hausa kingdom between the 10th and 14th centuries **Sultanate of Kano, a Hausa kingdom between ...

Leonard Kirk Leonard Kirk is an American-born comic book artist living in Canada. He has worked on such properties as ''Supergirl (comic book), Supergirl'', ''Justice Society of America, JSA'', ''Star Trek'', ''Batman (comic book), Batman'', and ''Witchblade' ...

and

Dale Eaglesham Dale Eaglesham (born 1962) is a Canadian comic book illustrator who has been working in the American industry since 1986. He is best known for his work on titles like '' Conan'', ''Punisher'', ''Green Lantern'', ''Villains United'', ''Justice Soci ...

. The series' focus was the "H-Dial" that DC had first introduced in "

Dial H for Hero ''Dial H for Hero'' is a comic book feature published by DC Comics about a magical dial that enables an ordinary person to become a superhero for a short time, such as an hour, by selecting the letters H-E-R-O in order. Each time it is used, the di ...

" in ''

House of Mystery ''The House of Mystery'' is the name of several horror, fantasy, and mystery Comics anthologies published by DC Comics. It had a companion series, ''The House of Secrets''. It is also the name of the titular setting of the series. First serie ...

'' in the 1960s. For this series the Dial was depicted as an object with buttons instead of a dial and was referred to as the H-Device.

Story arcs and characters

Unlike earlier stories, ''H.E.R.O.'' did not have one or two

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...

s being turned into a new hero every issue, but showed the H-Device passing from bearer to bearer, examining how different people react to the sudden gift of supernatural powers. There was a subplot involving Robby Reed (the main character from the original ''Dial H for Hero'') that ran through most issues and led to the series' final storyline as he tries to find the H-Device. * Issue #1–4: Jerry Feldon, a

minimum wage A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation by the end of the 20th century. Bec ...

earner from the fictional city of Heaton,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, works as an ice cream vendor and

soda jerk Soda jerk (or soda jerker) is an American term used to refer to a person — typically a young man — who would operate the soda fountain in a drugstore, preparing and serving soda drinks and ice cream sodas. The drinks were made by mixing fl ...

. He uses the H-Device in order to impress a co-worker named Molly. His superhero work was unsuccessful with the bad guys getting badly hurt. After Molly was shot in a non-fatal way during a robbery on the ice cream parlor that he worked at, Jerry flew into space and returned to normal in mid-air to commit suicide only to be saved by

Superman Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publi ...

. Following this incident and Molly recovering, Jerry resumed his normal life and began dating Molly. * Issue #5: Matt Allen, the vice-president of the Chicago-based Edutech, finds and becomes obsessed with using the H-Device which landed in front of him following Jerry Feldon's suicide attempt. In the end, his

wife A wife (plural, : wives) is a female in a marital relationship. A woman who has separated from her partner continues to be a wife until the marriage is legally Dissolution (law), dissolved with a divorce judgement. On the death of her partner, ...

Claire leaves him taking their

daughter A daughter is a female offspring; a girl or a woman in relation to her parents. Daughterhood is the state of being someone's daughter. The male counterpart is a son. Analogously the name is used in several areas to show relations between group ...

with her. * Issue #6: Andrea Allen, the daughter of Matt Allen and Claire, finds the H-Device while leaving with her

mother ] A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given childbirth, birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the cas ...

. She uses it with two of her friends Julie and Denise, but they begin to fight over it and lose it as a result. * Issue #7–8: Captain Chaos, the communal code name of a group of friends named Mark, Jay, Galen, Craig, and Wayne. They use the H-Device to create a website showing them doing superpowered stunts which seem to be inspired by the television show '' Jackass (TV series), Jackass''. * Issue #9–10: Tony Finch, a small-time

Gotham City Gotham City ( ), or simply Gotham, is a fictional city appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, best known as the home of the superhero Batman and his allies and foes. Created by writer Bill Finger and artist Bob Kane, the cit ...

criminal whose claim to fame is that he was a henchman for Joker at one point. He uses the H-Device in an effort to become a player in the Gotham City underworld, but gives it up when the Joker becomes interested in his ex-henchman and ends up remanded to

Arkham Asylum The Elizabeth Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane (), commonly referred to as Arkham Asylum, is a fictional psychiatric hospital/prison, named after the city of Arkham which appeared first in the stories of H. P. Lovecraft, and later appear ...

. * Issue #11: A

Neanderthal Neanderthals (, also ''Homo neanderthalensis'' and erroneously ''Homo sapiens neanderthalensis''), also written as Neandertals, are an extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ago. While th ...

caveman The caveman is a stock character representative of primitive humans in the Paleolithic. The popularization of the type dates to the early 20th century, when Neanderthals were influentially described as " simian" or "ape-like" by Marcellin ...

from 50,000 years ago in what will become

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

finds the H-Device and become his era's version of Superman. He never transforms back and as an old man throws the H-Device into space and leaves Earth to go to

the Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the List of natural satellites, fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth ( ...

where he dies. * Issue #12–14: Joe Hamill is a

construction worker A construction worker is a worker employed in the physical construction of the built environment and its infrastructure. Definition By some definitions, workers may be engaged in manual labour as unskilled or semi-skilled workers; they may be sk ...

who found the H-Device in the building where Tony Finch was last in. He uses the H-Device to become a superpowered woman named Electro Lass. He loses the H-Device and becomes trapped in

female Female (Venus symbol, symbol: ♀) is the sex of an organism that produces the large non-motile ovum, ova (egg cells), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the Sperm, male gamete during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gamet ...

form.

Final story arc

Issues #15–22 bring together all the elements presented in the previous issues. Robby Reed is the featured character as he attempts to stop a serial killer who has obtained the H-Device and gained the power to use any power he can think of. Most of the other characters from the previous storyarcs are either recruited by Reed or killed by the serial killer.''H.E.R.O.'' #15 (June 2004) Robby starts by telling Jerry Feldon his past which causes his superpowers to kick in. Robby and Jerry travel to find the serial killer while avoiding the police. Robby and Jerry encounter the serial killer and were able to fight him until the serial killer gets away upon killing Jerry. Tony Finch agrees to work for the serial killer upon being sprung from Arkham Asylum. Wayne of Captain Chaos sides with Robby Reed after the serial killer killed Mark, Jay, Galen, and Craig and after Wayne's superpowers. After his powers kick in, Matt Allen agrees to help Robby Reed after Andrea is captured by the serial killer. Robby and Matt were successful at rescuing Andrea at the cost of Wayne's life. Tony does turn against the serial killer by buying Robby Reed, Matt Allen, and Andrea Allen time to defeat him by sacrificing his life. It was also shown that the H-Device's powers had been carried into Jerry Feldon's son. The series ends with the H-Device being sent back in time by Robby Reed where it is found by the Neanderthal from issue #11.

Collected editions

Part of the series has been collected as a trade paperback: * ''Power & Abilities'' (collects ''H.E.R.O.'' #1-6, 144 pages, DC Comics, November 2003, )''Power & Abilities'' profile at DC
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References

External links

Comics Bulletin Comics Bulletin was a daily website covering the American comic-book industry. History Silver Bullet Comicbooks The site was founded in January 2000 as Silver Bullet Comicbooks by its New Zealand-based publisher/editor Jason Brice. During this ...

* * {{comicbookdb, type=title, id=889, title=''H.E.R.O.''
''H.E.R.O.''
at the

Big Comic Book DataBase The Big Cartoon DataBase (or BCDB for short) is an online database of information about animated cartoons, animated feature films, animated television shows, and cartoon shorts. The BCDB project began in 1997 as a list of Disney animated featu ...

2003 comics debuts