Name: Robby Reed
Universe: Earth-1
First Appearance: House of Mystery #156
History:
When teenage genius Robby Reed found himself caught in the middle of a crime rampage by the organization known as Thunderbolt, he was hurled from a cliff to what appeared to be certain doom by a mechanical menace. Miraculously, Robby survived the fall and found himself in a previously unexplored cavern.
There, Robby uncovered a weird dial inscribed with an alien language. Discovering he had a mental link to the dial, Robby was able to decipher the alien characters and dial the alien equivalent of H-E-R-O. This instantly transformed him into the super-hero known as Giant-Boy, and began his heroic career. Each time Robby dialed those four letters, he became a new and different hero, each endowed with strange and wonderful powers. He used these powers to battle Thunderbolt as well as other villains and menaces.
Robby's super-heroic career came to an abrupt and unexpected end when he confronted a villain called Shirkon of the Many Eyes. In order to defeat the villain, Robby dialed S-P-L-I-T on his dial and was transformed into two entities, one a being of pure goodness called the Wizard and the other a being of pure evil called the Master. While the Wizard defeated Shirkon, the Master dialed the H-dial into oblivion and wiped out the past memories of Robby Reed.
Some years later, Christopher King and Victoria Grant were summoned by a mysterious voice to the attic of the house into which the King family had just moved. There, in an ornate chest, they discovered two small dials, each with the letters H-E-R-O inscribed upon its face. Unbeknownst to Chris or Vicki, these dials had been created by the same Wizard who had once been half of Robby Reed.
Though their dials had only four letters each and their transformations were limited to an hour's duration, Chris and Vicki's transformations were as bizarre as any of those experienced by Robby Reed. Eventually, they revealed their powers to their friend Nick Stevens, a young artist who liked to design super-heroes -- heroes that Chris and Vicki invariably became.
Chris and Vicki used their powers to battle numerous super-villains, many of whom were created by the evil Master, who sought their H-dials, though he was never really sure exactly why. Years before, the Master had apparently slain the Wizard, but in fact had merely released the Wizard's spirit to a higher plane of existence where he could search oblivion for his original H-dial.
The final confrontation between Wizard and Master was witnessed by Chris, Vicki, and Nick. The astral form of the Wizard had located the original H-dial and then used it to dial both the Wizard and the Master back into one being -- Robby Reed. Robby explained the truth about his two selves to Chris, Nick, and Vicki, then announced he was giving up hero-dialing forever. He presented his original dial to Nick.
Though they have been inactive in recent months, Chris, Nick, and Vicki retain their H-dials, ever ready to Dial "H" for Hero.
All characters, logos, and images are owned and © 2024 by current copyright holders.
They are used here for educational purposes within the "fair use" provision of US Code: Title 17, Sec. 107.
Remaining material © 1997-2024 Mike's Amazing World of Comics