[1] The original owner of the dial is portrayed as Robert "Robby" Reed, a highly intelligent teenager with a penchant for exclaiming "Sockamagee!"
He lives in the fictional town of Littleville, Colorado with his grandfather "Gramps" Reed and their housekeeper Miss Millie.
[4] The wide array of Robby's superhero identities included the Squid, Quake-Master, King Coil, Hornet-Man, Shadow-Man, Mighty Moppet, King Kandy, Future-Man, Human Bullet, Super-Charge, the Mole, Mr. Echo, Hypno-Man, the Cometeer and the Human Starfish, among others.
[6] Certain high-pitched frequencies from a villain's supersonic motor affect Robby's hero forms, causing them to rob the criminals and keep the loot for themselves.
[9] With issue #174, editor Joe Orlando dropped "Dial H for Hero" and "Manhunter from Mars" as regular features in House of Mystery, changing the comic to an anthology of horror-themed short stories.
When both sides attacked each other, Wizard faked his death and made two new H-Dials which were later found by Chris King and Vicki Grant while Master briefly worked for Project Cadmus and learned how to make supervillains from the cell samples of unknown humans.
In the comic series Dial H for Hero that was released during the "DC Rebirth", Robby Reed first became Giant-Boy when he first used the H-Dial.
During his time with the H-Dial, Robby has also become Mole, King Kandy, Mighty Moppet, Radar Sonar Man, Tea Rex, and General Electric.
This version is a member of Cyborg's New Teen Titans training program who previously wielded the H-Dial until he learned it borrows the powers of nearby metahumans and gave it up.