Move over McGruff! In Adventure Comics #303 (Dec, 1963), Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel (him again?) and John Forte introduced the first hero to "take a bite out of crime"...Tenzil Kem, Matter-Eater Lad. For a character known for using his mouth, his name is awful on the nose. Simply put, Tenzil can eat matter in any, and all forms. The soil of his home world Bismoll (a play on Pepto-Bismol) had become infected, so that all food grown there was inedible. So naturally, the inhabitants evolved the ability to eat everything (and I mean everything) else. That's just solid Silver Age science. Tenzil joined the Legion of Super-Heroes, where he chewed through ray guns, prison bars, etc. When no other hero could stop the rampaging creature Omega, Kem simply devoured the device (the Miracle Machine) that spawned it. The cosmic energies of the machine drove him a little nuts, but let's face it he wasn't all there to begin with.
He left the team when he was drafted into becoming a senator on Bismoll. In further Legion revamps he would a adopt a fast talking, con man persona. He even convinced the evil Saturn Queen into marrying him. Other incarnations would depict him as the team's chef, and government official. He's not in the current Legion series as a regular, but maybe readers' er, tastes will change.
Tomorrow, the ever SHIFTING story of an outsider...
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