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The following contains major spoilers for "A Matter of Life and Death" from the pages of DC Horror Presents... #4, on sale now from DC Comics.
An underrated DC superhero just revealed the unexpectedly gruesome side to his iconic powers.
"A Matter of Life and Death" finds the Legion of Super-Heroes' very own Matter-Eater Lad returning to his regularly scheduled duties as the one-man cleanup crew for a whole host of various illegal weapons and contraband. When the task at hand comes to include the viscera-laden armor of a recently executed alien tyrant, however, Matter-Eater Lad opts to stuff what is left of the villain into an air vent rather than consume it as planned. Unfortunately, these oozing remains soon infects the other members of the crew, leaving Matter-Eater Lad no choice but to fight back by chomping and chewing his way through what has become of his gruesomely mutated allies.
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Image via DC Comics
DC Horror Presents... #4
- Written by PATTON OSWALT & JORDAN BLUM and STEVE KOSTANSKI & BRENDAN HAY
- Art by DANNY EARLS and LOGAN FAERBER
- Colors by JÃO CANOLA
- Letters by SIMON BOWLAND
- Main cover art by TYLER CROOK
- Variant cover art by CHARLIE ADLARD
Matter-Eater Lad is one of the dozens of members of DC Comics' iconic Legion of Super-Heroes. First seen in Otto Binder and Al Plastino's opening story from 1958's Adventure Comics #247, "Superboy: The Legion of Super-Heroes," the eponymous team hail from the far-flung future of the 30th Century. Inspired by Superman's exploits in the relative present and his mission of peace and unity across the cosmos, the Legion of Super-Heroes is comprised of some of the most diverse, eclectic, and capable young heroes that the DC Universe has to offer.
Tenzil Kem, better known as Matter-Eater Lad, made his DC Comics debut in the pages of 1962's Adventure Comics #303 in Jerry Siegel and John Forte's closing story, "Legion of Super-Heroes: The Fantastic Spy!" A member of the species of humanoid aliens known as Bismollians, Matter-Eater Lad shares the rest of his kinds' unique ability to consume and digest quite literally any form of matter they come across. This trait evolved after years of their planet's resources and food supplies being slowly poisoned, which caused the Bismollian's to develop an enzyme capable of both neutralizing the poison and break down any inorganic matter they happen to consume.
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Like many other relatively obscure Legionnaires with strange, often unsettling powers, Matter-Eater Lad has been at the center of some truly unsuspecting stories. Matter-Eater Lad even got a shout-out during the first season of Peacemaker starring John Cena during a sequence in which the titular antihero recalls watching the Legionnaire "eat an entire Wendy's restaurant." Although Matter-Eater Lad doesn't get a chance to appear on-screen, he wouldn't be the first bizarre Legionnaire to do so, as Nathan Fillion famously portrayed TDK, a clear riff on the Legion's Arm-Fall-Off-Boy.
DC Horror Presents... #4 is on sale now from DC Comics.
Source: DC Comics
DC Comics
Created by Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson
English (US) · 