Matter Eater Lad

I was just thinking today about what super hero I would most like to write. There are the biggies (Constantine, Swamp Thing, Animal Man) but the character I’d actually really like to write is Legion of Super Heroes alumn Matter Eater Lad from planet Bismoll.

The Buckaroo Banzai of the Legion?

His super power? He can eat anything. Anything at all.

You heard me. And what a power it is!

No jail can hold him – he eats his way out.

No nefarious device can destroy the universe – he gobbles it down before it can go off.

He’ll chomp your gun in two before you get a chance to plug him.

His tagline? “That gives me an appetite! And you don’t want to give me an appetite!”

There’s a Legion story line where MEL eats a super powerful alien device known as the Miracle Machine. No living Legionnaire can destroy it, except the man with the mouth! In the story line, eating the machine drives MEL insane, but I think eating the machine has the potential to open up a story where MEL finds himself in current DC continuity, out of time and space, a bit deranged the way Starman found himself, with an appetite…

You can see where I’m going with this.

Alas, a Matter Eater Lad writing gig is a fantasy at this point, but one day…

For more on the bizarre history of my favorite DC character, check out this link at Major Spoilers.

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