Or - “The Boys Are Back In Town!”

Sorry for the lateness of the hour, folks… I spent a chunk of the morning taking a friend to the doctor for help with her hacking cough, and then ended up getting sidetracked by several work issues… Bygones. It’s time to talk some comics, and I can tell you right now that this issue of LSH is my favorite of the new Bedard era (does this guy write EVERYTHING for DC right now?) featuring as it does the return to the spotlight of two of my fave-rave Legionnaires (though neither of them are actually members at this time, though I have hopes for that to change in the future.) It’s been many a year since Tenzil Kem has been given a good solid moment to sink his teeth into, pun fully intended, but we get it here and it’s worth the wait…

(more…)

Or - “With A Name Like Matter-Eater Lad, You KNOW He’s Got To Be Good…”

Gail Simone, one of the best comic writers of our time, recently said something incredibly wise about the creators who claim to only want to work on the the top-of-the-line characters.  Gail’s response to this was something akin to “if they’re not first-rate characters, MAKE THEM first-rate characters.”  Her advice goes double for today’s review subject, one of the most denigrated characters of all time.  Matter-Eater Lad has never gotten any respect, sometimes not even from his fellow Legionnaires, and he’s often trotted out as an excuse for internet wags to wax poetic about how “lame” old comic-book heroes are, and how “all the good names really ARE taken, huh?”  They then go on to talk about airline food, Oprah, and how marriage means you don’t get sex anymore, am I right, guys?  In this, the Age of Irony, I feel it’s much more constructive (and more difficult) to make a case FOR a particular concept than it is to shoot it down.  Since Legionnaire Tenzil Kem is already dodging his particular slings and arrows, it behooves me to take arms on his behalf, and by opposing, end the snottiness.  Grab some popcorn and your favorite frosty beverage, while I take a few moments to explain why Matter-Eater Lad exemplifies heroism rather than emblemizing it’s failures.  This is your Major Spoilers Hero History on Tenzil Kem of Bismoll…  Matter-Eater Lad!

(more…)