Superman, Satan, Matter-Eater Lad and the Return of The Mummy WHO WAS NOT DEAD!

Starting the week with a very familiar theme...

Why is Superman so popular?  His stories are dull, he's too powerful, he doesn't have many interesting foes...

... oh, that explains it.

Anyway.

Suddenly! (tm!):

I had never really put the two together, but I think that Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes changed comics.  Supergirl headed over to Adventure Comics and the Legion took the backup feature slot that had been occupied by Supergirl.

This was a pleasant surprise, because I had never read these Legion stories before.  Action #381, for example, had a great story about Matter-Eater Lad.  It turns out his father was a drunk gambler and his mother was useless, so he was supporting them on his Legion pay.  It's the "sponge off a relative's success" method of existing that explains the reason why Jim Belushi has an acting career.

So, check it out.  M-E Lad takes Shrinking Violet out on a date because she misses her boyfriend, Duplicate Boy, and he's got family dysfunction.

First, never take out a girl who is sad because she misses her boyfriend, Duplicate Boy.  Any comic book nerd who is the most casual Legion fan will tell that's a bad idea.  His sole existence as a character seems to be to show up and beat on whoever Violet is talking to.  He's kind of like Big Moose and Midge.

Now, watch this:

Isn't that brilliant?  And it worked.  There was no getting around that logic.

It was particularly noteworthy because remember what happened to Matter-Eater Lad?  He was drafted into government.... and now I see why!

Well, until he went insane eating the Miracle Machine, but that was Brainiac 5's fault.  Long story.

Hey!  Remember last week when I was talking about "The Mummy WHO WASN'T DEAD" in Golden Age Blue Beetle?  Well, I was reading the 2nd volume of Booster Gold #3, and check it out: 

How cool is that?  The 2nd volume of Booster Gold is great reading for comic nerds, by the way.

See you tomorrow!