Adventure Comics #303
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeAdventure Comics #303 (December 1962) delivers the full first appearance and origin story of Matter-Eater Lad (Tenzil Kem), the Legion of Super-Heroes member whose power to eat and digest literally any substance made him one of Silver Age comics' most audaciously offbeat creations. His introduction — embedded in only the fourth regular Legion feature in Adventure Comics — exemplifies the series' defining rhythm of expanding the 30th-century roster with aliens whose abilities were built on imaginative planetary world-building rather than standard superhero templates. The character has proven surprisingly durable across every major Legion continuity relaunch, from the Bronze Age through Zero Hour, Threeboot, and Bendis's 2019 reboot, which speaks to how fully his debut established him as a genuine, if gleefully unconventional, Legionnaire. The issue also contains a complete Superboy lead story, making it a representative artifact of DC's early-1960s anthology format that kept Superboy and the Legion sharing the same title.
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The Legion backup story, 'The Fantastic Spy!', was written by Jerry Siegel — co-creator of Superman — and drawn by John Forte, the artist who defined the Legion's visual look throughout the early Silver Age run in Adventure Comics. Siegel, who was freelancing for DC during a period of personal and legal estrangement from the company over Superman rights, wrote a steady stream of Legion scripts in this era; Tom Bierbaum later noted in a 2009 essay that when he briefly spoke with Siegel, the writer had no recollection of the Matter-Eater Lad story or the character at all. The lead Superboy story, 'The Man Who Hunted Superboy!', was written by Leo Dorfman with art by George Papp, while the cover was penciled by Curt Swan and inked by George Klein — the artistic team that gave the title much of its Silver Age visual identity.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist John Forte; the Legion backup story 'The Fantastic Spy!' runs approximately 11–12 pages.
- Cover date: December 1962; published by DC Comics as part of Adventure Comics (Volume 1).
- Cover penciled by Curt Swan, inked by George Klein; interior Superboy lead story ('The Man Who Hunted Superboy!') written by Leo Dorfman with art by George Papp.
- The Legion story 'The Fantastic Spy!' has been reprinted in Adventure Comics #499 (May 1983), Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 1 (1991), Showcase Presents: Legion of Super-Heroes Vol. 1 (2007), and Legion of Super-Heroes: The Silver Age Omnibus #1 (2017).
- The Superboy lead story was separately reprinted in Four Star Spectacular #5 (November–December 1976).
- Matter-Eater Lad is established in this issue as the fifteenth member inducted into the Legion of Super-Heroes, joining shortly after Bouncing Boy.
- The issue also marks the first appearance of Dr. Landro, a physician specializing in fourth-dimensional surgery, who is revealed to be a spy — the real source of the Legion's security breach that initially falls on Matter-Eater Lad.
- Matter-Eater Lad was later voiced by Alexander Polinsky in the animated series Legion of Super Heroes (The CW, 2006–2008) and received an action figure in Mattel's DC Universe Classics Legion of Super-Heroes 12-pack.
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↩ Reprints The Adventures of Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis #27 (1956)
Reprinted in Four Star Spectacular #5 (1976), Adventure Comics #499 (1983), The Legion of Super-Heroes Archives #1 (1992), Showcase Presents: Legion of Super-Heroes #1 (2007), Legion of Super-Heroes: The Silver Age Omnibus #1 (2017), Legion of Super-Heroes: The Silver Age #1 (2018), Albi del Falco #361
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