Matt

Matt is Humph's best human pal.

Fiction

One Friday evening, as Matt and Humph were enjoying a space show with a glass of pop (or milk), Matt's parents told him to put the cat out for the night – out of their fourth floor window. Matt and the Cat issue 5 Matt thought it was strange that he hadn't heard from Humph for five whole minutes, so he went outside to find Humph being taken away in a dustbin by a large robot. Matt blurted out that the robot was stealing his cat – and then instantly regretted it. Issue 6 Humph used the distraction to flee, but headed back to rescue Matt on second thoughts, only to find the robot beaming the boy onto a star ship. Issue 7 Humph was also beamed up, and he started to search for Matt. Issue 8

While Humph was captured by a Lobb, Matt fell into the hands of the Slave-Master of Darkon. Issue 10 The Slave-Master gloated to Matt that he was his personal property until the ship reached Darkon, and allowed him to reunite with Humph... though on their joy to see one another, the Slave-Master clarified that they'd be reunited in the slave section of the ship. Issue 11 Imprisoned with Humph, Matt paced back and forth, trying to come up with a plan for escape. The idea came to him, Issue 12 but Humph wasn't impressed to be involved. Issue 13 All the plan seemed to consist of was jumping the first robot to step into their cell, which they did with gusto. Issue 14

Matt told the little robot that he was to be their ticket to freedom, but called off the attack when he noticed the robot was too dazed. The robot explained that he meant them no harm and was only bringing them food. Matt apologised, having not expected to meet a friendly robot on a ship that was otherwise full of kidnappers. Issue 15 As the ship began to land on Darkon, the robot warned them that they would be sold into slavery and potentially split up to different parts of the galaxy. Issue 16 As the robot guided them towards an escape, Matt asked why he was helping them, and he explained that he was a Slavebot that had never known freedom, and wouldn't want free creatures to be sold into the torture of servitude. The Slavebot encouraged them to change into space suits to survive the cold climate of Darkon. Matt was thrilled that he'd be decked out like a character out of Marvel Comics, but became momentarily bemused that Humph wore a "Make Mine Marvel" shirt under his smock top. Issue 17

Notes

• Matt is named for Mychailo Kazybrid's eldest son, and visually based on a cartoon of him when he was two years old.
• Beginning in issue 13, various extra-terrestrial characters refer to Matt as "the pink coated one" and variations thereof. By the time the strip is printed in colour, Matt has long ditched his Earth coat to change into a red and blue spacesuit – but characters still refer to him as pink coated. Since we've never seen his coat in colour, do they mean his skin tone, or...?