Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #9: The Return of ----!?!

Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen by Matt Fraction and Steve Lieber has been consistently considered one of the funniest comics DC's released in years and it's a much needed breath of fresh air among the company's deluge of dour books.

I, unfortunately, haven't paid much attention to the Jimmy Olsen maxi-series despite my friend Alec's approval of how hilarious it's supposed to be. It simply hasn't flown onto my radar lately and my store's frequently selling out of the new issues.

I recently pulled the ninth issue upon remembering it boasted the surprise return of a beloved minor Legion character who hasn't been seen in over a decade.

Not Rainbow Girl.

Not Miss Terious.

Certainly not Unknown Boy.

It's ARM-FALL-OFF BOY!

Arm-Fall-Off Boy, a.k.a. Floyd Belkin, happens to be one of the most infamous Legion applicants outside of the Subs and the Justice League of Earth. His powers are all in the name: he can detach his arms at will and beat people with them.

Floyd debuted in Secret Origins #46, in a story revealing the tragic origin of the Legion's original clubhouse. After that, he appeared in the Reboot Legion's timeline now using the codename "Splitter" for his application. He actually got much farther in the application process in THIS continuity but then he, um, went to pieces during the try-out finals.

Years later, Floyd received a starring role in issue #16 of Legion of Super-Heroes in the 31st Century where he once again tried out for the Legion.

This will surprise many of you, but despite the strangeness of AFO Boy and my love of obscure Legion characters, he's just never really clicked with me. I don't dislike him or anything, but he's never really caught enough of my interest. My only real exposure to him was in Legionnaires #43, one of my favorite issues of the Reboot era.

AFO Boy appears as part of a human interest story Jimmy Olsen reports on at the beginning of the ninth issue. While reporting on Kandorland, an amusement park formerly acting as a bottled city WITHIN the Bottle City of Kandor, Jimmy tells us of the sad plight of AFO Boy.

Going officially as "Splitter" and sadly admitting he's also "Arm-Fall-Off Boy," AFO is at the center of an incident that went viral on the internet. Like any of us, AFO Boy loves roller coasters and sometimes after a long, hard day as a Hero of Lallor, he wants to have fun like any of us. That is when tragedy struck and his arms fell off at the worst possible time.

Jimmy steps in to help raise awareness to AFO Boy's plight, saying roller coasters should be accessible to everyone.

And everyone includes the entire FALL-OFF FAMILY!

Yes, we finally get to meet AFO Boy's whole family and (nearly) all of them has an amazing power. There's...

1. Butt-Fall-Off Geema Deb-Deb
2. New Step-Geempa Glen
3. Fingers-Fall-Off Gal
4. Head-Fall-Off Mom
5. Legs-Fall-Apart-In-Segments Dad
6. Elmers

I'm not even gonna try to ask how and why AFO Boy's family are in the present day DCU. Let's all simply bask in the glory of this beautiful family.

Also the look on Elmers's face implies that dog has seen things it can never not-see. 

I will say overall, the Fall-Off Family is giving off vibes similar to the lesser known Captain Marvel of M.F. Enterprises, an alien android who could detach his head, limbs and hands from his body...

As well as Nowhere Man, a molecularly displaced superhero from Peter Milligan's six-issue run on Animal Man.

Why DC is wasting their time on the Bat Family and the Super Family when they could be making a fortune on the adventures of the Fall-Off Family remains a mystery. But who knows? Maybe the upcoming 5G initiative will feature the surprise return of AFO Boy in an era that will finally give him and his loving family their due.