Matt Grant (Tales from the Heart of Africa: The Temporary Natives character; brother of main character, Cathy Grant)

grant-matt-tfthoatn-standing MATT GRANT grant-matt-tfthoatn-readalbum

Real Name: Matt (presumably short for "Matthew") Grant

Identity/Class: Human;
active circa 1984 (and presumably at least 6-10 years before that; see comments)

Occupation: Student (at the time of story publication)

Group Membership: None known

Affiliations: None known (he presumably as friends in school and/or his neighborhood, but he was just shown at home by himself in a single afternoon)

Enemies: None known

Known Relatives: Mrs. Grant (mother), Cathy Grant (sister)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: A suburb in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

First Appearance: Tales from the Heart of Africa: The Temporary Natives (August, 1990)

Powers/Abilities: Matt was apparently a normal young boy, enjoying playing and getting dirty.

Other than playing and being interested in his sister's activities, he did not demonstrate any particular skills or abilities in his limited appearances.

He wore glasses, but his specific visual deficits are unrevealed. grant-matt-tfthoatn-playmud

Height: Unrevealed (approximately 3'6")
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately )
Eyes: Dark (possibly brown; I didn't see any panels where they were shown clearly, just pictures with no differentiation between his pupil and iris)
Hair: Brown

History:
(Tales from the Heart of Africa: The Temporary Natives) <September 3, 1984> - At home in the afternoon, still in his shirt-and-tie school clothes, Matt used the house to make and play with mud in front of his house. When the mailman showed up, Matt waved at him, wiped his muddy hands on his pants, and checked the mail.

Seeing a letter from his sister, Cathy, who had joined the Peace Corps, Matt rushed in to tell his mother, but when she turned and saw his mud-covered clothes, she insisted he march upstairs and get out of his school clothes, criticizing him for not doing so before he played in the mud.

Matt tried to tell her about the letter, but she wouldn't hear any argument from him and sent him upstairs.

Matt went upstairs, but instead of getting changed, he opened up the letter, saw a picture of Cathy in Africa, and picked up an album of Cathy's pictures sat on the couch, put his mud-caked feet on the coffee table and reviewed the article about Cathy graduating from University of Minnesota and heading to the Peace Corps.

Matt's mother later came upstairs, appreciating that he had been trying to tell her that they had gotten a letter from Cathy.

Taking the album and letter, she sent Matt to change his clothes.

Comments: Created by Cindy Noff, Rafael James and Seitu Hayden; copyright and owned by Cindy Noff and Rafael James as part of the creator-owned Epic line.

The top of Matt's head is only a few over the top counter, which is probably about 3' tall, and his mother looks to be at least two feet taller than him. I had thought that he might be 8-10 years old, but the average height of an eight-year-old boy is around 4'4", while the average height of a 6-year-old boy is about 3'11"; based on that, I figured he was a short 6-year-old.
His sister, Cathy, was already a college graduate when she joined the Peace Corps, so she was more like 21-years-old.

This was a surprisingly enjoyable read for me. Cathy Grant was a Peace Corps volunteer who spent two years in Africa, and it told the story of how so many efforts to help failed. It explained the motivations on both sides, and Cathy was a likable, normal person, just wanting to do so some good.
I only read this story in an effort to be complete in my coverage of the Epic stories, but I'm glad I did.

As a creator-owned character from Epic, it is unlikely that this story was intended to be part of Reality-616, but there's also nothing to exclude it...the events involved a small number of people in a localized regions of Minnesota and Africa.. There's no reason it could not have taken place in 1984, which due to Marvel's sliding timescale in is over 25 years and counting before the Fantastic Four's space flight.

Thanks to Loki for suggesting Matt Grant to represent this series.

This profile was completed 06/03/2025, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 25^th anniversary's celebratory event.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Matt Grant should be distinguished from:

GRANT, Dr. - attempted to blow up Niagara Falls power station, enemy of Namor--Marvel Mystery Comics#44
GRANT, Mr. - Brand Corporation, former supervisor of Buzz Baxter--Amazing Adventures II#13
GRANT, Mr. - aka AUDIT. former head of Warheads Kether Troop, briefly possessed by Golem--Warheads#1
GRANT, Professor - nuclear physicist, attempted to use telepathic children as prevention of missile attacks--Mystic#41
GRANT, AMBER - photographer roommate of Ruth Hart, friend of James-Michael Starling--Omega the Unknown I#1
GRANT, DONALD - childhood friend of Patsy Walker (Hellcat), manipulated by Russell Daboia--Avengers 2001 Annual
GRANT, DOUG - Golden Age character--Spy Cases#1
GRANT, GARY “LONG GREEN” of Earth-88194 - wrestling promoter--Powerline#3
GRANT, GAVIN “GATOR” - Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation, mutated into reptilian form--Thing I#29
GRANT, GLORIA “GLORY” - Daily Bugle secretary, developed hatred of Spider-Man when Eduardo Lobo died in battle against him--Amazing Spider-Man I#140
GRANT, HELEN - 1950s nurse--Romances of Nurse Helen Grant#1
GRANT, LIZ - circa 1970s, presumably became engaged to rock singer Ronny Langdon--My Love II#5
GRANT, MAC - 1950s con-man, sent hours into past via experimental jet--Strange Stories of Suspense#13/2
GRANT, MARY MEEKE - wife of Donald Grant, childhood friend of Patsy Walker, briefly controlled by Russell Daboia--Avengers 2000 Annual
GRANT, MAX - employed by the Committee, killed by the Werewolf (Jack Russell)--Marvel Spotlight I#2
GRANT, PHILLIP - Stark Enterprises computer hacker--Iron Man I#305
GRANT, RICHARD THOMAS - Broadway Project, slain by Morbius--Dracula Lives!#7
GRANT, SILAS - Blackworld, sailor, later space adventurer, aided Thor--Thor I#197
GRANT, STEVEN - alias used by Moon Knight--Marvel Spotlight I#28
GRANT, TIM - circa 1950s, apparently encountered wounded Billy the Kid--Cowboy Action#11
GRANT, VICK - 1970s actress, apparently apparently married Artur LaValle--Our Love Story#5
other "Matt" or "Grant" characters, groups, items, events, races or places...

images: (without ads)
Tales from the Heart of Africa: The Temporary Natives, story pg. 1, panel 3 (playing in mud);
       pg., 3, panel 3 (partial full front image);
       pg. 4, panel 3 (looking through album);
       pg. 46, panel 1 (dirty feet up on the coffee table)

Appearances:
Tales from the Heart of Africa: The Temporary Natives (August, 1984) - Cindy Noff and Rafael James (writers), Seitu Hayden (artist), D.G. Chichester & Marc McLaurin (editors), Carl Potts (executive editor, Epic Comics)

First posted: 09/11/2026
Last updated: 06/03/2025

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and � 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
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