#clayface iii

[1428elmstrt]

made all these for a recent post Elsewhere™️ but realized i could post them here for fun :P your month, your clayface!!

[uwakroh]

Batman Annual #11 by Alan Moore

Characters: Helena the mannequin, Clayface (Preston Payne), Batman

Context: Clayface has been married to Helena for a few months and thinks she’s cheating on him

[iconuk01]

Back in 1990, George Perez produced a stunning 12 plate portfolio of Batman artwork, including his covers for "A Lonely Place of Dying"

However, he also did a thirteenth plate for an edition which was only available from Warner Bros Stores (Remember those?)

And what a plate it was, Batman and Robin sneaking through a nightmarish Gothic... Cathedral? Asylum? Petting Zoo (It is Gotham City)

And the villains! Anarky, Catman, Joker, Catwoman, Killer Croc, Poison Ivy, Ra's Al Ghul, Black Mask, Two-Face, Riddler, Clayface III, Scarecrow, Cavalier, Penguin, Tweedledee, Deadshot, Mad Hatter, Killer Moth, Tweedledum, Dagger and Dr Phosphorus (and I've probably missed a few)

[vertigoartgore]

1987's Batman Annual Vol.1 #11 cover by cover artist John Byrne (& Ed Hannigan). Source

[nerds-yearbook]

The first issue of the 3 issue limited series The Untold Legend of the Batman was published with a cover date of July, 1980. The issue covered some of the key events of Batman's past: his father dressing as a Bat-Man at a costume party where he was abducted to perform medical aid to Lew Moxon, his parents murder by Joe Chill, Bruce Wayne fighting crime as Robin with the help of detective Harvey Harris, learning about law and justice at college from his professor Amos Rexford, the incident where a bat flew through the window inspiring him to become Batman, his early adventures with Dick Grayson as Robin, and the deaths of Joe Chill and Lew Moxon. ("In the Beginning", The Untold Legend of the Batman 1#, DC Comic, Event)

[martyrbat]

do u know where this is from it haunts my dreams

[ID: an up-close panel of Batman. He's visibly confused and has a question mark speech bubble before asking, “I'm pregnant?” END ID]

i do!! however im sorry to say your nightmares have all been for naught, since its a very popular edited panel :( the original is from batman annual #11:

(id in alt!)

i hope this doesn't discourage you from trying to get that man pregnant though, hes even in position for it in the last panel <33

[deathiscoldbatman]

I said I wouldn’t bother to post art here again as traditional art more often than not is overlooked, but I feel as though at least 1 or 2 people should see this Preston Payne bust I drew a while ago. Why? Why not.

[thecomicsnexus]

Villains in love

BATMAN ANNUAL #11 JUNE 1987 BY ALAN MOORE, MAX ALLAN COLLINS, GEORGE FREEMAN, NORM BREYFOGLE, LOVERN KINDZIERSKI, ADRIENNE ROY, ED HANNIGAN AND JOHN BYRNE

Two love stories. The first one about Clayface III and his relationship with “Helena”. The second one about the Penguin going reformed thanks to a new chapter in his love life.

SCORE: 10

So I read this story very early in my life, and when I did, it took me a while to understand that Helena wasn’t human. I was a kid.

Alan Moore’s story of Clayface III and Helena is just amazing.  We often justify Batman villains as “psychos”, but writers rarely show us why. Here we get the narration from Clayface III point of view, even though we get to see the real facts.

The Penguin story is a bit more simple, but it does have a redeeming approach to the Penguin. Sadly, Dovina is never shown again, so that love was apparently short-lived.

In the art, Freeman has a very interesting style. I do not know how, as a kid, I couldn’t figure out it was always a mannequin, but it does seem clear to me now. I actually think that the coloring works much better in this story than the art. This is a story that requires more colors than the second story. It needs more tones, because we are always seeing the same colors, in the darkness of a mall, so you need those tones.

For the second story, we get Norm Breyfogle, and I always enjoyed his art, he is one of my favorites. Here, he is not in full style though. His Batman doesn’t always look like “his Batman”, so I assume this was one of the earliest jobs at doing Batman he got.

Spoilers after the break...

The idea that Batman arranges the mannequin to be with him at Arkham... and then his love to completely go away, that’s genius. And ending it with “she can’t live forever”. It works very well. Not too different from an actual marriage, perhaps?

I always felt bad for the Penguin in this story. In the end, he just went back to prison, for trying to give jobs to other ex-cons. He was well intentioned.