On October 23, the comic-related film Clayface will hit theaters, and I’m intrigued that DC is taking advantage of that in an interesting way.
WHAT’S THE DEAL?
These days, a movie that is based on or ever related to a comic book property is kind of a rare thing, so this film, which was added to the slate of films somewhat late in the game, is catching some attention especially since it is a horror movie coming out near Halloween this year.
Here’s what the movie is about:
>>After having been brutally disfigured, a rising movie star named Matt Hagen volunteers as a test subject to restore his original face, but he experiences a series of horrifying side-effects that transform his body into living clay.<<
As far as technology goes, this film would have been much more difficult to make and have it appear believable in years past, but nowadays, thanks to computers and their abilities to manipulate images, it looks like the time has finally arrived for this character to appear in movies.
Of course, several versions of Clayface have been Batman foes for decades in the comics, including the aforementioned Matt Hagen. However, the original one was named Basil Karlo in Detective Comics #40 (June 1940), and he was limited in his shape-shifting abilities, mostly to his face. (He most recently appeared in an episode of Batman: Caped Crusader.) He often has been an actor who had only appeared as a villain in films that had aspirations of being a lead actor. He’s often sought the ability to change his appearance to help his career, among other things.
Hagen was originally a bounty hunter who had been exposed to a pool of radioactive protoplasm, which altered his body into the moldable clay he takes his name from.
The third Clayface was Preston Payne, and he used Hagen’s blood to try and create a cure for hyperpituitarism, but he ended up having to pass on his problem to others in order to stay solid for any length of time. The fourth Clayface was called Lady Clay, and there have been others, but none of them stuck around very long.
BODY HORROR
The Clayface film is often referred to as “body horror,” which is defined as “a subgenre of horror fiction that graphically showcases the grotesque or psychologically disturbing transformation, decay, and violation of the physical body.” It centers on the loss of control over one’s own physical form.
The body itself becomes the source of fear. Flesh is viewed as fragile, corruptible, and separate from the conscious mind. Often this has included the changing of a human body into something alien or foreign to the concept of being human as in the film The Fly.
Comics have been a big source of body horror, including even Reed Richards from the Fantastic Four. I always wondered if, because of his ability to change his body, it was Sue who named him “Mister Fantastic,” but that’s all I want to say about that subject!
Images about Hagen from this film often show parts of his face slipping away from his head and the like. I’m not sure just how this movie will do in the box office, but it’s one like Supergirl that I’m waiting to see when it comes to HBO Max.
WHAT DC IS UP TO
I’ve long been a proponent of local comics shops (LCS) hosting events or even temporarily “setting up shop” in local theaters when comic-related movies appear in their area. It makes perfect sense since it takes advantage of all the advertising and publicity used to promote the film. However, not many stores want to go through all that trouble of setting up a “second” home away from their main base, so it rarely happens these days.
I’ve even thought that commercials for a film like Clayface ought to have, at the very end maybe just for a few seconds, how to find local comics shops for fans interested in more content like the movie. After all, since content of this film originated in the comics universes, why not help promote the original source? The industry could use the help! Granted, Clayface is no Spider-Man or Batman, but it would be worth Warner Bros.’ time and investment to help DC and other comics companies attract more customers.
What DC is doing, interestingly enough, is generating a comic book featuring previous appearances of Clayface. Clayface #1 Special Edition will be arriving in your LCS on October 14, a week before the film debuts. It will include the following:
- Matt Hagen’s first appearance in The Challenge of Clayface from Detective Comics #298 written by Bill Finger with art by Sheldon Moldoff;
- “If a Man Be Clay” from Batman Villains Secret Files and Origins 2005 #1 written by Steve Purcell with art by Mike Mignola; and
- A preview of the DC “All In” series, Clayface: Celebrity Dirt, written by Jude Ellison S. Doyle with art by Fran Galan.
It will be sold to customers for $1 each and sold to stores in bundles of 25. I like the concept behind all this, and I hope we see more of this kind of thing in the months and years ahead. Yes, I’m sure some publishers have done something like this before, but I don’t think they have happened to such a degree as I hope this will take place this time.
WHERE’S BATMAN?
In my opinion, the biggest problem this movie will “face” will be the absence of the Dark Knight himself. It reminds me of the recent pair of Joker films that, honestly, I believe could have done better if Batman made some sort of appearance in them. In fact, I think we might still be seeing new Joker movies if he had been seen in them.
I have to point out where the best Clayface stories appeared—in my opinion—and that was in the animated Batman shows from Bruce Timm and Paul Dini, including others. Hagen was a blend of both his original character and Karlo, him being an actor instead of a bounty hunter. “Feat of Clay,” a two-parter, featured his origin, then came “Clayface Returns,” “Mudslide,” and “Growing Pains,” in which a portion of Clayface had been separated from him while in the shape of a young girl and Robin attempted to help her. The most shocking sequence was one time when Clayface actually absorbed Batman into his body and attempted to kill him while he was trapped inside. However, just when you think it’s all over for the Dark Knight, well, that’s when he’s the most dangerous!
I imagine this film will be something important particularly for those fans of computer-generated special effects—at least, I hope it will be. The trick of it will be just how well the audience relates to the character and his problems while believing the effects. We’ll see!
About Author
