Mudnight Madness
Writer: Kevin Shinick
Artist: Kelley Jones
Colorist: Michelle Madsen
Lettering: Pat Brosseau
Asst. Editor: Harvey Richards
Editor: Michael Siglain
Published by: DC Comics
There’s not a whole lot of depth to this issue…it’s a sort of generic kind of tale of Basil Karlo, the original Clayface (for those of you keeping score, Matthew Hagan was Clayface II, and the one with the containment suit was Preston Payne (Clayface III), and Sondra Fuller was turned into a Clayface IV in the 1980s story The Mud Pack. Matthew Hagan was the version used for the animated series and in Batman: Hush, I believe, and so would be the more familiar character).
While out and about, Karlo finds that a bunch of kids are participating in an audience-participation showing of one of his old movies, “The Terror.” Seeing this Rocky Horror Picture Show type treatment as a sign of disrespect, he intervenes intending to show the terror of the film for real, but finds that the teens gathered idolize him, and hold him–Basil Karlo, Clayface–as their hero. Seeing how this could work, he accepts their willingness to be part of his legacy. When Batman shows up, he finds that the teens may have achieved more than they bargained for, as he faces this old foe.
The art on this issue, by Kelley Jones really takes me back quite a bit. I believe Jones was the artist on one of the Bat-titles (Detective Comics) in the early 1990s, during the Knightfall epic. I recognize the abnormally-large bat-ears on Batman’s cowl, and the exaggerated scalloping of the cape…just from the cover. Other than that, the art provides a solid visual for the story.
The story itself, as said, is not all that deep…it’s just a story that we see more of Clayface than we do Batman…but Batman’s involvement is much more noticeable here than I recall any of the other issues in this round of Joker’s Asylum. While this is not a bad Clayface vs. Batman story, it doesn’t offer as much of the title character and somewhat leaves a suggestion that without Batman’s actual involvement, there’s no story to tell at all.
This is probably the palest of this round…I don’t feel I learned anything new, gained any new insight, or otherwise got anything out of this that couldn’t be gotten from any other issue involving (to say nothing of starring this Clayface.
Recommended only if you’re specifically interested in Clayface as a concept, the Basil Karlo Clayface, or a completist interested in having all 5 of the Joker’s Asylum II issues.
Story: 4/10
Art: 7.5/10
Overall: 5.5/10
Filed under: Clayface, Comic Reviews 2010, DC, DC Universe, Joker's Asylum | Tagged: Basil Karlo, Clayface, Comic Reviews, DC, DC Comics, Harvey RIchards, Joker, Joker's Asylum, Joker's Asylum II, Kelley Jones, Kevin Shinick, Michael Siglain, Michelle Madsen, Mudnight Madness, Pat Brosseau | Leave a comment »
Comic Reviews by Walt 