The coming of Clayface! And the departure of Julie Madison (almost).
One of Batman’s most iconic foes debuts in Detective Comics #40, cover date June, 1940. This issue again features the same creative team as in the previous few issues, and again the strengths and weaknesses of that team are on full display. The cover is actually quite great, with Robin endangered in the foreground, and Batman nabbing the villain in the background. There’s a great sense of perspective here that isn’t as readily present in earlier covers with similar framing.
I unfortunately do not have as high of praises for the interiors. It is the lower end of Kane-Robinson art, and I feel I’m beginning to sound like a broken record here, but to reiterate – it looks sketchy, has weird faces, doesn’t understand movement, and only really shines when Robinson’s inks take over. Highlight panels are the few shots of Clayface cloaked in shadow, and a great panel where Batman investigates a house at night. Truthfully, my complaints with this issue might be down to a lack of quality in the restoration, but I’m not sold on that. Even in later volumes of the omnibus series, Kane’s art is by far the weakest of any of the artists who shared his name. But, at this point, you’re probably not here for the art, are you?
This is a very solid twelve-page whodunnit from Bill Finger. There’s a decent amount of tension, and the possibility of Julie Madison actually dying makes for some great tension. Speaking of, Finger actually bothers to give Julie a career as an actress, which means she is actually a proper person instead of just being someone to save, though she still does need to be saved by the Dynamic Duo. Finger actually bothering to add new depth to a character he doesn’t see, to particularly care for is a testament to how good of a writer he is, even if this issue is mainly set up for a future issue which allows him to write Julie out of the series. I’d rather a writer make a character interesting and then write them out, then a writer insist on writing a cardboard character, but that’s just me. The most important facet of this issue is, of course, the arrival of Batman’s next supervillain in Clayface! If you don’t know, the masked murderer is actor Basil Karlo, a legendary actor and makeup artist who let fame get to his head and started doing a lot of crazy stuff, resulting in his reputation flatlining and him going insane. It’s amazing how much of this gets retained into the modern age. Sure there’s variations on it, but that core remains constant between so many different iterations of the character. So, yeah, for introducing one of Batman’s most iconic foes and a great deal of his origin, this issue is absolutely a must-read.
The Batman's Library 