#guess i gotta throw this in the trash when i get home 😭 it also lowkey burns....

[yukinyaminyato]

*puts on a lip tint i haven't used in a long time*

me: tastes like mold.... ? 🫠

[its-not-lookin-good]

Detective Comics #40 Released 1940-06-05

Summary: The first appearance of Clayface!

Now hold up- Clayface has a hatchet. Is he Chinese?

First off I’ve learned that Bruce’s fiancée is named Julie and she is an actress who will be performing in the movie Dread Castle. At the studio she’s working at, we meet Basil Karlo, one of the greatest makeup artists and character actors of all time! He’s come to wish good luck to Ken Todd, the man who is taking over his role in this remake (guess we were getting remakes even in 1940). Unfortunately, Karlo was kinda wild and trashed his reputation, so audiences won’t go see him act anymore. At the same time, the director of the movie, Ned Norton, is getting fired for being a flake. He promises revenge. And also at the same time, we see actress Lorna Dane, the star of the movie, in a loud breakup with her boyfriend. Turns out she breaks up with a lot of boyfriends. The peanut gallery calls her a gold digger. The jilted boyfriend says he “ought to kill” her so really there is just a whole lot going on in this issue.

This sure is a line :)

Oh wait did you think we had all our shady people done with for this issue? Nope! Now we have some gangster, Roxy Brenner, approach the owner of the studio, Bentley, and demand protection money, which Bentley refuses. Bruce agrees that shit is wack at this studio.

A few days later, Bruce comes to visit Julie on set while a scene is being filmed of Lorna Dane being killed by the “Terror”. This guy is also there– in the shadows, naturally.

The lights go out and when they come back, Lorna Dane is dead. I gotta say, they really ran with this being the Hollywood issue. I love how fucking dramatic this dude is.

The police investigate but find nothing. When the movie continues production, Julie worries she might be next because she will be filming a scene where she is killed by the “Terror”. Batman and Robin are on the case!

They see Bentley arguing with Roxy Brenner and some lackeys. They jump in to help; Robin is called an elf.

Batman asks Roxy if he killed Lorna Dane and he admits that he was just using her death to his advantage to threaten Bentley, but he wasn’t actually involved. Batman next goes to see Fred Walker, Lorna’s ex-boyfriend, at his home to see if it was him. He ends up finding Walker trapped in his closet. Walker is on the verge of death but says it was Clayface before he croaks.

Robin, on the other hand, is still on the movie set. He sees a light on and goes to investigate, where he’s attacked by the spooky masked man. And honestly every panel Clayface is in, he genuinely looks so creepy.

Robin gets a nice knife dodge but then he trips on a lamp and knocks himself out 😭 Clayface throws him into a moat (which was built for the set). Thankfully, Batman is there to save him.

The next day, Julie is filming her scene and Clayface prepares to kill her. Batman expects it and is waiting to thwart him. He and Robin catch and tie up Clayface for a proper Scooby Doo-esque unmasking. It turns out the character of Clayface was from a movie and the role is being reprised by none other than Basil Karlo. He was bitter about being replaced in Dread Castle. But why kill Lorna and Julie instead of Ken Todd? Karlo has just played too many horror roles so he felt compelled to follow the plot of Dread Castle and kill people in order. ...Okay. (also he killed Fred Walker cause Walker recognized him and blackmailed him)

Julie is once again bemoaning how lame Bruce is compared to Batman. I’ve got doubts about their relationship.. (but I think I’ll stop there for the 40s comics so guess I’ll never know if they break up).

Characters:

Nothing much to say. Batman’s still pretty quippy at this point so that’s something. Unfortunately you only get one example because I reached the image limit for this post.