#i've been fascinated with preston ever since reading the annotated version of serious house on serious earth

[forevercloudnine]

What are you’re thoughts on clayface joining the bat family?

So having NOW read Basil's reformation arc, I think his interactions with the bat family proper in Batwoman and Detective Comics were interesting, but I think as a status quo I enjoy more where he ended up in Ram V's Catwoman run. Even a reformed villain should get to be something of a wild card (and on a meta level, I think Selina deserves a shapeshifter wild card more than Bruce, who despite being brought down to "millionaire" in Tynion's run still has all the toys a vigilante could ever need).

But in terms of having a sympathetic Clayface join the bat family, I think I'd prefer Preston Payne over Basil Karlo. Preston's degenerative metahuman condition was always more interesting than the "if he makes himself look normal too often he'll die!" handwave Basil got in Rebirth, and his extremely limited abilities mean that he wouldn't just be a "Get Out of Jail" free card plot device for Batman to use if he reformed.

#clayface #preston payne #basil karlo #selina kyle #catwoman #i've been fascinated with preston ever since reading the annotated version of serious house on serious earth #where grant morrison a) identifies who the clayface in that comic is. i'd previously just assumed it was a weird take on basil #and b) talks about how they were using preston to represent batman's fear of his sexuality #by having preston's condition of craving and being deprived of human touch while also being deadly to humans be a metaphor for aids victims #which. is a LOT to unpack #like a lot a lot #initially it made me wonder if that was supposed to be the subtext of his character from its conception #but he actually debuted two years before the first case of aids in the united states #anyway i do wonder how long basil's current status quo will last #since his character has jumped around SO much since the 2011 new 52 reboot #i think because dc has just wanted basil to be Every Clayface #even though originally he wasn't even the clayface who could shapeshift!!! #that was matt hagan + lady clayface