Comics Reviews: Batman 440, Detective 606, Detective 607

Batman #440 – “Suspects” – Marv Wolfman, George Perez/Jim Aparo/Mike DeCarlo

This is the beginning of the “Lonely Place of Dying” storyline that crosses over with New Titans and introduces the new Robin, Tim Drake. This issue starts with Batman on top of a dam fighting a guy called Ravager, who has killed numerous people (including a couple of cops) in the last few weeks. Batman knows he was led here by someone who wanted him to find Ravager, but his opponent turns out to be a pretty tough customer. Ravager ends up getting away after wounding Batman, who leaves vowing to find Ravager again. We see someone has been taking photos of the fight … someone who seems to know that Batman is Bruce Wayne. Elsewhere, we see a guy in a darkened room who hears a voice on the radio telling him to kill Batman. The “voice” sounds like it’s all in the guy’s head, but does promise to lure Batman to a place where he can be killed, much like what happened with Ravager. At Wayne Manor, Alfred tends to Batman’s wounds, but gives him shit for losing focus and thinking more with his fists than his head lately. Meanwhile, the guy hearing voices sets up a heist with a mobster, hoping to kill Batman when he shows up. The voice on the radio says he has to kill Batman himself and the guy agrees, although he’s not too enthusiastic about it (and seems to realize he’s just talking to himself). We see the guy who was taking photos of Batman and Ravager outside Titans’ Tower. He’s waiting for Nightwing to come out, but when he doesn’t appear, the guy goes to Dick Grayson’s apartment to look for him. In Gotham, the mob guys break into the warehouse and Batman shows up to stop them, but when he notices that they were expecting him, he takes Alfred’s advice and starts thinking with his head instead of his fists. Putting various clues together, he comes up with the mastermind who’s been manipulating events … Two-Face. We see Two-Face in his hideout, still talking to his other half on the radio and saying that he’ll get Batman next time. In New York, the mysterious observer shows up at Dick and Starfire’s apartment and asks to see Dick. Starfire tells him Dick is on an extended leave of absence, so the guy (who I’m assuming is Tim Drake) goes to Dick’s old apartment and finds a newspaper story about the Haley Circus closing down. He figures out that’s where Dick went and immediately decides to follow him. This story is continued in New titans 60, which actually came out a moth after this; I’m not sure why it was delayed like that … maybe just to finish up the ongoing Titans story.

Detective #606 – “Killer Clay” – Alan Grant/Norm Breyfogle/Steve Mitchell

Last issue, the original Clayface (Basil Karlo) gathered his namesakes: Preston Payne, the crazed Clayface III, who hates his condition and recently “divorced” his mannequin wife; Sondra Fuller, Lady Clayface who worked with Kobra; and the bag of earth that’s all that remains of Matt Hagen, Clayface II, after he was killed during the Crisis. Batman caught the Clayfaces as they were robbing Casino Night at Gotham Plaza and managed to knock Payne out. But he was confronted by someone who freaked him out … his dead partner, Robin. Batman knows this isn’t really Robin, just Lady Clay using her powers to mimic Robin’s form, but seeing his dead partner still throws him off a bit. The distraction is enough for Payne to knock him out, but the fight has brought Payne out of the hypnotic state Lady Clay has been keeping him in. Payne tries to kill Batman and Lady Clay is forced to knock Payne out (since Karlo doesn’t want Batman dead yet) and then she turns into a giant bird to take Batman and Payne back to the old theatre where they’ve been hiding out. Meanwhile, Karlo went to a pharmacy to collect some drugs, killing the pharmacist when he insisted on seeing a prescription. At the theatre, Karlo ties Batman up and has Lady Clay change into Looker so she can use her psionic abilities to mess with Batman’s mind. Karlo tells her to pull all of Batman’s deepest fears to the forefront of his mind and then starts a horror movie to make Batman relive those fears. Meanwhile, the real Looker arrives in Gotham and heads to police headquarters, where she learns Batman has been taken by the Clayfaces. At the theatre, Batman’s own personal horror movie plays out in his mind, as he relives the deaths of his parents, Barbara’s shooting, and Jason’s murder. Karlo and Lady Clay celebrate, but he drugs her champagne and takes a sample of her clay body, as well as one from Payne, before leaving. Looker checks the scene where Batman was grabbed, finding a bit of clay left over from Lady Clay. She reads its psychic imprint and gets a vision of the theatre. At the theatre, Batman is still out of it when Payne wakes up and remembers Lady Clay’s betrayal. He’s ready to kill her when she starts crying and tells him to go ahead, since she’s tired of living as other people instead of herself. Payne finds himself sympathetic to her plight and they end up making out before taking off. Looker shows up and is shocked to find Batman is almost catatonic.

Detective #607 – “The China Clay Syndrome” – Alan Grant/Norm Breyfogle/Steve Mitchell

This one continues from the above issue, with Lady Clay and Payne flying away into the sunrise, still pissed off about being used by Karlo. At the theatre, Looker uses her psychic powers to enter Batman’s mind and destroy the phantasms that were planted there, bringing him back to normal. Looker tries to read Matt Hagen’s remains to figure out what Karlo is up to, but she can’t make sense of it. Batman uses his detective skills to deduce that Karlo extracted blood samples from Payne and Lady Clay, probably to turn himself into a true Clayface. Batman knows Karlo will need a well-equipped blood lab, so he sends Looker to STAR Labs, while he heads for Gotham General Hospital. Karlo is already at Gotham General, forcing a doctor named Lowell to combine the blood samples from the other Clayfaces and inject them into him. Looker strikes out at STAR, and ends up exhausting her psychic powers through overuse. At the hospital, the doctor injects the clay mixture into Karlo, who immediately develops the combined powers of the other Clayfaces, including shapeshifting and an acidic touch. Batman busts in and finds himself in trouble. Looker gets a psychic flash and comes to help, but her powers are still weak so she can just manage one stun blast. That’s enough to get Batman loose from Karlo’s clutches, but Karlo grabs Looker and threatens to kill her. Batman realizes they’ve been doing things backwards, and tells Looker to use whatever power she has left to add to Karlo’s power. That makes Karlo’s acid touch run out of control and Batman knocks him through the window, where he burns right through the street and keeps falling down into the ground. Batman thanks Looker for her help, but turns down her offer of partnership. We get an epilogue with Payne and Lady Clay watching another sunset and making out some more. It’s kinda sweet how they found something in each other; Lady Clay sounds a bit cynical about it lasting, but I think they actually get married and have a kid.