# Opinion: Clayface Is Back

http://davescomicheroes.blogspot.com/2026/10/clayface-is-back.html

Clayface is back...or so the cover said....but was he really? Not so much, as it was scientist Preston Payne, distilling a sample from the second Clayface (Matt Hagen, more on him here), who triggered his own cellular degradation, forcing him to absorb others and live in a strength enhancing exoskeleton to stay alive. This brought him into conflict with Batman, in these two issues of Detective Comics ( 478 and 479, July-August and September-October, 1978) by Len Wein, Marshall Rogers and Dick Giordano.

Publisher: Dave's Comic Heroes Blog — Opinion / commentary.

Image: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS_8e_bEDSwAmGYqntdrrjepQOFwK6Fnnb4NpdfMA1ATmC41z8Fzsl_wYfy3ZLDklUTcozzkdiPIDJ-ro8ZQ6Gpy6i5fgrgQsdJw2tddsCT5VzVS1Th17LciWjO0xx6YJGH7h7ofub3NLYBTUCzBTm8vuG7qzOSdL95nteilYZ8P9K_rZQmxo7fahxUxzt/w400-h300/DetectiveComics478and479.jpg

Image: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo8nTP-qGr_Cy34ZxH7CqcwHAPbZ8xL6WSlEfZia9W2wxD4Y0ENH_tqseRQC_4ad9-Dz0uftnXJIOhhA5JLWBgdWEgSN9i0IPkT18u_blcMPZVQl5AK_QDyQrKJNsaI05IY_kVI_gZtWK_jt1k6Jdh0tM9JThlJxCAmE_lyuIMkQjabERfAy8NhNUHw9y4/w400-h300/ClayfaceIIIOrigin.jpg

Image: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS_8e_bEDSwAmGYqntdrrjepQOFwK6Fnnb4NpdfMA1ATmC41z8Fzsl_wYfy3ZLDklUTcozzkdiPIDJ-ro8ZQ6Gpy6i5fgrgQsdJw2tddsCT5VzVS1Th17LciWjO0xx6YJGH7h7ofub3NLYBTUCzBTm8vuG7qzOSdL95nteilYZ8P9K_rZQmxo7fahxUxzt/s72-w400-h300-c/DetectiveComics478and479.jpg

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Created: 2026-10-23T12:38:40.364019+00:00

Last edited: 2026-10-23T12:38:40.364019+00:00

Board: 3

Origin: Syndicated

Original source: http://davescomicheroes.blogspot.com/2026/10/clayface-is-back.html