Clayface: Celebrity Dirt Coming From DC In July

If you were Clayface –  otherwise known as the charismatic actor Basil Karlo before a lab accident turned him into a shapeshifting supervillain — would you consider your career salvageable in any way? Most sensible people wouldn’t, but most aren’t Clayface. In DC’s newly announced miniseries Celebrity Dirt, Basil has the power and the ego to believe he’s due for a comeback, even if he usually looks like a melting mud-man these days.

There’s a problem though…he’s been replaced, and we mean that quite literally. One of Karlo’s former body doubles has risen to become a star on Karlo’s level. When Clayface escapes Arkham and finds out about this, he knows who he’s targeting next…except the guy may be not as defenseless or innocent as he seems. DC mentions that “a disturbing pattern begins to emerge around this new celebrity” and he may be connected to “a creeping new plague twisting ordinary citizens into clay-warped reflections of his own nightmares.” In summary, expect a lot of goop and body horror in the Clayface tradition, some of which you can see for yourself in the preview pages DC provided below.

Clayface: Celebrity Dirt comes from the talents of horror writer Jude Ellison S. Doyle,  artist Fran Galán, colorist Patricio Delpeche, and letterer Tom Napolitano. “Basil Karlo is one of the most beautifully flawed and human characters in the Batman universe,” said Doyle. “He can become anybody he wants, but he can never escape himself; he looks perfect when the cameras are on him, but he’s a disintegrating mess behind the scenes.”

“By giving Basil the fame he’s always wanted—or giving SOMEONE that fame, anyway—we were able to tell a story about accountability, redemption, and how to tell the difference between somebody who’s actually trying to change for the better and someone who’s using their celebrity to get away with murder,” continued Doyle. “I loved getting to spend time with Basil, and I really hope his fans will enjoy the series.”

Clayface: Celebrity Dirt #1 will go on sale July 8, featuring a main cover by Galán and variant covers by Mike Del Mundo and Dave Johnson.