#mud pack

Anywayz…the Mud Pack would be infinitely cooler since they love to cram as many villains as possible in a Bat flick!

World Maritime Day - Focuses on shipping safety, maritime security, and the marine environment. Maritime describes anything to do with the sea and ships. The word refers to traveling and working on the ocean or military activity on the sea.

Many villains have taken on the moniker of “Clayface” over the course of comics. The first was Basil Karlo: an old-fashioned horror actor who got the name and apparel of his character from the villain he played in a movie of his. Using the fictional rogue’s hideous clay mask, and garbed in a cloak and wide-brimmed hat, he hunted his victims with knife and pulled off Phantom-of-the-Opera-esque crimes in a mad revenge plot. However, the Clayface we know today appeared somewhat later: this was Matt Hagen, a small-time crook who accidentally came across a mystic power that transformed his body into living clay, and allowed him to shapeshift. This Clayface bedeviled Batman for many years, but in the Bronze Age, was seemingly killed off. This led to the third Clayface: Preston Payne. Payne, through tragic means, also transformed into a living clay creature…but his abilities were very different from Hagen’s. His clay body could barely contain itself and, to avoid from melting into a puddle, he was forced to find a containment suit to keep himself from literally falling apart. Most horrific of all, he developed a “touch of death”: anybody he touched would melt down into the same claylike substance. The fourth Clayface was Sondra Fuller: a female shapeshifter with powers not unlike Hagen’s, occasionally referred to as “Lady Clay.” In the seminal story arc “The Mud Pack,” she and the rest of the Clayfaces of the past all banded together in a mad scheme to destroy Batman…but the arc ended with Basil Karlo being revealed as the secret “true villain,” whose REAL goal was to gain the powers of his successors, becoming the Ultimate Clayface. Since then, Karlo has been “Clayface Prime,” and this has been both a good thing and a bad thing. It’s a good thing because we now have a consistent person to pin things on, and some great stories have been done using Karlo. It’s bad because not every writer seems to know the difference between Basil Karlo and Matt Hagen, often portraying Clayface as a thug with few brains and a lot of powers, more akin to the Sandman from Spider-Man. With the New 52 and DC Rebirth, Karlo’s backstory has been reimagined, and the whole Clayface saga has essentially been wiped out, with only one solid take on the character left, and that’s probably for the best…but whether this leads to better use of him in stories is hard to say. Other media has found all sorts of fun ways to play with Clayface, and in some ways it tends to handle him better, I feel. The DCAU did the masterstroke of combining elements of several Clayfaces into one (semi-)solid character, and for many people, that’s the version they remember best, even more than the comics. “The Batman” had two takes on Clayface: one a reimagining of Basil Karlo, and the other an original character called Ethan Bennett, who was in some ways more like Two-Face than the Clayface many of us know, in terms of his backstory and motivations. This is another version that tends to be highly respected. One version I don’t think gets enough credit is the take from “Birds of Prey,” who seemed to be a cross between Preston Payne and Matt Hagen (I don’t think his actual name was ever given), and had personal ties to the main protagonist, Huntress, as it was revealed he was the one responsible for the death of her mother: none other than Catwoman herself, Selina Kyle. No matter which version of the character you like most – both out of the numerous takes in comics or the many takes in other media (I only listed a few there) – I think it’s safe to say that this baddy is one who won’t be sinking into the mud anytime soon. We’re past the halfway point, mates! The countdown continues tomorrow, where I’ll be covering my 14th Favorite Batman Villain. HINT: She is Gotham’s Most Fatal Femme Fatale.

Sondra Fuller likes teasing Preston Payne about how he used to be in love with a mannequin.

Amidst the fuss of this episode, nobody mentions Lorraine’s racist mother, who treated Dorothy as the maid, or the inclusive theme of the episode.

Sea nutrients and Snapchat filters like whoa last night! I've been trying to physically exfoliate less in an effort to keep my skin from getting irritated, but some PMS pimples popping up really warranted a quick, deep clean and a light scrub courtesy of the Biotherm Wonder Mud. I got the SkinFood Marine Food Gel Mask set for Christmas, and I'm already really loving these. I always have to lie down when wearing gel masks because they tend to slide down my face, but this one stayed out pretty well and absorbed really well over about 30-45 minutes. I'm still trying to keep it light and easy while the weather stays crazy into (hopefully) spring.