Clayface First Appearance: Detective Comics #40 (1940) Value

Clayface first appeared in Detective Comics #40, cover-dated June 1940, created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane (Wikipedia). This first Clayface is Basil Karlo, a B-list horror actor who is driven insane when he learns a remake of his film Dread Castle will be shot without him. He starts killing the actors cast in the remake, in the order and manner their characters die in the film (Wikipedia). He has no powers in this story; the clay name comes from his mask.

Several people have used the name. Debuts as listed by Wikipedia:

• Basil Karlo: Detective Comics #40 (June 1940), Bill Finger and Bob Kane
• Matt Hagen: Detective Comics #298 (December 1961), Bill Finger and Sheldon Moldoff
• Preston Payne: Detective Comics #478 (August 1978), Len Wein and Marshall Rogers
• Sondra Fuller: Outsiders #21 (July 1987), Mike W. Barr and Jim Aparo
• Cassius Payne: Batman: Shadow of the Bat #27 (May 1994)
• Peter Malley: Batman #550 (June 1997), Doug Moench and Kelley Jones
• Todd Russell: Catwoman #1 (July 2001)
• Johnny Williams: Batman: Gotham Knights #60 (September 2004)

When a seller says "first Clayface", ask which one. Only Detective #40 is the first appearance of the name.

PriceCharting lists $3,032.47 ungraded and $6,300 in 4.0, retrieved September 25, 2026. Graded copies trade about once a year, so recorded sales tell you more than the grade figures:

• February 9, 2025: a CGC-graded copy, $3,983
• September 2024: $2,000
• July 2025: a CGC 6.5 copy from the Twilight pedigree, $36,000

PriceCharting's figures above 6.0 do not rise in order (its 9.2 figure of $17,925 is below the 6.0 grade price of $36,000), which is what thin data looks like. For a copy in hand, compare against sales in the same grade and check the pedigree.

The shape-shifting mud monster is Matt Hagen, whose origin and first appearance PriceCharting lists for Detective Comics #298 (December 1961). PriceCharting values, retrieved September 25, 2026:

• Ungraded: $400.00
• 2.0: $323.19
• 4.0: $730.25
• 6.0: $1,019.87
• 8.0: $2,686.50
• 9.2: $4,485.82

Recorded sales include a CGC 6.5 at $1,439.94 in May 2026 and a CGC 8.0 at $5,999 in July 2024. Ungraded copies sell about once a week. Ungraded, #298 costs about 13 percent of Detective #40, which makes it the affordable Clayface key.

It depends on which Clayface (Wikipedia):

• Matt Hagen fell into a radioactive pool of protoplasm and could change shape, but only for a while; he had to go back into the pool to renew the power.
• Preston Payne had hyperpituitarism and used an enzyme from Hagen's blood. It made his flesh melt, and he had to pass the condition to others by touch to survive.
• Basil Karlo began without powers and later injected himself with blood from Payne and Sondra Fuller, gaining their combined abilities.

The comics do not give him a clinical diagnosis. Basil Karlo is described as being driven insane by the remake of his film, and in the New 52 version he slowly loses his sanity as he becomes a huge clay creature. Preston Payne's mental health slips as he falls in love with a wax mannequin he names Helena (Wikipedia). Any specific diagnosis you read elsewhere is a fan interpretation, not something printed in the stories.

This question usually comes from Batman: The Animated Series. In "Feat of Clay" (Part 1 aired September 8, 1992, Part 2 September 9, 1992), actor Matt Hagen has been disfigured in an accident. The corrupt businessman Roland Daggett gives him Renuyu, a face cream that lets him reshape his face for a while. When Hagen turns on him, Daggett's men force a large dose of Renuyu on him, and it turns him into Clayface (Wikipedia). The episode story is credited to Marv Wolfman and Michael Reaves, the same Wolfman who created Black Cat.

It depends on which Sandman you mean. DC's Sandman, Wesley Dodds, debuted in New York World's Fair Comics #1 (April 1939), about a year before Clayface (Wikipedia). Marvel's Sandman, the Spider-Man villain made of sand, debuted in The Amazing Spider-Man #4 (September 1963), after both Basil Karlo (1940) and Matt Hagen (1961) (Wikipedia).

A Clayface film from DC Studios, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, is scheduled for October 23, 2026. James Watkins directs; Mike Flanagan wrote the story and co-wrote the screenplay with Hossein Amini; Tom Rhys Harries plays Matt Hagen (Wikipedia, checked September 25, 2026). Film news tends to raise demand for the Hagen key, Detective #298.

• Indicia: the small print on the first page or inside cover gives the title, issue number, date and publisher; reprints and facsimiles say so there.
• Cover price and barcode: a price or barcode that did not exist in the cover year means a later edition.
• Paper: decades-old newsprint tans at the edges; bright white pages on an old date are a warning sign.
• Restoration: color touch, trimmed edges and replaced covers are common on expensive keys; a grading service such as CGC can detect them. See spot a fake or restored comic.

Shoot the front cover flat and straight on in even light, then the indicia and the back cover. Detective Comics ran for hundreds of issues, so make sure the issue number is sharp in the photo; #40 and #298 are the two Clayface keys. ComicLens reads the title, issue number and cover art from the photo and shows a reference price range that moves with the grade you pick; there are free scans every day.

Research and drafting were assisted by AI and checked line by line against the sources listed on this page. Prices are the figures shown by the named source on the date given; they change with the market.