Feat of Clay Part (One)

*Feat of Clay (Part One)* is the fourth issue of *Batman'89*.

## Plot

A strange meeting takes place in an abandoned tramway station in Gotham at three o' clock in the morning, between Harvey Dent and Bruce Wayne. Dent gives a suitcase full of evidence to Bruce, which incriminates Charles Shreck in an illegal scheme to take over Wayne Enterprises through insider trading. Bruce, with a rather sinister smile, says he plans to destroy them... and a group of armed henchmen appear from the upper levels of the tramway and try to kill Dent.

Batman springs from the ceiling and stops one of the three thugs, but is stopped short of detaining the remaining two. Wayne, obviously an impostor, escapes, leaving behind a near-fatally wounded Dent, who identifies Bruce as his attacker when he is found by the police.

It is revealed that Bruce's impostor is actually Matt Hagen, a famous movie actor. Hagen has developed a serious addiction to "Renuyu", a dangerous experimental chemical developed by Shreck's laboratories, which allows him to reform his facial features into any appearance he wants. The chemical is necessary to cover the disfigurement he suffered in a car accident years before, and which he has kept secret from the public.

After learning of the botched attempt on Dent's life, Chip orders his henchmen Raymond Bell and "Germs" (a severe mysophobe) to dispose of Hagen. When asked how they will find Hagen, Chip says that Hagen can be expected to come to them as soon as his supply of Renuyu runs out.

True enough, Hagen breaks into Shreck Laboratories and immediately slathers the chemical on his face. When Bell and Germs catch him, Hagen fails to pass himself off as Bruce Wayne. Holding him down on the floor, they pour an entire vat of Renuyu down his throat before placing him inside his car and leaving him for dead. Once they leave, however, Hagen lets out a dull groan as his body begins to mutate.

Turning up Bell's name as one of Chip's henchman and a likely lead, Batman pursues him in the Batwing and lures him away from the city by hacking into Bell's stolen police radio and fooling him into thinking the police are searching for him. Outside the motorway, Batman forces him off the road, dumping his car to the river and dangling him high up in the sky by a mechanical arm. Batman demands to know who Dent was meeting, but Bell faints before he can fully confess. Police helicopters arrive and demand that Batman turns himself over to them since they still think he is responsible for murdering the Ice Princess. Batman drops Bell into a swimming pool, which awakens him, and the police arrest him.

Meanwhile, Bruce sneaks into Dent's room in the hospital through the window to clear his name, but Dent, visibly frightened, summons the police guarding his door and Bruce is arrested.

Teddy Lupus, Hagen's stunt double and best friend (also the only other man who knows about his condition), finds Hagen's car in an alley. Approaching, he puts his hand on Hagen's shoulder, only to realize it has a consistency like that of clay. Hagen rises and looks into the rear-view mirror. Seeing that he has become a living golem of clay, he screams in horror.