Detective Singletface

Detective Singletface is a major character in Clayverse, a protagonist of solo graphic novels (Order of the Black Lizard, Out In Shadows, Short Halloween, Abyss, No Mercy, Freshman Year), secondary or supporting character in other series (Unknown Vol 1, The Rabbit Vol 2) and crossovers (Spectrum War, Freak/Show, Unnecessary Next Cycle, Two-Zero-Eight).

## Description

**Detective** **Maxwell "Singletface" Paxton** was involved in a kind of occult practice, using a little mysticism in his profession. But mysticism is somewhat not in a standard form - superstitions and signs, come to the aid of Detective Singletface. Fortune-telling bones and cards, a couple of black cats, a sailor's collar, three nuns from the nearest church as friends - in general, everything that somehow works for good luck is included in Maxwell's arsenal. Without guiding signs, he is a little blunt in his work, although he is not devoid of deduction and analytical mind.

## History

### Early Life

#### Childhood

Not much is said about his past. Maxwell received knowledge in the occult and mysticism from his father, Alexander Paxton, a well-known sectarian who wanted his son to work for the benefit of the cult. Unfortunately for him, as a teenager, Maxwell questioned his father's opinion, which convinced Singletface in the correctness of his judgments. Including because of his father, Maxwell did not contact the normal paranormal stuff, sects and other things for a long time.

### Jigsaw Case

In October 2021, Intuit-Town police found the body of a young man identified as Jake Watson in the woods near the suburb. Due to the lack of evidence, in desperation, Police Officer Johnathan Pierce turned to Detective Singletface for an independent investigation. After examining the body and the crime scene, as well as conducting several rituals, the detective came to the conclusion that the killer must be in the nearest village. Moreover, the victim on the day of his disappearance was not alone, but together with a girl who also does not get in touch, and their car is not possible to find, so the Singletface suggests that the killer should still have the woman's body.

After waiting for a heavy rain, Maxwell took Sprinkle the cat with him, and headed to the very first house on the border of the village of Frostake, where an elderly married couple, Mr. and Mrs. Jiggs, let him in to wait out the bad weather. Paxton learned information about their past from the old men while his cat, unnoticed by the owners, was sniffing around the house in search of something suspicious. After going out with Mr. Jiggs to smoke in the garage, Maxwell immediately drew attention to a new expensive foreign car, which the old people with their pension could not afford. The sprinkle of those times knocked Mrs. Jiggs down, and while her husband was gone to check what was going on, Paxton opened the garage door with a spare key.

As it turns out later, Mrs. Jiggs put poison in Maxwell's cup, but since Sprinkle managed to warn his master, he did not drink the poisoned drink. Since the old lady was badly hurt, Mr. Jiggs took her to the bedroom while Paxton decided to make a new, clean tea. While he was making tea, he heard Sprinkle meowing and, just in case, spilled salt over his shoulder, blinding Mr. Jiggs, who had crept up from behind. He explained the presence of a wrench by saying that he was going to go to the garage, but checked the guest.

While the old man went to wash his eyes, Maxwell picked up a bunch of keys on the kitchen shelf. When Mr. Jiggs returned, he asked to be escorted to the bathroom, taking with him also a suitcase where spare things were allegedly stored. Once in the bathroom, Maxwell put on his mask and climbed out through the window, after making sure that the old man was waiting for him to get out of the shower. Singletface entered back into the house through the open garage door, where Sprinkle was waiting for him, to whom the detective gave a sniff of the car interior and the cat went on another search around the house.

Sneaking into the bedroom on the second floor, Singletface tied and disarmed the dozing Mrs. Jiggs, telling her that he knew what she and her husband had done. He called the police, whom he had asked to patrol the area the day before, so they quickly came to the call and when they saw an old man with a knife waiting by the bathroom, they immediately arrested him. Sprinkle, meanwhile, sniffed out a suspicious smell in the basement and the Singletface, together with the police, was found in a secret room in the basement of the shopping mall by a woman, later identified as a friend of the previously found young man.

Further investigation revealed that the elderly couple had killed approximately 7 people over the past few years, linking them to several unsolved murders in the neighborhood. Maxwell Paxton was invited by Jonathan Pierce for interrogation to record his testimony regarding the investigation of the case of Mr. and Mrs. Jiggs.

### The Order of the Black Lizard Case

Members of a small therapy group find themselves stalked by the mysterious Lankyguy, who has been in legends for several years. In preparation for the investigation, Detective Singleface visits the Church of St. Stanislaus to recruit his old companions, three nuns, but learns from the young novice, Agness Mercy, that one of the nuns, Sister Luciel, has passed away. Left with no choice, Maxwell takes on Agness as the third nun for the assignment. Detective Singletface, Agnes, the nuns and the black cat Sprinkle, trying to find the trail of the attacker and prevent possible terrible consequences. Eventually, they comes across sectarians who are performing a ceremony in the name of the Black Lizard. As it turns out, Lankyguy is one of the cultists who tasted the mutated blood of his patron and transformed into some kind of terrible entity.

Investigating the Order of the Black Lizard, Paxton and his assistance Timothy Allen was trying to find various references to it in the media. Agness discovered that the sect has been terrorizing the state for almost a decade and gave Maxwell all the information. Detective Singletface is late when Lankyguy attacks one of the group members, Kathy Chaseford, and drags her away in an unknown direction. Detective Singletface and his allies sets off in the wake of the monster, but in the course of the search he comes to the conclusion that Lankyguy is probably one of his clients who participated in therapy. The exposed mutant enters the fray, but he is neutralized and interrogated by Maxwell on where to look for his victim.

Having split the cultist, Paxton goes to an abandoned factory alone, where an ambush awaits him. However, Singletface breaks into the catacombs with a fight, where he finds the Black Lizard himself - a sickly mutant, a man that is slowly turning into a huge reptile. Singletface saves the kidnapped Kathy from the unenviable fate of being in the jaws of a monster, after which, comprehending what is happening, he believes where the cultists could have retreated.

It ends with the Maxwell neutralizes the villain and turns to the cops in order to capture the monster, no one believes in the stories about cultists and mutants, and while he is trying to convince the police to go with him, the cultists have already released the Black Lizard and disappeared in an unknown direction.

## Personality

Detective Singletface is ludicrous in his seriousness, lacks a sense of humor, and generally takes everything very seriously, including superstitions, even if it seems completely stupid. Usually the most moronic and therefore non-obvious options for clues turn out to be true. A lover of speaking in Shakespearean style, sometimes he talk by monologues with himself. At the same time, he cannot be called a sociopath, he is indecently sociable with people, and also extremely sympathetic - in fact, this was the main reason for becoming a private detective.

## Appearance

As a talisman, Maxwell uses a mask, which he made from a white T-shirt and wrapped around his face. He always wears dark glasses that hide his green eyes, and his blond hair is hidden under a brown fedora hat. On assignments, he always wears a beige or red coat. Everything else - for the Detective is no longer important.

## Powers and Abilities

### **Powers**

* **Probabity Manipulation:** Paxton's powers are occult in nature, in that he can psionically influence kinetic phenomena that look like "luck". However, his powers are limited by the so-called talismans and rituals, mostly based on superstitions that predict good luck to a person. Without these rituals and talismans, Singletface's ability doesn't work for some unknown reason.

### Abilities

* **Private Investigator:** Maxwell is an accomplished detective who possesses the accompanying skills of finding clues and interrogating suspects, making him one of the West Coast's most accomplished investigators.

## Equipment

* **Luck Suit:** Singletface's permanent paraphernalia, which he believes contributes to his good luck in solving crimes.
	+ **Singlet-Mask**
	+ **Black Glasses**
	+ **Hat**
	+ **Coat**
	+ **Pink Shirt**
	+ **Red Tie**
	+ **Jeans**
	+ **Black Shoes**
* **Dices**
* **Tarot Cards**
* **Sailor Collar**
* **Horseshoes**
* **Rabbit's Foot Amulet**
* **Wishbones**

## Relationships

### Family

* Alexander Paxton ✝ - Father
* Alina Paxton ✝ - Mother

### Allies

* Michael Regdown - Ex-Boyfriend
* Singletface Investigations LLC
	+ Sprinkle - Mascot, Pet
	+ Agness Mercy - Partner, Friend, Employee
	+ Timothy Allen - Office Manager, Employee, Friend
* Intuittown Police Department - Temporary Allies
	+ Officer Johnatan Pierce
* Church of Saint Stanislaus - Friends, Partners
	+ Father Joseph
	+ Sister Katherine
	+ Sister Jessica
	+ Sister Luciel ✝
* Tanya Aksaily - Client, Friend
* Dave Paister - Client
* Kate Chaseford - Client
* Vigilanty Four - Friends, Partners, Teammates
	+ Kieran McKeisen/Unknown - Former Employee
	+ Lauren McKeisen/Lynch - Temporary Enemy
	+ Hunter Albertson
	+ George Callahan/Vigil

* Pantheon of Clay - Friends, Teammates
	+ Clayknead
	+ Dumplinger
	+ Tirechanger
	+ Weaver
	+ Literaturer
	+ Leathermaker ✝
* Reese Green/The Rabbit - Friend, Teammate
* Alistair Tempus/Timelock
* August Gracehold Jr./Firesword - Temporary Enemy, Teammate
* Elijah Hipper/Thornhip - Friend, Teammate
* Theodora Tarxx/Dynamite - Friend, Teammate

### Enemies

* Theodore Jiggs
* Marlene Jiggs
* Order of Black Lizard
	+ Joseph Creepez/Black Lizard - Attempted Killer
	+ Lankyguy ✝
	+ Brian Thomaseen/The Mask - Client
* Shadowman - Attempted Killer
* Stephan Queen/Crime-Writer
* Jack Gallows/Scarecrow
* Albert Rumredberg/The Ripper II - Attempted Killer
* Dr. Frederick Ravensong
* ReEvolutioners
	+ Spectrum ✝
	+ Mr. Horrorman
	+ Toxic
	+ Suzume Tensai/Sparrow
	+ Rageflame
* Abyss
* LGNKR

## Trivia

* Detective Singletface based on characters such as John Constantine, The Question (DC Comics) and Jessica Jones, Moon Knight (Marvel Comics)
* According to the original idea of ​​2017, Singletface's debut was to take place in the plot, where he would be hired by Dumplinger to declassify the activities of the Witnesses of En'Erсh.