Gotham: Comic Book Influences (Obvious Spoilers...)

[BatmAngelus]

Add any that you feel are appropriate or that I missed.

PILOT:
- Not a comic book reference, but the idea of Selina Kyle witnessing the murders of Thomas and Martha Wayne actually comes from the Tim Burton/Jim Steinman musical that never got off the ground.

- The scene of Jim Gordon taking down a mentally ill criminal and saving a hostage seems to have been influenced by Year One. His military background also comes from Year One.

- UPDATE: The idea of Harvey Bullock being partnered with a young Jim Gordon is taken from Batman: Earth One, though in the comic, the roles are reversed, with Gordon as the veteran and Bullock as the young one new to the GCPD.

- Harvey Bullock is presented as morally gray and with corrupt ties to Fish Mooney. This is actually similar to the character's initial appearance in which he was a corrupt cop on the take from Rupert Thorne. He later has a change of heart and becomes loyal to Gordon afterwards.

- The idea of Jim Gordon comforting a young Bruce Wayne stems back to Steve Englehart's treatment for the 1989 Batman film in which Gordon was at Bruce's parents' funeral.
This idea was repeated and developed further in the Sam Hamm draft where Gordon was the officer comforting Bruce, though this was never crevealed in the movie.

While speculation persists that the officer with Bruce in a flashback scene of The Batman cartoon was Gordon, it was Batman Begins that brought the idea to life. Wizard's "What If?" Ultimate Batman feature also had the specific idea of Gordon being the one to investigate the Waynes' deaths.

And while Year One presented the idea of Gordon transferring to Gotham from Chicago, the TV show has it so that Gordon grew up in the city and will rise up the ranks as a junior detective, as opposed to transferring while a lieutenant and already married with a pregnant wife.

Comic book wise, Len Wein's The Untold Legend of the Batman had Gordon as a cop during the time that Thomas Wayne took down Lew Moxon and, I believe, the Zero Year storyline in the New 52 comics has Gordon as an active member of the GCPD when the Waynes are killed.

- While not explicitly stated, Alfred's words to Bruce- on keeping his head high and not letting other see him cry- as they walk away from the murder scene implies Alfred's military background and it seems that the Sean Pertwee portrayal has been influenced by the tougher, more blue collar Alfred that started with Michael Caine and carried over into Geoff Johns's Earth One and the short-lived animated series Beware the Batman.

- Sarah Essen, much like Bullock, Crispus Allen, and Montoya, is presented as older than her comic counterpart, with her serving as Gordon's boss in the show. In the comics, at one point, Essen became the police commissioner and briefly served as Gordon's boss when he was forced to step down.

- The name of Mayor Aubrey James actually comes from Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #204, where he's the Mayor during a time when Thomas Wayne is still alive.

- Edward Nygma is obviously the future Riddler. While none of the origins in the comic have him working for the GCPD, a reformed Riddler once became a private detective in Paul Dini's run of Detective Comics, which may have influenced the decision to have him as part of the police force in this origin series.

- Oswald Cobblepot hates the nickname of "penguin." This is likely a reference to the comic origin where bullies gave him the nickname when he was growing up, due to his appearance and his clothes.

- Oswald's job at Fish Mooney's club could also be foreshadowing of his future as the owner of the Iceberg Lounge.

- Jim Gordon and Barbara Kean's apartment seems to be in a clock tower, judging by the big clock face in the wall behind Barbara when she's introduced. This could possibly be a reference to the future Barbara Gordon's (Jr.) clocktower as Oracle.

- Bullock tells Gordon to meet him at an intersection on "Grundy" street- obvious reference to Solomon Grundy.

- "Ivy Pepper" is obviously meant to be the future Poison Ivy and her father is killed by Harvey Bullock when he's attacking Gordon. In the comics, not much is known about the character's parents. The Neil Gaiman origin simply has them as emotionally distant while another comic said that they were dead by the time that Batman was fighting her in one adventure. In the New 52, Ivy's father kills her mother and Ivy, in turn, uses her powers to kill her father.

- Gordon gains press attention when he works with Bullock in taking down Mario Pepper, though his hand is injured in the process. This may be a reference to the comic Gordon of Gotham, which is a prequel covering Gordon's days in the Chicago Police force, where he also gains press by taking down criminals and getting wounded during the battle.

- Oswald snitching to Montoya and Allen could be a reference to Penguin being often used as Batman's snitch in the future.

- Montoya's implied past relationship with Barbara Kean is a reference to the character's sexuality in the comics. Montoya appears to be in the closet at this point in her career as well.

- The standup comedian in Fish Mooney's club is meant to be one of the many side characters foreshadowing the Joker, according to creator Bruno Heller. This is a reference to The Killing Joke, where it's explored that Joker could've been a former failed comedian. In this case, though, Fish seems to have faith in him.

- It's likely that Oswald's leg injury, from the confrontation with Fish Mooney, will cause his "penguin" waddle.

[Edd Grayson]

Thank you! All of these are great bits!

[BatmAngelus]

Episode 2: Selina Kyle

- The opening scene with Bruce by the candle is visually reminiscent of the "vow" from as far back as Detective Comics #38 in which Bruce made his vow to war on criminals by candlelight. This imagery has been repeated over the years.

- UPDATE: This episode further establishes that Alfred is having difficulty in his new role as a father figure. This was influenced once again by Batman: Earth One, which explored the same avenue of Alfred having to learn to be a guardian, as well as gave Alfred a tougher, militaristic persona that also influenced the Gotham characterization.

- While probably not intentional, Selina's street nickname "Cat" echoes how "The Cat" was the character's original name before becoming Catwoman.

- UPDATE: Selina demonstrates that she's been to juvie before. In the comics, shortly after her parents died, Selina hit the streets and got caught for stealing. She was sent to Seagate juvenile detention center, but escaped from the cruel warden in Catwoman #0 (Pre-New 52).

- We meet Oswald's mother, Gertrude Kapelput, for the first time. Oswald being close to his mother also stems from the comics, with various instances having her raise him on her own and force him to carry an umbrella so that he wouldn't catch pneumonia, like what killed his father. In other tales, the death of Penguin's mother followed by the closure of the family bird shop leads into Oswald's life of crime. As far as I know, the only time Oswald's mother has been named was when she was Esther Cobblepot in Batman Returns.

- The Dollmaker is mentioned as the boss to the child snatchers. The character was originally a Plastic Man and Superman villain until the New 52 revamped him as a Batman villain, whose father was killed by a young James Gordon. The Dollmaker also appeared as the main villain in Arrow in the episode "Broken Dolls."

- Selina clawing the thug's eyes and Bruce sneaking up on Alfred and Gordon are obvious instances of foreshadowing.

- There's mention of Selina's mother and ambiguity of whether or not she's still alive. In the comics, Selina was an orphan after her mother committed suicide and her father drank himself to death. So far no mention is made of Selina's sister in the comics, Maggie.

[Silver Nemesis]

This is a great thread, BatmAngelus. Perhaps when the first season is concluded these observations could be consolidated into a site feature.

I still haven't seen the first two episodes of Gotham yet, but it's good to know it's taking its cues from the comics.

[BatmAngelus]

Thanks, SN. Looking forward to your insights and contributions when you get around to seeing it.

Not much on the comic book front this week. Here's what I've got:

"The Balloonman"

- The mock sword fight between Alfred and Bruce more firmly implies Alfred has combat training and possibly alludes to his background as an actor, from the voices he was using.

- UPDATE: It also teases the possibility of Alfred training Bruce in combat, which was an idea that was used in Batman: Earth One, as well as the adaptations Batman Live and Beware the Batman.

- UPDATE: Oswald begins using fake names, in this episode, to disguise himself. In the comics, Penguin went by different aliases for awhile, including Mr. Boniface in his first appearance in Detective Comics #58 as well as I. Waddle in Detective Comics #67, before it was finally decided to reveal his actual name.

- It's implied that Montoya's relationship with Barbara fell apart due to her alcoholism. In the storyline, 52, Montoya was an alcoholic.

- Maroni's plans for Gotham involve Arkham in some way. In Matt Wagner's Batman and the Monster Men, Maroni helped fund Hugo Strange's experiments on Arkham patients. (Thanks to Emergency Awesome on YouTube for pointing this out.)

- Maroni and Falcone's rivalry seems to be influenced by The Long Halloween, which had them as rivals, too.

- The woman on TV's plea for the Balloon Man to go after her landlord feels reminiscent of The Dark Knight Returns animated adaptation in which a man on TV says the same thing about Batman. (This line is not in the comic)

[BatmAngelus]

Even less this past week.

"Arkham"

Obviously, dubbing the neighborhood "Arkham City" is straight from the video game of the same name.

There are references to the "old asylum" which leaves room for the idea that it had the same origin as Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth, where it was originally opened by Amadeus Arkham over a century ago.

While there's nothing explicit in the comics about the Waynes having plans for Arkham, Batman: Earth One has it so that Martha Wayne was in the Arkham family and, thus, owns the asylum, which could've influenced the idea for the TV show of Thomas and Martha having plans for it.

UPDATE: Maroni's right hand man, Frankie Carbone, is a reference to Frankie "Angel" Carbone in The Long Halloween who is one of Maroni's henchmen there as well.

UPDATE: Detective Alvarez is actually a GCPD character from the comics as well.

[BatmAngelus]

"Viper"

The obvious one is that "Viper" is an early version of Venom, from giving its users super strength to even being green.

In this version, it was designed by a subsidiary of Wayne Enterprises. In the comics, Batman encountered Venom for the first time after failing to save a young girl. Her father was the one who developed the drug. The episode makes me want to revisit the comic a little more, but I'm not expecting there to be many more connections.

[BatmAngelus]

"The Spirit of the Goat" 

The character was mistaken for Scarecrow in the trailers, but there was no connection. They did have an opportunity to tie into Detective Comics #880 in which Joker said that the name Gotham meant a "safe place for goats" and could've said the Spirit of the Goat was the spirit of Gotham, but they didn't do this.

The young, idealistic Bullock in the opening felt a little closer to the Batman: Earth One version. In both cases, Bullock changed after he encountered a serial killer who preyed on the young rich.

It may have just been me, though, but Bullock's "Holy ghost on a bicycle" comment felt like a reference to Robin in the 1960s show.

UPDATE: This also may have been a coincidence but Bullock's comparison of the words "therapist" and "the rapist" was also done by Lois Lane in Batman: Hush. Again, this may be coincidental.

Next week (SPOILERS)...



It looks like we'll meet Victor Zsasz and, the week after, Tommy Elliot and The Mask/"Richard Sionis"...Black Mask's father?

[Paul (ral)]

Nice one on the "goat" reference BatmAngelus...didn't know that.

Have to say, the last few episodes of Gotham have improved in my opinion.

[BatmAngelus]

Definitely. This latest one was the best one yet, in my opinion.

I've done updates to a lot of the previous posts (see UPDATE on each one for the new bits), after finding more.

"Penguin's Umbrella"
The only thing I can think of is that the show adapts the Mr. Zsasz from Batman Begins in the fact that this Zsasz is bald (which I think got incorporated into the comics after the release of Begins) and, more importantly, works as a hitman for Carmine Falcone. In the comics, Zsasz turned into a killer after an existential experience caused by losing all his money to the Penguin in a card game (which makes me wonder if Oswald and Victor will cross paths in the future).

Also, Mekia Cox played the doctor who helped perform surgery on Gordon. She was credited in early press releases as Dr. Leslie Thompkins, but that role will be filled by Morena Baccarin in future episodes. Since the doctor was not named onscreen, she could be a different character. Still, the scene is very similar to a few times when Leslie helped a wounded Bruce/Batman in teh comics.