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

[BatmAngelus]

"Everyone Has a Cobblepot"

Loeb's blackmailing MO may have been inspired by how he blackmailed Gordon in Year One to make him fall in line.

The episode confirms that Loeb is in Falcone's pocket, much like in Year One.

The show's version of the Dollmaker is based on the New 52 Barton Mathis version, since he is a surgeon who deals in body parts.

[BatmAngelus]

"Beasts of Prey"

Not a lot of strong connections here.

The villain's name is the Ogre. The show version, however, is completely different from the ones in the comics.

The first Ogre is part of a genetic experiment (with a brother known as Ape).  The Ogre was given brute strength in an attempt to create a perfect human soldier for a, wait for it, top secret government agency.  Of course, things did not work out either Ape or Ogre.

A second O.G.R.E. that makes a DC Comics appearance is a robotic suit of armor which is possessed by the mind of its dead pilot.  Its rampage is stopped by Batman.

http://www.dccomics.com/blog/2015/04/13/the-dctv-secrets-of-gotham-episode-19-beasts-of-prey

The victim, Grace, had the last name Fairchild. A famous Fairchild in the comics is Vesper Fairchild, who was later killed by David Cain, who then framed Bruce Wayne for her murder in Bruce Wayne: Murderer.

Bruce visits the Polk gun range. DC's blog claims that this is a reference to William Polk, the Wyoming Kid:
http://www.dccomics.com/blog/2015/04/13/the-dctv-secrets-of-gotham-episode-19-beasts-of-prey

We got our first "Batman" interrogation with Bruce interrogating Reggie. And we also got Selina proving that she doesn't have an issue with killing. We've seen this in Batman Returns and the Dark Knight Rises when she took out Schreck and Bane, respectively, but we've also seen it in the comics when she killed the Roman Sionis Black Mask.

[BatmAngelus]

"Under The Knife"

Gordon mentions Judge Harkness. The judge was the one who tried Two-Face in Dark Victory and was also in Arkham Origins as a victim.

[BatmAngelus]

"The Anvil and the Hammer"

Not so much on comic book influences this week, mainly influences from other adaptations.

Lucius Fox is a comic book character, but the backstory of him having known Bruce's father and being a father figure to Bruce is something that Nolan brought to the table in the Dark Knight Trilogy.

The idea of Wayne Enterprises being the villains, and possibly endangering Bruce & Alfred's life, was slightly explored in Batman Begins as well, but was more blatant in the unproduced Bruce Wayne pilot from years ago, with a character named Charles Palantine serving as the Wayne Enterprises before Nolan's Mr. Earle and this show's Bunderslaw.

[BatmAngelus]

"All Happy Families Are Alike"

Obviously, some creative liberties were taken tonight as Maroni was killed by Fish (presumably his son or nephew will be the Maroni who turns Dent into Two-Face?), Falcone retired from organized crime, and Barbara Kean was revealed to have killed her parents and nearly killed Leslie Thompkins. It's unlike that Maroni will be resurrected, Falcone will want to return as boss, or Barbara will be the future Mrs. Gordon or mother to James Jr. and Barbara/Batgirl.

The ending points to Bruce discovering the Bat Cave. What Thomas Wayne was doing down there remains to be seen...

[johnnygobbs]

"All Happy Families Are Alike"

Obviously, some creative liberties were taken tonight as Maroni was killed by Fish (presumably his son or nephew will be the Maroni who turns Dent into Two-Face?), Falcone retired from organized crime, and Barbara Kean was revealed to have killed her parents and nearly killed Leslie Thompkins. It's unlike that Maroni will be resurrected, Falcone will want to return as boss, or Barbara will be the future Mrs. Gordon or mother to James Jr. and Barbara/Batgirl.

The ending points to Bruce discovering the Bat Cave. What Thomas Wayne was doing down there remains to be seen...

I like this series, but I'm a bit annoyed by these liberties.  I thought the whole point of "Gotham" was to introduce us to these characters before they became the heroes and villains we know from the comic-books.  So why take such radical departures in terms of their narratives?

Plus Maroni was one of my favourite characters.  David Zayas gave such a fun, charismatic performance in the part.  It seems pointless to waste him, and even worse to retire Falcone, especially as we haven't seen or heard anything about his family, including Mario, Sofia and Alberto.

[BatmAngelus]

Right. I find it odd that Batman Forever's the only adaptation to use Maroni the way he was meant to be used. There's really no point in having him if he's NOT the guy to scar Dent, which he didn't do in The Dark Knight and he obviously won't be the one doing it in Gotham's continuity.

If Falcone's not going to be the mob boss when Bruce becomes Batman, Maroni's not going to scar Dent to become Two-Face, Leslie Thompkins doesn't have a connection to young Bruce, Sarah Essen's not having a relationship with Gordon, and Barbara Kean's not going to be Gordon's future wife (are we supposed to believe he'll name the future Batgirl after her now)...then what's the point of them having these names?

It would've made more sense to have Vincent Falcone and Luigi Maroni as the warring fathers with Carmine and Sal working in the background or overseas (to rise up and take their fathers' places later), Sarah Essen as the GCPD love interest instead of Leslie (change her to a cop instead of the medical examiner), and Barbara as an original character with a different name, held off until a later season to be Gordon's future wife, or taken out of the show entirely.

[Slash Man]

It seemed like Fish's new look was inspired by the Mutant Gang from the Dark Knight Returns.

Also, I'm kinda mixed when it comes to changing the fates of characters that are important to Batman lore. On the positive end, it leaves us wondering; no longer are we assured of a character's survival because of later Batman stories. But on the other hand, it deprives us of these characters for when they actually come into prominence. It seems they just wanted to start with some big names in the Batman universe. I would say make new characters... but there already are characters that would be better suited for for the position. What about Grissom, Stromwell, or Rupert Thorne? There's no shortage of memorable crime bosses in Batman lore.

[BatmAngelus]

Aaaand we're back for Season 2

"Damned If You Do..."

- Catwoman & Penguin team up here. We've, of course, seen this in the 1966 movie as well as Batman Returns. Not a comic book influence, but the Burton films do feel like they've influenced the show in its visuals. Just look at how Penguin and Zsasz were dressed in the episode.

- Loeb is forced to resign due to Penguin doing a favor for Jim Gordon. In Year One, Loeb resigned at the end after Flass testified against him. In both versions, Gordon played a small role in taking him down.

- Essen gets promoted to Commissioner. This also happened in the comics, but when Jim Gordon was being forced out of the role and created conflict 'cause Essen and Gordon were a couple at the time.

- Richard Sionis's death indicates that he is NOT the future Black Mask, as speculated. Roman Sionis is presumably his son or relative. In the comics, Roman's father was a bad influence over his life and led to Roman killing him and his mother.

Theo Galavan has been teased as a future DC villain. While his role isn't clear, his sister Tabitha was clearly announced to be a version of Tigress. Tigress, however, has never had the name Tabitha Galavan. The Tigress name may be the only connection to this comic book character. But we'll see.

[BatmAngelus]

"Knock Knock"
If Jerome really is the Joker, this episode showed the evolution of his theatricality and his ambition to become more than just "a guy who chopped up his mommy."

The big thug (whom Barbara flirted and recruited as her friend last episode) is revealed to be named Aaron Helzinger. This is the name of Amygdala in the comics. We originally thought that the Electrocutioner's sidekick Aaron Danzig was the character. (Though one wonders why this character couldn't have been the same one with the same actor and be the Amygdala for the show).

Much like Batman #1 (which in turn inspired The Dark Knight), Jerome (assuming that he's Joker) dresses up in disguise in a police uniform and kills the boss. Jerome's smile under the police hat feels like a shot out of that comic.

On a similar note, Jerome also seems to adopt Joker's mannerisms and penchant for broadcasting video messages and shooting his own people.

Jerome murders Sarah Essen. In the comics, Joker did the same to Essen, though in the comics, Sarah was Gordon's wife and Bruce was already Batman.