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

[BatmAngelus]

"The Last Laugh"

- Leslie Thompkins meets Alfred for the first time. Alfred's attraction to her is an indication of their future romance in the comics.

- Leslie Thompkins's involvement in the charity event ties into the character's comic history in being involved in charities.

- Jerome disguises himself as a magician, which ties into the Joker's penchant for disguises. On the other hand, Jerome's death indicates that he was a red herring and another character will become the Joker in the future.

[BatmAngelus]

"Strike Force"

Silver St. Cloud is introduced in this episode as Theo Galavan's ward/niece (the daughter of his late stepbrother). Bruce has an obvious attraction to her and the two are set to be schoolmates. In the comics, Silver and Bruce met as adults at a party before Bruce had to take off as Batman to fight Dr. Phosphorus. Silver's hair is blonde in the show, but in the comics it's actually silver, like her name.

Edward's address (as written on the paper he gave to Ms Kringle) is on Grundy street, a potential reference to Solomon Grundy.

According to Gotham Wiki, the recruit Josie Mac is actually a character from the comics:

Josephine MacDonald, also known as "Josie Mac", was created by Judd Winick and Cliff Chiang and first appeared in Detective Comics #763 (December, 2001). Like on the show, in the comics she is a member of Gotham City Police Department.

http://gotham.wikia.com/wiki/Josie_Mac

[BatmAngelus]

"Scarification"

The show does its own version of Firefly's origins, having her as the reluctant half-sister of a gang of arsonists, who takes on her own costume/persona and comes to enjoy the pyrotechnics. This does not match with any version of Firefly in the comics.

Firefly's brothers are dubbed the "Firebugs." Firebug is also an arsonist in the Batman universe named Joe Rigger. One of Bridget's brothers is also named Joe (Pike).

The "five families" of Gotham and their history is revealed, with some changes. In the Gates of Gotham comics, they were the Kanes, the Elliots, the Crownes, the Cobblepots, and the Waynes. In the show, they were  the Dumas, the Kanes, the Elliots, the Crownes, and the Waynes.  (Not just to tie Galavan's background into the Waynes but also likely because the show has hinted that "Cobblepot" is Oswald's Anglicized version of his mom's European last name, Kapelput).

Obviously, the Kanes were the descendants of Martha Wayne (whose maiden name was Kane). The Elliots were the descendants of future Hush Tommy Elliot, whom we met last season.

The Crownes are from the Court of Owls comics and it seems that the story of Dumas was inspired by it. In the show, a Wayne girl and a Dumas boy had a forbidden romance that led to the disgrace of the Dumas family. In the comics, the forbidden romance was between Amelia Crowne and William Cobb, whose son was dubbed "Gray son" or Grayson, leading into the Grayson family, whom we met last season as well. It's possible then that the show will bring in the Court of Owls, given this connection.

The Dumas, of course, are the show's leeway/introduction into the Order of St. Dumas, known for producing Azrael as the angel of vengeance. In the comics, the order was dated back to the Crusades, started by a man named Dumas who had a falling out with the rest of the Knights Templar. The final scene hints that the Order is on its way to Gotham, with its "warriors"- an obvious reference to Azrael.

[BatmAngelus]

"By Fire"

Bridget grew to become more enamored with setting things on fire, including her own half-brothers, making her closer to the Firefly of the comics. Her survival at the end seems to indicate that she may return. It's unknown whether she will turn into Garfield Lynns or if the show will just continue to use her as the Firefly character.

Bridget at the end is taken into Indian Hill where the presumed dead are experimented on. Based on the scene and comments made by Ben McKenzie, this may be the show's version of Hugo Strange creating the Monster Men. Time will tell.

[BatmAngelus]

"Mommy's Little Monster"

Tabitha Galavan murders Oswald's mother. In the comics, it was the death of Oswald's mom (through natural causes) as well as the loss of the family pet shop that led to him becoming the Penguin.

Silver St. Cloud is revealed to have full knowledge of her uncle's plans and is a willing part of them. This is the opposite of the comic book version of Silver, who was an innocent civilian.

Penguin's camouflage in the Election Day Massacre is similar to how he dressed GCPD cops as himself in order to fool Petit in No Man's Land.

[Slash Man]

Not a comic influence, but seemingly an inspiration from a different show. The ordeal with Butch's hand was very similar to T-Bag from Prison Break. He also got his left hand brutally cut off onscreen, but the scene of Butch's escape from the last episode was pretty much lifted from an episode of Prison Break. Especially the cutaway to the hand left behind after they escape.

[Slash Man]

We had our last episode end with a confrontation atop a cathedral. No need to elaborate with that one. Barbara even falls down

[BatmAngelus]

"Tonight's the Night"

Galavan claims to know the identity of the man who killed Bruce's parents. Perhaps he played a role in what happened? Either way, Galavan's destruction of the "file" on the killer is appropriately symbolic of how young Bruce never found out the identity of his parents' killer.

Bruce also clearly states a desire to murder the man who killed his parents, which is what he succeeded in doing in the Burton film, what he intended to do in Batman Begins, Year Two, and the New 52.

[BatmAngelus]

"A Bitter Pill to Swallow"

Funny enough, Bruce's turtleneck in the beginning reminded me of the one that Keaton, Kilmer, and Clooney all wore as Bruce Wayne.

Ed's green sweater is also an obvious instance of costume foreshadowing.

Eduardo Flamingo is a character created by Grant Morrison, who had a tendency to eat the faces of his victims. The Gotham version lacked the pink costume, but stayed somewhat true to the M.O. and dyed part of the actor's hair pink (and kept the facial hair). While he doesn't have the whip (possibly because that is Tigress's weapon of choice in the show), he does use a long chain.

Oswald's insight into his past implies that he was bullied as a child for his looks, just like in his comic book origin.

[BatmAngelus]

"The Son of Gotham"

Silver gives out the name "M. Malone" as the man who killed Bruce Wayne's parents. This is an obvious reference to Matches Malone, the criminal disguise that Bruce adopts. In the comics, Matches is a real criminal who ends up accidentally killing himself and Bruce takes on his persona as a disguise in the fight against Ra's Al Ghul. Here, Silver claims that she made up the name, but her fear over what she divulged indicates that there's some truth to it.

Some liberties were obviously being taken in the show since this episode cements that Bruce probably would never grow up to have the romantic relationship with Silver St. Cloud in the comics, given her deceptive nature in this episode.

The Order of St. Dumas has trained monks who can withstand pain and Galavan himself reveals that he has special fight training. This could be the show's version of "The System," which is the special training that turns Azraels into killing machines.

The Order also performs a vigilante-type task in killing off the mugger in the opening. Jean-Paul Valley would adopt similar tactics when he takes on the Batman mantle in the Knightfall storyline.