The Point Radio: The Revamped Mythology of GOTHAM

Of all the comic book based shows headed to television this fall, the one facing the biggest hurdle might be GOTHAM. After all, how can you do a Batman TV show without Batman? Show runner Bruno Heller and star Ben McKenzie shed some light on this and more , plus August was another good month for comic sales, but only two titles crack the 100K mark.

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Transcript

The Point Radio Hey it's Mike Raub. Of all the comic book based TV shows headed to the new season, the one most people are curious about is Gotham. How do you do a Batman show without Batman? We talk to the folks behind Gotham about some different twists on some pretty familiar characters. Plus more comics in the hands of comic fans in August, not a bad month in the comic stores.

Let's get to The Point. This is The Point. The Point Radio. Get The Point Radio. Of all the comic book based TV shows headed to the new season, the one that might have the toughest challenge is Gotham. It's the Batman mythology at a point before Batman. Actor Ben McKenzie is the star and he got involved well because of a unique relationship between him.

So I got involved with Gotham through Bruno Heller who created the show. Last year Bruno and I did a pilot for CBS Warner Brothers that didn't go to series but I guess Bruno kept me in his thoughts. He called me earlier this year and he said I heard this script Gotham and I've written a part of Jim Gordon with me in mind. And you know I thought he'd take a look. So that's how I got involved with it. Bruno I really like looking together and have a good shorthand.

For showrunner Bruno Heller he really didn't even want to create a show in this genre to begin with anyway. I was reluctant to do a superhero show but not because I don't like them but just because I don't really know how to do people with superpowers. Because as soon as a superhero walks on the screen then human beings are diminished. And as soon as they walk out of frame we're waiting for the superheroes to come back. So it was that sort of logistical problem that I was looking at initially.

And then my son actually, my 12 year old son suggested Commissioner Gordon as a DC character who doesn't have superpowers. And that got me thinking and then it was the nut of the idea is what if he was the Gordon which the cop that originally investigated the way he murders. That would give you a starting point and allow you to tell that saga from a much earlier point when the company started. Without ever having to get into a cape and cowl thing or superpowers. That in essence. And then as soon as it became clear that they gave you a chance to do the origin stories of all of these great characters.

In a really in-depth kind of way then it was a natural. Because I think origin stories are the best of them. Ben plays James Gordon not quite the commissioner yet and at a different point in his journey. He's the last hero in a city that's he's the last good man in the city that's falling apart. A city where sort of the references are sort of to like 1970s New York kind of.

A lot of like nothing is really quite working the right way. Everyone's a little bit on the take you know cops are a little corrupt the judges are corrupt the politicians are corrupt. So there's all these villains around and potential villains coming around. And he's he's an honest guy. He's a guy who's a war veteran that is a DA. He's just trying to make sense of the world and trying to keep it from falling apart.

Again the bad man mythology here at some points is well almost new. He meets Bruce when when Jim and Harvey are charged with investigating the death of Thomas and Mark Elaine. He bonds with Bruce because Jim lost his father when he was Bruce's age. His father died right in front of him and I broke the car accident. And so they form a bond emotional you know bond immediately.

And Jim confides in Bruce that he understands his pain. And they have a sort of father father son relationship of sorts. At the same time Bruce is being taken care of by Alfred Pennyworth. And Alfred is also an ex soldier of Royal forces. And so there are two contrasting philosophies that they're trying to sort of teach Bruce how to be a man in the world.

But they differ on how to do that. It's going to Harvey Ben talks about of course is Harvey Bullock. Another familiar character in the Batman universe and this time one with a unique bond with James Gordon. It's a it's it's fun. It's a fun twist on that old sort of you know two different partners and different attitudes.

Donal is like such a great actor. So perfect for this part because he can be both dangerous but also hilarious in his almost insane bond. Jim is a rookie. He let me meet him in the GCPD.

He's a war vet. That was a D.A. So he's got a real sense of moral authority. Harvey does not. Harvey knows how the city works.

He knows how to get along. He knows how to clean some palms. He knows how to shake down some folks if he has to. And so the relationship they have is kind of you know they're both have a grudging respect for one.

And at the same time they'll be at odds seriously often. So it's fun. It's kind of like a like a great wonderful love affair. It's also really we've got more with Ben McKenzie and of course Donald Loew who plays Harvey Bullock and more on Gotham coming up.

In the meantime Gotham premieres on Fox on September 22nd. Yeah look what's going on in pop culture. Some more familiar names and capes are headed to the DC universe on television this season with the addition of Jim Corrigan as a character in the Constantine TV series. Now you know Jim Corrigan is the incarnation of the Spectre and even though there have been

a few different versions so far in the DC comic book universe this one seems more in line with the traditional character that began back in the Golden Age created by Jerry Siegel and Bernard Bailey in 1940. Actor Emmet Scanlon has the role of Jim Corrigan. So far his only other brush with comic book greatness was a minor role in Guardians of

the Galaxy earlier in the summer. Well if you're still steaming about the ending of the CBS series How I Met Your Mother there may be a little brightness here. The alternate ending that has been much talked about hit the internet over the weekend. 20th Century Fox tried to block it on copyright grounds but there are copies out there you can

find and the new version of course kind of ends up the way we always hoped it would. You can watch that and then maybe you see yourself clear to pick up the DVD release. It'll have all nine seasons and will be on sale the 23rd. Looks like the companion series to The Walking Dead is going to become a reality. AMC has ordered a pilot episode of the show with a new location and a different cast of characters.

Robert Kirkman, Gail Ann Hurd and David Albert all will executive produce the project from AMC. Scheduled for production later this year and scheduled for the network more than likely sometime in 2015. As we told you a few weeks back it was a good July for comic book sales in comic book stores. The month saw the sales of comics and graphic novels being up over the year before and now looks like August is much of the same with growth again in both graphic novels and comics within

comic book stores. But before you start celebrating and close the record books there are a couple of asterisks we have to add. We'll do that when we check the sales for August and tell you what the big selling comics will do as well.

Coming up. Over the past few weeks there were a bunch of different milestones realized for the amazing Kreskin. First of all it was his 80th birthday, his seventh decade in show business and he's counted up the fact that he's done about 25,000 live shows and over the years have read over

1 million minds. Now he's headed to what could be a new off-broadway show but he's looking for kickstarter to finance it. If you'd like to get involved with Kreskin and maybe help put the show together you can look him up on kickstarter under the amazing Kreskin in Milestones Off-Broadway.

Grab a big chug of your comic book budget this week but there's a lot more to look at as well in comic stores. When you head over to the Dark Horse shelf check out Promethea's Fire and Stone number one dying directly into the hit motion picture with a series of lasts for a few issues and then pretty much spin off from there.

Also the Whedon three-way one-shot is a one-dollar introduction into the universe of the comics based on Joss Whedon's work. It contains three number one issues including Buffy, Angel and Faith and a lot more and again it's only a buck. The Futures End event continues at DC this time there's new first issues of Batgirl, Futures

End, Batman, Birds of Prey, Constatine, Green Lantern Corps, Infinity Man and the Forever People, Justice League United, New Suicide Squad, Superboy and World's Finest to get all number ones that tie in to Futures End along with the weekly DC New 52 Futures End comic that also is out this week as well. Also from DC Geoff Johns and John Romita Jr.'s directors cut of their first issue of Superman

which is at least worth a look as well. There's a Mars Attacks Art Gallery for this week from IDW which pretty much is self-explanatory. New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Mayberry's Rotten Ruin comes to comics this week with a first issue two from IDW. Over at Image the 68 series begins a new mini run with one called Homefront, a much different

coverage for that one. Also if you're a fan of Defiance and Firefly well check out Copperhead number one this week also from Image. Spread gets some second and third printings, number one gets a third printing, number two gets a second printing and there's a brand new number three out this week as well as

a new issue of Walking Dead that's number 131. At Marvel the much talked about Death of Wolverine, there's still time for you to jump on that. Second issue of Death of Wolverine this week as well as the first issue of The Edge of the Spider-Verse. Guardians of the Galaxy 17 gets a second printing, Silver Surfer number one gets a third printing

this week from Marvel. And is it the 90s all over again? We've got a Dawn Vamparella team up series that begins with a first issue this week from Dynamite. The Doctor Who books getting some second printings, Doctor Who the 10th Doctor number one gets

a second just like Doctor Who the 11th Doctor number one does as well. And there's a new 11th Doctor comic this week number two as well. Better find a comic shop close to home to carry all that stuff out. You can do that of course with a comic book locator service of one 888 comic book. There is a link on the front of our website ComicMix.com and also a website called findacomicshop.com.

The point, the point. Another good month for comic book sales within the comic stores at least on paper. And I'll explain what that means when you look at the fact that comics in August sold a little more than 8% more than they did back in 2013. However, there were five shipweeks during August so that helps a little bit.

During the month only two comics sold over 100,000 copies, one each from Marvel and DC. And as pretty much as always the case Marvel was the market share leader edging out DC again by a couple of percentage points. Here's your top ten best selling comics for the month of August in comic stores. Number ten, Bad Mandy Turtle number eighteen from DC.

Guardians of the Galaxy number eighteen came in at number nine. At number eight, Amazing Spider-Man number one point four. Harley Quinn number nine with that selfie cover came in at number seven. Walking Dead number one thirty from Image came in at number six. At number five, Superior Spider-Man number thirty two.

At number four, Maldiversity number one. At number three, Original Sin number seven from DC. And number two, Amazing Spider-Man number five. And again the best selling comic of the month selling over 100,000 copies by the way. Bad Man number thirty four from DC.

That's it for this podcast. We're back in a few days with more on Gotham and a look at the little zombie show that could. Z Nation hit sci-fi this week and we'll tell you what you can expect about the show that isn't The Walking Dead.

You find all that and more with us on great websites like ComicMix.com, MichaelTavisWorld.com and GetThePointRadio.com. And in the iTunes Podcast directory too and we're easy to track on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter all under The Point Radio. Catch you back here in a few days.