That said, the show has about as good a track record with its original villains as it does the ones adapted from the comics. Seeing Selina Kyle as a little kid was an offence akin to Patton Oswalt's rant about the Star Wars prequels, but it's still a damn sight better than when the writers move away from the source material to come up with their own thing. The absolute nadir was The Balloonman, from the episode of the same name, who wears various disguises to get close to people he wants to off and then attaches large balloons to them, so they soar amongst the skyscrapers of Gotham City and eventually perish because nobody can get them down. That was terrible. Obviously, Gotham isn't a gritty, realistic crime drama on the level of The Wire. But neither is it the camp sixties Batman TV show, so it really has no business for stupid supervillains. If it absolutely must include some of the more colourful villains from the comics, or make up more of its own, they should hew closer to the likes of Cobblepot, thanks.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
