Season 3 of "Gotham," subtitled "Mad City" and beginning Sept. 19, promises to further flesh out the cast. Included will be some of Batman's oldest _ and goofiest _ enemies.
Season 2 ended with the escape of a great many inmates from Indian Hill, where Professor Hugo Strange (B.D. Wong) had been experimenting on them. We've seen a doppelganger of Bruce Wayne among this crew, and can expect appearances by Killer Croc (or a prototype) and the revenant Solomon Grundy as well.
Indian Hill was funded by the Court of Owls, a hidden group of Gotham's wealthiest (and most ruthless) movers and shakers. The Court, which goes back to the founding of the city, was added to the canon in 2011. That story, by writer Scott Snyder and artist Greg Capullo, is collected in "Batman: Court of Owls," and is a must-read for Bat-fans. Snyder and Capullo's masterpiece can't happen yet on the TV show _ not without a Batman _ so the Court will likely remain in the background as a constant threat to Jim Gordon (now a bounty hunter) and our other heroes.
In addition, Ivy "Poison Ivy" Pepper will be artificially aged from her current prepubescent self to a 19-year-old played by Maggie Geha. That makes sense, as much of Ivy's schtick is her use of seduction as a weapon, which requires a character over the age of majority. And the nature of Ivy's aging opens the possibility that she might age slowly or not at all _ meaning she will be age appropriate when Bruce Wayne finally grows up and dons the cape and cowl.
That's the new stuff, and that will obviously be good. Now comes the goofy.
Benedict Samuel ("The Walking Dead") will play Jervis Tetch, the Mad Hatter. According to Entertainment Weekly, he's a psychotic hypnotist in search of his sister Alice, who possesses an undisclosed super-power the Hatter wants to use.
That doesn't sound too bad. But, honestly, it took decades for the Mad Hatter to be anything other than a joke.
Tetch, as you might guess, is based on the Lewis Carroll character introduced in "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland." That was a wonderful character. The comic book version, introduced in 1948, was ... not.
"Are you the dreamer, or merely part of somebody else's dream?" asked the Hatter upon encountering the Dynamic Duo in "Batman" #49. It probably made more sense in the original "Through the Looking-Glass," even though that book was deliberately abstruse. It really had no place with this character, a short, scrawny, brown-haired criminal who was obsessed with hats.
Yes. Hats.
In his next several appearances in the '50s and '60s, though, he was tall, beefy and red-haired, with a big handlebar mustache. This time he was not only obsessed with hats, he _ gasp! _ used them to commit crimes! Oh, the horror!
Still later (in 1981), the Hatter returned with yet another new look, claiming that the red-haired guy was an imposter, whom he had killed. Mind you, these re-inventions all took place over four decades, and were probably unnecessary, since most readers probably retained very little memory of a guy who committed headwear-related felonies.
Especially since the red-haired guy would show up again five or six years later. Even the editors had trouble remembering this guy.
In 1983, wiser heads prevailed, deciding that if we had to have a Mad Hatter (or two), he needed to be dangerous in some way. It turns out Jervis had been a scientist all this time _ who knew? _ one who had technology that could erase memories, usually distributed to his unsuspecting victims via _ you guessed it _ hats. He also had a tenuous grasp on sanity, which made him somewhat unpredictable.
As is often the case, the character reached his apotheosis on "Batman: The Animated Series" (1992-95). In his first appearance there, in a 1992 episode titled "Mad as a Hatter," his fixation on his assistant, Alice (of course), alternated between terrifying and poignant. Pretty cool.
"A weird-looking guy with a hat fetish. Hmm. Not the most imposing of adversaries," wrote "B:TAS" writer and co-producer Paul Dini, in "Batman: Animated" (1998). "I made him a brilliant but lonely scientist. ... When Tetch stumbled on the secret of mind control, he used it to make people respect and obey him. ... Roddy McDowall's vocal performance created the perfect balance between Tetch's shyness and the Mad Hatter's dementia. No longer a comical baddie obsessed with swiping hats, the Mad Hatter had become a real threat."
So, after 44 years, the Hatter finally made the big time. Our next two villains? Not so much.
"Gotham" is going to bring us The Tweeds. In the comics, they are identical, portly cousins, whose first names are Dumfree and Deever. As criminals, they're known as ... (sigh) Tweedledum and Tweedledee.
Yep, another Lewis Carroll reference. Somebody in the Bat-offices had their own fixation, it would seem.
In "The Original Encyclopedia of Comic Book Heroes Vol. 1," author Michael Fleisher described them as "so fat, so lazy, and so eager to avoid exertion of any kind that they usually direct their criminal operations from a car or truck while their hired henchmen do the actual dirty work."
Or as Robin phrased it, when first sighting Deever in "Detective Comics" #74 (1943): "Is he for real? He looks like a fat spider!"
Well, no, he looked a short, fat guy. Maybe Robin should have worn glasses instead of that domino mask.
The Tweeds appeared twice in 1943, but then disappeared into comic book limbo for many decades. However, there is nothing more unkillable in comics than a bad idea, so the Tweeds returned in 1977.
I'd like to say that the Corpulent Criminals, like the Mad Hatter, had by that time metamorphosized into deadly villains instead of pudgy punchlines. I'd like to, but I can't. They are still pudgy punchlines.
Other villains, like Killer Croc, beat them up. They were captured once by The Creeper, not exactly an A-list superhero. In another story they were defeated by Robin, the Boy Wonder. They even made a deal with a devil once, but even there they got bupkiss.
They never even got a spot on "Batman: The Animated Series," which surely would have improved them. But, no, the best they managed was an appearance on "Batman: The Brave and Bold," where they engaged in villainous bouncing.
Yes, bouncing.
Currently in the comics they act as brainwashed thugs for the Mad Hatter. Which is just sad.
Maybe "Gotham" can turn the Rotund Rascals into something less embarrassing. If nothing else, the show is going to make them brothers, not identical cousins. "The Patty Duke Show" used that bit better, anyway.
