“Inspired” was the phrase used in the Tommy Guns and Hard Times collection, and given the profile, spectacles, and long cigarette holder, I get the claim, although it may have been unconscious or even coincidental.
Broadway Bates appeared in the strip ahead of the Penguin in comics. I know it’s been retroactively claimed that Bates was the inspiration for the Penguin’s look, but I don’t know if that was actually confirmed. The strip has connected them as brothers.As for the team ups, I’d rather see several stories developing at different paces, alternating with adversaries.
Mammoth Studios is the “go to” (fictional) studio for many productions, so they don’t run the risk of either insulting a major film company or giving free advertisement to them. The name was used in movies with Abbott & Costello and Red Skelton as well as on TV shows as diverse as The Monkees, The New Scooby Doo Movies, and Endeavour.This is one place that tries to trace the name: http://mercurie.blogspot.com/2006/06/most-successful-studio-never-to-exist.html
Boomhauer? Have we brought in King of the Hill?