Adam F. Goldberg original intended for the 2015 Halloween episode to revolve around Michael Jackson's Michael Jackson: Thriller (1983), for which they even prepped and built sets, but he couldn't get it cleared legally. So, Adam wrote a new script in only a few days.
Dana now has blonde hair (last season has had red hair), likely because of Natalie Alyn Lind's role as Silver St. Cloud in Gotham for which she has blonde hair.
The comic book Beverly shows Adam is Dark Horse Presents Issue 36 featuring Aliens VS Predator and was published in January of 1990 which wouldn't have existed in the 80's timeline for the show.