3 Ways You Can Listen to Your Comics

Comics are a visual medium, a combination of written words and pictures. But movie adaptations have taught us that comic book stories, whether superhero, crime, biographical or otherwise, can be translated to other media. But even before there were superhero serials on the big screen, comic books were translated to another medium: radio plays, whether it was “The Adventures of Superman” or “Archie Andrews.”

In the age of the podcast, the radio drama has seen a resurgence. Marvel has released two seasons of a “Wolverine” podcast and one of a “Marvels” podcast through Stitcher. Both DC and Archie have inked deals with Spotify in recent weeks for their own drama podcasts. And this week, a new audio drama adaptation of “The Sandman” is out through Audible. I’ve been a big fan of audio drama since I discovered old-time radio as a teenager, and so I thought I’d visit some of the more interesting comic book-based audio dramas and audiobooks for this week’s Bonus Rea– Listening. Bonus Listening.

Graphic Audio

Graphic Audio is the Russian nesting doll of adaptations. Founded in 2004, the company’s tagline is “A Movie in Your Mind.” Graphic Audio adapts various series of genre fiction, hitting most of your major genres, from western to sci-fi to superheroes. In 2007, Graphic Audio began adapting novels based on DC Comics, and in 2012 they began adapting Marvel novels as well as a few comics series. These are full cast recordings, with sound effects and the like, and tend to have the same actors playing the same roles across books, so it’s similar to the DC Animated Universe, only in audio drama form.

I found my first Graphic Audio audio drama at a truck stop convenience store while making the four-and-a-half hour drive to visit my in-laws. Graphic Audio pitches its products to long-haul truckers, since they have a lot of time on their hands, so if you’re ever travelling and see a truck stop, you might find a selection of these six-to-eight disk audio dramas there, although in recent years, as is the way, Graphic Audio has done less and less physical releasing and more and more sales through its website as digital downloads. That first book was “JLA: The Exterminators” by Christopher Golden, part of a series of books that featured standalone adventures of the Justice League and its members, and it was a good first example of what Graphic Audio can do. It has a large cast and a sweeping narrative, and is a fun listen.

I’ve picked up a lot of Graphic Audio dramas over the past decade-plus, and there are plenty that are worth listening to. My favorite of the lot is, not shockingly, a Batman novelization, an adaptation of Greg Rucka’s “No Man’s Land” novel. One of only a handful of two-part audiobooks, the novel does a great job of adapting a yearlong comic into a manageable length for a novel and audiobook. The voice highlights are Richard Rohan, who also directs and adapts the DC books, as Batman and Barbara Pinolini as Renee Montoya. Speaking of Montoya, Greg Cox’s adaptation of “52” is another highlight.

Graphic Audio has adapted more than just Marvel and DC, if on a smaller scale. Relative newcomer Vault Comics has had its series “Wasted Space” by Michael Moreci and Hayden Sherman adapted. Dynamite has an audio adaptation for one of its headline titles, Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson’s “The Boys.”

Serial Box

Serial Box is an interesting company. It assembles a team of writers, like a writers room for a TV series, has chapters written by each of those writers and releases the chapters weekly, like a TV series or radio serial, through its app. The books take a traditional audiobook form, with one reader reading the entire story. The names of the writers on its recent series of Marvel-based audiobooks would be familiar to many readers here. And if you want to, you can also read the book through the same app.

“Thor: Metal Gods” is an epic Thor story in a quest model. Loki left a magical artifact in the hands of a bandmate back in his metal days (Yes, Loki went to Earth and joined a metal band at the height of the days of metal). Now, that artifact has given its wielder godlike powers, and he’s going to use them for destruction. So Thor grabs Loki, a team of new characters, and Lila Cheney, and they travel across the galaxy. It’s a fun, exciting story, with chapters by Stoker Award winner Brian Keene, Locus Award Winner Yoon Ha Lee, writer and co-host of Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men Jay Edidin and filmmaker Aaron Stewart-Ahn. All the chapters of “Thor: Metal Gods” are available now.

“Jessica Jones: Playing with Fire” is still being released, so no spoilers. This is a Jessica closer to the one in “Alias” and the Netflix series, not the slightly more superhero-y/mother to Dani and wife to Luke Cage of the later Bendis era. This is a hard-drinking Jessica, but one who is going to therapy and trying to get her life back on track. Jessica is hired by a man to find the son he hasn’t seen in years but had just reconnected with before his disappearance, and the case leads her to cults and to the Hellfire Club. It’s gritty, but with that trademark Jessica snark. Writers include video game developer and comics writer Zoe Quinn, writer of various Vertigo comics Lauren Beukes, writer Sam Beckbessinger, Hugo Award winner Elsa Sjunneson and last, but certainly not least, Vita Ayala of “Livewire,” “Submerged,” “Morbius” and hopefully soon “Children of the Atom” fame.

Neil Gaiman’s Previous Audio Dramas

Gaiman has been a writer of many genres for years, working in prose, comics, screenplays and even journalism. He has had a few opportunities to see his work adapted into an audio drama format.

“Neverwhere,” Gaiman’s story of the London that we see, and the supernatural London that lives beneath its surface, has had a complicated history. It started as a BBC TV series released in 1996, when the BBC’s production values were still closer to classic “Doctor Who” than its slicker, modern reinvention. It then became a novel, where it garnered more attention, the same year. In 2005, Mike Carey and Glenn Fabry adapted it for comics through Vertigo. And in 2013, the BBC released a radio drama with a star-studded cast. James McAvoy (who will be playing Dream in the new adaptation of “The Sandman”) stars as the hapless protagonist, Richard Mayhew; Natalie Dormer plays the Lady Door; David Harewood (Martian Manhunter on “Supergirl”) is the roguish Marquis de Carabas; and the stellar Sophie Okonedo is Hunter. The rest of the cast includes Benedict Cumberbatch, Anthony Head, David Scofield and the legendary Sir Christopher Lee.

Gaiman adapted two of his best-regarded short stories into audio dramas for Seeing Ear Theatre and the Sci-Fi Channel (as it was known and spelled at the time) in “Two Plays for Voices.” Each story was a full cast radio drama with a major name in the lead. Bebe Neuwirth of “Cheers” and “Chicago” fame stars as the Queen in an adaptation of “Snow, Glass, Apples,” a horror adaptation of “Snow White” that will make you rethink the classic tale. “Murder Mysteries,” one of my favorite Gaiman short stories, tells the tale of the first murder in heaven before the fall of Lucifer, sandwiched in a disconcerting framing narrative. 

Finally, for the 10th anniversary of the release of Gaiman’s “American Gods,” a full cast audiobook was released. While not a star-studded affair like the others, the cast included audiobook readers, character actors, one lucky contest winner and Gaiman himself.

Matthew Lazorwitz

Matt Lazorwitz read his first comic at the age of 5. It was Who's Who in the DC Universe #2, featuring characters whose names begin with B, which explains so much about his Batman obsession. He writes about comics he loves, and co-hosts the podcasts BatChat with Matt & Will and The ComicsXF Interview Podcast.