Superhero comics are not only inspiring movies and TV shows but are also making waves in the world of big-budget podcasts and audio dramas. DC has recently launched its most ambitious podcast initiative yet with DC High Volume: Batman, a series dedicated to adapting some of the Dark Knight's most iconic comic book storylines into an immersive audio experience.
However, to fully appreciate this endeavor, listeners should not miss out on the companion series within the main DC High Volume feed. Hosted by writer and journalist Coy Jandreau, these episodes provide an in-depth look at the creation of DC High Volume: Batman through interviews with the cast, crew, and original comic creators. The first companion episode, set to release on Thursday, April 24, features insights from Batman voice actor Jason Spisak and DC's Creative Director of Animation & Audio Content, Mike Pallotta.
IGN had the opportunity to speak with Jandreau about how the companion series enhances the overall Batman experience.
What Is DC High Volume: Batman?
To fully grasp the purpose of the companion series, it's essential to understand DC High Volume: Batman. This series is a groundbreaking collaboration between DC and podcast giant Realm, transforming classic Batman comic books into an ongoing audio drama. It stars Jason Spisak as Bruce Wayne/Batman and Jay Paulson as Jim Gordon, starting with adaptations of iconic stories like Batman: Year One and The Long Halloween.
Jandreau explains to IGN, "DC High Volume is the first of its kind to this scale, essentially a one-to-one telling of classic Batman comic books but in an incredible audio long-format radio play. It's taking Batman: Year One, The Long Halloween, and turning them into this full, immersive audio experience with incredible production design, audio special effects, super-talented voice actors, and a score where different villains and heroes/characters have their own piece. It adds up to this incredible new way to listen to a story that, for me, I've been reading my whole life but now can hear in a new way."
The series aims to weave an ongoing narrative using key Batman graphic novels as pivotal chapters, beginning with Batman and Gordon's shared origin in Year One and moving into The Long Halloween, set in Year 2 of Batman's career.
Jandreau emphasizes the series' appeal to both die-hard fans and newcomers: "The idea is to have the long-running Batman myth in this new medium and allow the audience that either is a ride-or-die fan, like myself, that's grown up with these characters, as well as brand-new audience members that might only know the character from the movies or the animated series, to have a jumping-on point. It is going back to the roots for a reason and playing the big moments but in this shared universe and keeping the same voice actors and making sure it is something that grows and evolves through the storytelling of these classic stories."
As a lifelong comic book enthusiast, Jandreau appreciates the unique experience of hearing these iconic stories: "Listening to this, it's crazy the emotion and the experience that comes out of these stories in a different way. I don't personally see it as subtracting art. I see it as adding audio. And what's really great is you can listen to these by themselves and listen in a car or listen with incredible headphones or listen with tower speakers and get an experience."
He adds, "You can also listen while you read if you want, and then you've got a full different experience than just audio. You can also do this and to have conversations around a fire in the old 1920s way. And there's so many ways to do it, but none of them are taking away from the comic. And I love that because I've listened to this by itself. I've listened to this while reading. I've listened to this while driving, and each version is different, but none of them make the comic any less interesting."
The High Volume Companion Series
Jandreau's companion series complements the ongoing DC High Volume: Batman saga by exploring the behind-the-scenes process and the challenges of adapting comics into audio. The series is available in both audio and video formats on the DC High Volume: Batman feed. The inaugural episode premieres on April 24, just one day after the series begins its adaptation of Batman: The Long Halloween.
"They've been developing this for a number of years before I was brought on board, but they always wanted to highlight the incredible behind-the-scenes talent," Jandreau says. "Whether it's voice actors or the composer or people actually at DC that have been involved all the way to the writers of the original story or artists of the original story, they always felt it was important for people to get to know them as well."
Jandreau's involvement stems from his work on the DC Studio Showcase video series, making him a natural fit for this project. "I've been working at DC Studio Showcase, which is a bi-weekly show every other Friday on Max and Max's YouTube, and that is the studio side. DC Studios being the James Gunn, Peter Safran leg of this world they're building, and I'm the comic correspondent there. Once that started going well, they tapped me to do this, and I was so honored because comics are the reason I want to do any of this. I love the medium of comics, so it's really cool to have a show that's about comics and another way to adapt them."
In the first companion episode, Jandreau discusses with Spisak the challenges of voicing Batman in this new universe and how the character's voice evolves depending on his interactions with other characters. "Not to give spoilers for the first episode, but talking to Jason Spisak, who is our Bruce Wayne Batman, he really found a fascinating new take on Batman in doing the role," Jandreau shares. "In Year One, as you've been hearing, it's Bruce Wayne becoming the Bat, and we've seen that in TV. We've seen that in movies. We've read that. But hearing it, it's fascinating to hear the Bat voice develop, to hear it play like an equalizer and discover levels in it and how Batman sounds with Gordon versus how Batman sounds with Alfred versus how Bruce Wayne sounds with Alfred versus, what does the voice in Bruce Wayne's head sound like, and does that change as he becomes Batman?"
Regarding the structure of the companion series, Jandreau clarifies that it is not rigidly tied to each chapter of DC High Volume: Batman but rather focuses on key emotional beats and plot points. "It doesn't always go this is Year One four issues, and then we have a conversation, and then it's Long Halloween," he explains. "I actually love our first one is following a huge, huge moment in the first issue of Long Halloween. We've got Year One, and then we have right from Year One a beat of Long Halloween. And then I dive in, and that way I got to discuss the evolution from Year One into Long Halloween, the character growth and all those things. It's more for me trying to hit an emotional beat that resonates with the people I'm interviewing that ties into where the audience is getting that interview, and I always want to make sure what I'm doing is additive to their experience. It's giving them context at the right time to what they just experienced."
Jandreau draws inspiration for his show from various sources, including Inside the Actors Studio, Hot Ones, and classic late-night talk shows. "I went Inside the Actors Studio. James Lipton has always been a hero of mine. It was kind of a blend of how James Lipton does his interviews in long form meets how Sean Evans finds very, very nuanced ways to uncover new ideas from the talent across the table's perspective. And then old-school talk show Johnny Carson, Conan O'Brien. A blend of long-form Lipton, new wave, ‘find a question talent has never been asked’ Sean Evans. And then I want it to feel the energy of a talk show a la a Conan or a Johnny Carson. To me, I want to blend all the different forms of this."
The Future of DC High Volume: Batman
Looking ahead, Jandreau is eager to interview key creators for the companion series. He hopes to feature The Long Halloween writer Jeph Loeb and his Batman: Hush collaborator Jim Lee. "Jim Lee, now that he's at his position at DC, has been so inspiring because he's got so much creative oversight while also being an artist," Jandreau says. "His own work is some of my favorite, and his insight is some of my favorite. Since he inspired so many stories I love and because of what he's doing at DC broadly, I think Jim Lee is definitely one."
He continues, "Jeph Loeb I've actually talked to at Cons. I've hosted some of his panels, and Jeph Loeb is responsible for so many of the comics that I consider the framework for the adaptations people know. When people look at classic Batman stories, a lot of times they don't realize it's Long Halloween. A lot of the DNA of Long Halloween. It's a lot of Dark Victory, and I feel like Jeph Loeb is someone who I want to have that long-form chat with to have that insight."
Jandreau also mentions Tom King, who wrote a significant Batman run from 2016-2019, including the controversial marriage between Batman and Catwoman. "He used to work for the CIA, and he literally has lived a Batman-adjacent life," Jandreau says. "The way he sees Batman and his view of the Bat and the Cat, the way he writes love, the way he writes women, the way he writes this pathos and vengeance, and especially the way he writes Bruce's pain and learning from it has always been how I see Bruce Wayne."
He adds, "And I've really wanted to have a conversation with him in a way that I got to share it with others. I've talked to him briefly at Comic-Cons and those places, but I think it'd be really great to talk with someone who did such a long run on Batman who is currently working on the Lantern show. He's responsible for Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow which is being adapted. He's clearly such a diversified talent in what's being adapted. It'd be really cool to talk with him about Batman while we are adapting it in an all-new way. Tom King's up there as well."
Ultimately, Jandreau's goal with the companion series is to foster positivity within the Batman fandom. "I think the internet can be a very dangerous place," he says. "I think it can be a place of hostility, especially in fandom, right? Genre content is very tribal because people are protective over these stories. These stories mean the world to them. There's so much passion, which is why they thrive, which is why Batman's been around for so many decades, which is why these stories can come out weekly, and we can still get excited about them, which is why you can adapt them so many times, so many ways."
He continues, "I think it's important we find the positivity in that because there's plenty of negativity in the world. I don't see any reason to make negativity about this genre content, about this fandom. I just think any way we can make fandom more positive and we can share in the internet a little bit more in an uplifting way ... That's what I want to do with this show and any show I'm a part of. I hope it makes comic fans, especially diehards, that have wanted to share in these stories in a new way, feel like they have a new home, a new comic store, but I also hope people that have always been like, ‘Batman's so cool. I wonder what it's like to read a comic book,’ ... They get a chance to also come in and go, ‘This is something so special.’ We want this to be the least gatekeeping. The comic book store door is wide open, and that's really important to me."
For more Batman excitement, explore the top 10 Batman costumes of all time and the top 27 Batman comics and graphic novels.
