The BBC Radio 1 dramatization of a Batman adventure starring Bob Sessions, Michael Gough and Tim Drake.
A savage fight with the supervillain Bane has left Batman virtually crippled and Gotham City defenseless. As Bruce Wayne begins the long process of recovery, he realizes he must choose a successor in his role as the Dark Knight. But is his apprentice ready? Is Gotham City ready? And what will happen when Wayne returns to reclaim Gotham City and his role as the true Batman?
Dirk Maggs, a freelance writer and director working across all media, is principally known for his work in radio, where he evolved radio drama into "Audio Movies," a near-visual approach combining scripts, layered sound effects, cinematic music and cutting edge technology. He pioneered the use of Dolby Surround in BBC Radio. He was among the first nominees for the Directors Guild of Great Britain Outstanding Achievement in Radio Award, and in 2005 he was invited to become one of the first Honorary Fellows of the University of Winchester for his work in the dramatic arts.
From 2003 to 2005, Maggs produced new episodes of Douglas Adams' science fiction comedy series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, adapted from the novels based on the original radio series that Adams wrote. The books that Maggs adapted were written after the radio series ended its original run.
He co-founded Perfectly Normal Productions Ltd (PNP) with Paul Weir and Richard Adams to create compelling high quality popular audio drama in serialized form for delivery to personal digital players and cell phones.
Early in his career Dirk became known for directing adaptations of comic book storylines. He started in 1988 with the 50th Anniversary Man Of Steel docudrama Superman on Trial, carried on with a 50th birthday tribute to the Dark Knight: Batman: The Lazarus Syndrome. This was followed by The Adventures Of Superman, Batman: Knightfall, The Amazing Spider-Man and his final BBC Radio superhero series, Judge Dredd in 1995. Along the way his production of Superman: Doomsday and Beyond ("Superman Lives" in the USA) won the 1994 Audie Award for Best Dramatisation from the American Booksellers Association and Spoken Word Audio of The Year from Publishers Weekly.
An absolute masterpiece of audio drama and one of the best Batman adaptations I can think of. Dirk Maggs' production really captures something wild, fresh and exciting about the Batman mythos and as much as anything has that sense insanity and anything could happen on-the-edge feeling that I really enjoy. Everything about this audio from the smart adn often hilarious script, to the intense production and brilliant - sometimes very over-the-top - acting is pitch perfect and Bob Sessions makes for one of the steeliest, but gloriously old-school (no Christian Bale growling, it's all suave sophistication) Batman's we've had in a long time.
This story is on the surface simple but full of borderline psychotic "where vigilante meets insanity" questioning that's fresh from the work of Frank Miller; this story and production feels more influenced by Miller than any other Bat product I can think of. Bane is a psychopathic newbie villain on the block who wants to prove himself and does so by destroying Batman in what is ironically the most cowardly way possible, releasing a huge amount of inmates - including a wonderfully insane Joker and Riddler- to wear him down then he'll finish him off. he does famously break Batman's back and whilst recovering another attempts to fill his shoes and finds that being Batman truly can lead one to becoming as psychopathic as the villains one is meant to be fighting.
It's a true tragedy that Dirk Maggs had planned to produce a version of "Dark Knight Returns" with Bob Sessions, who unfortunately died before it could be done, and sadly that project doesn't seem to have come to pass. It would have been 100% awesome.
Interesting story about the replacement of Batman. I found the audio to be fun, but the predominance of multiple extremely deep voices tended to run together, and the background sounds were quite overbearing at times, like during the fights. The story started without a real beginning, just jumping into some dialog, but keep with it and the story will come out. And a good idea for a full cast audio, a blooper track is at the end.
Comic books performed old-time radio drama-style and recorded as an audiobook...so there's a LOT to take in here. The sound effects sometimes drown out the narration, but it was definitely a novel approach to the material. The voice acting was great, though. And, as a fan of the 1990s Batman cartoon, I was tickled to find several of the actors from the show voiced the same characters for this book!
A good production of the Knightfall story as presented in a radio drama. This adaptation even includes some of the Crusade storyline material that keeps avoiding collection in print. The voices and acting were very good. It helps if you know the general story otherwise the faster scenes may be a bit confusing though. They also include an outtakes segment at the end that's rather amusing.
Kind of dark and confusing. But then my iphone kept losing its place in the audiobook. There's a nice story arc or 2 in there somewhere. If you're a fan you'll probably like it. Downloaded from my library.
I originally had this on cassette tape to listen to in the car when it was first produced. Thought it was awesome then. It remains a pretty good adaptation on the Knightfall saga; way better than the filmed attempts anyway.