Superhero comics are not only inspiring blockbuster 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 project yet with the debut of DC High Volume: Batman, a series dedicated to bringing some of the Dark Knight's most iconic comic book stories to life in audio form.
However, if you're only tuning into DC High Volume: Batman, you're missing out on a richer experience. DC is also rolling out a companion show within the main DC High Volume feed. Hosted by writer and journalist Coy Jandreau, these episodes delve into the production of the series, featuring interviews with the cast, crew, and the original creators behind the Batman stories that inspired the podcast. The first companion episode, set to release on Thursday, April 24, will include discussions with Batman voice actor Jason Spisak and DC's Creative Director of Animation & Audio Content, Mike Pallotta.
IGN recently had the opportunity to speak with Jandreau over the phone to get more insights into the series and its role as a companion to the DC High Volume: Batman saga. Dive in to discover how these episodes will enhance your Batman experience.
What Is DC High Volume: Batman?
To fully appreciate the companion series, it's essential to understand what DC High Volume: Batman entails. This series is a groundbreaking collaboration between DC and podcast giant Realm, presenting an ongoing audio drama that closely follows iconic Batman comic books like Batman: Year One. Jason Spisak lends his voice to Bruce Wayne/Batman, while Jay Paulson voices Jim Gordon.
"DC High Volume is the first of its kind on this scale, essentially a one-to-one telling of classic Batman comic books but in this incredible audio long-format radio play," Jandreau shared with IGN. "It's taking Batman: Year One, The Long Halloween, and turning them into a 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 an 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."
Jandreau explains that the series aims to craft an ongoing narrative using seminal Batman graphic novels as key chapters in Batman's story. Starting with Batman and Gordon's shared origin story in Year One, the series progresses into The Long Halloween, set in Year 2 of Batman's career.
"The idea is to have the long-running Batman myth but in this new medium, allowing the audience, whether they are die-hard fans like myself who have grown up with these characters or brand-new audience members who might only know Batman from movies or animated series, to have a jumping-on point," Jandreau says. "It's going back to the roots for a reason and playing the big moments but in this shared universe, keeping the same voice actors and ensuring it grows and evolves through the storytelling of these classic tales."
As a lifelong comic book fan, Jandreau finds immense value in experiencing these iconic stories in a new format, translating stories from a purely visual medium into a purely auditory one.
"Listening to this, it's amazing the emotion and the experience that comes out of these stories in a different way," Jandreau notes. "I don't see it as subtracting from the art. I see it as adding audio. What's great is you can listen to these by themselves, in a car, with incredible headphones, or through tower speakers and get a unique experience."
Jandreau 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 have conversations around a fire in the old 1920s way. There are so many ways to experience it, but none of them take away from the comic. I've listened to this by itself, while reading, and 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 serves as an extension of the DC High Volume: Batman saga, offering insights into the production process and the challenges of adapting comics for audio. The series is available in both audio format on the DC High Volume: Batman feed and as a separate video series. The first episode premieres on April 24, just one day after High Volume 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, the composer, or people at DC involved all the way to the writers and artists of the original story, they felt it was important for people to get to know them as well."
Jandreau was chosen for the role due to his work on the DC Studio Showcase video series, making him an ideal candidate to explore the making of DC High Volume: Batman.
"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 and 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 universe and how the character's voice evolves depending on the 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 says. "In Year One, as you've been hearing, it's Bruce Wayne becoming the Bat, and we've seen that in TV, movies, and read about it. 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 series, Jandreau explains that it's not strictly tied to the chapters of DC High Volume: Batman but rather focuses on key emotional beats and plot points from the main series.
"It doesn't always go 'this is Year One four issues, and then we have a conversation, and then it's Long Halloween,'" Jandreau says. "I actually love that our first one is following a huge moment in the first issue of Long Halloween. We've got Year One, and then right from Year One a beat of Long Halloween. 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 about 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 drew inspiration for his show from 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 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."
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The Future of DC High Volume: Batman
Looking ahead, Jandreau is eager to interview more DC creators for the series. He particularly hopes to feature The Long Halloween writer Jeph Loeb and his Batman: Hush collaborator, Jim Lee.
"Jim Lee, now that he's in 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."
Jandreau 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."
"Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee also just very conveniently are doing Batman: Hush again. Those two guys are absolutely cornerstones for me. I want to pick their brains about Batman."
Jandreau also mentioned Tom King, who wrote a lengthy Batman run from 2016-2019 that included the controversial, failed marriage between Batman and Catwoman. While King's run is set much later in Batman's career, Jandreau still hopes to have him on the show.
"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."
Jandreau 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 for the companion series is to foster positivity within the Batman fandom, which can often be overshadowed by negativity.
"I think the internet can be a very dangerous place," Jandreau 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."
Jandreau 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 fun, check out the top 10 Batman costumes of all time and the top 27 Batman comics and graphic novels.
