Book: Batgirl To Dare the Darkness by Doug Moench

Following on from the previous post I also have a scanned pdf of Doug Moench's tie in novel Batgirl: To Dare the Darkness.

For those who aren't aware Doug, like Alan Grant, was a writer on the DC comics Batman titles throughout the 80s and 90s. Together with Chuck Dixon and Graham Nolan he is credited with creating the character of Bane (I wonder what he thought of the film's loose interpretation of the character) and also wrote many classic stories including big chunks of the Knightfall saga and the popular Elseworlds story Batman & Dracula: Red Rain.

The story picks up after the events of the Batman & Robin movie and sees Barbara Wilson leave Batman and Robin and set up on her own in Gotham City feeling that she isn't needed or appreciated by the dynamic duo. She considers leaving the Batgirl persona behind (much like Robin did in Facing the Enemy) before reaffirming her vigilante commitments and going up against Black Mask (another character Doug created) and the False Face Society.

Enjoy!

https://archive.org/details/batgirl-to-dare-the-darkness

Book: Robin Facing the Enemy by Alan Grant

One of the cool (pun not intended) bits of spin off merchandise for Batman & Robin were the two novels Robin: Facing the Enemy and Batgirl: To Dare the Darkness that gave us a glimpse of what happens before and after the movie. 

Robin: Facing the Enemy was written by Scottish writer Alan Grant who was a prolific writer at DC. During the 90s he wrote almost every issue of the Batman: Shadow of the Bat title (which lasted 96 issues!). 

The story picks up shortly after the events of Batman Forever and sees Robin fall out with Batman (*groan* again) and leave Wayne Manor to live in Gotham City. He gets a job at a diner and ends up having to take down a wannabe villain who rather unimaginatively dubs himself " The Enemy". 

It's a fun, brisk story (98 pages) that reminds me of the Nightwing comics of the early 00s. If you want to give it a read, here's a link to a pdf:-

https://archive.org/details/robin-facing-the-enemy

Miscellaneous content: Batman & Robin Style Guide illustrations part 3

 This is a final batch of illustrations by José Luis García-López for the Batman & Robin Style Guide.

Miscellaneous content: Batman & Robin Style Guide illustrations part 2

 More illustrations by José Luis García-López this week to enjoy. I particularly love the way he's kept the yellow oval symbol. I wish the film would have included that rather than the plain blue one.

Miscellaneous content: Batman & Robin Style Guide illustrations part 1

Unfortunately I still haven't managed to track down a hardcopy of the Batman & Robin Style Guide however there are lots of images online. I've pulled together as much as I can find. 

These are mostly illustrations by José Luis García-López depicting the various characters from the film. His beautiful line work really works well and lets us see the characters/designs in a fresh light. These were all used in a variety of Batman & Robin merchandise.

Miscellaneous content: Batgirl To Dare The Darkness Audio Adventure by Doug Moench

Another audio adventure tied in to the Batman & Robin movie was Batgirl: To Dare The Darkness. 

Written by Batman comic book regular Doug Moench and starring the movie version of the character Barbara Wilson. The story is set just after the movie and sees the character go on a solo adventure against Black Mask. 

This was originally published as a short paperback in 1997 and aimed at kids/teenagers (it's only 122 pages). Unfortunately an adaptation was not made of the other spin off novel Robin: Facing the Enemy by Alan Grant.

Anyway, this is an interesting curiosity being one of the only stories to feature the Barbara Wilson character and worth a listen. I don't have the cast list for this but the voice actress does a great Alicia Silverstone impersonation.

Miscellaneous content: Batman & Robin Audio Adventure by Kid Rhino

Some of the most popular videos on my youtube channel are the audiobook adaptations of Batman Returns and Batman Forever. Both are three hours long and read by supporting actors from the films. They are really worth a listen because they pull little extra details from the novelisations that flesh out the stories.

Unfortunately for the more kid friendly Batman & Robin they chose to do this - a short 35 minute audio drama. It's more like listening to a movie than having a book read to you - with only minimal narration. Anyway, it's still interesting to hear the 2 hour plus movie be condensed to a quarter of it's length. 

The cast is as follows:

Don Leslie as Batman

Jim Soriero as Robin

Todd Cummings as Mr Freeze

Deborah Stoll as Poison Ivy

Peter Waldren as Alred

Jay Gregory as Batgirl/Narrator