Showing posts with label To Dare the Darkness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label To Dare the Darkness. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 1, 2025

New audiobook: Batgirl: To Dare the Darkness read by Drew Griffin

Drew Griffin has released a NEW audiobook reading for Doug Moench's novella "Batgirl: To Dare the Darkness."

For those that don't know, this is a fascinating little spin-off that came out in 1997. It's set after the events of Batman & Robin and sees Barbara Wilson having to use her computer skills to go up against Black Mask. 

Much like Alan Grant's Robin spin-off "Facing the Enemy", this one also has Barbara Wilson temporarily quit the crime fighting trio and go off to investigate Black Mask's crime spree in her civilian alter ego for much of the story.

Also, the book follows the template of the two Schumacher Batman films by having Black Mask (aka Roman Sionis) be a disgruntled Wayne Tech employee not unlike Edward Nygma and Pamela Isley.

There's a few tiny areas of continuity that don't quite line up (like how come Robin is back in his original red, green and gold costume) but nothing huge.

Once again, Drew has done a fantastic reading with top notch voice work. I particularly enjoy his voice for Robin, who pops up in the story a few times. For those of you wondering about his voice for Barbara Wilson - remember, she went to Oxbridge Academy so of course she's going to have an English accent!

The book was previously made into a very short 30 minute audio drama back in 1997 (link here) but Drew has done full unabridged version for the channel and I've got to thank him for making this. These things are not easy to record. This also means that we now have recordings of all the Schumacher films and their spin-offs.

Well, what are you waiting for. Press play.

Thursday, July 15, 2021

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.