New audiobook for the Batman & Robin movie

Joel Schumacher's two Batman films are incredibly special to me but... there's only so many times I can watch them. I try to leave it to just once a year so that it always feels like special event.

I love find other ways to experience them - looking at toys and other merchandise. One of my favourite things for Batman Forever is the audiobook read by Rene Auberjonois, based on the novelisation by Peter David. 

It's a three hour abridged version of the novelisation but it has lots of extra details as well as Auberjonois' great reading style.

Back in 1997, for Batman & Robin, they only did a short 30 minute radio play adaptation of the film that was really cheesy and over the top (which is saying something given the film it's based on). Jan Michael Friedman's slightly more mature novelisation - which has lot of fun extra details and scenes - was never recorded... 

...until now.

Recently, fan of this website Drew Griffin has dedicated a ton of time and effort recording a 6+ hour reading of the book with music. It's a great book and Drew does a fantastic job reading it. I can't thank him enough for doing this and giving us all a new way to experience the film.

What are you waiting for? Start listening now.

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