'2000 AD' Signs Audiobook Deal With Penguin Random House

[Dash Decent]

'Penguin Random House will adapt five 2000 AD graphic novels into full-cast audiobooks, with original soundtracks and sound design, alongside audio versions of Rebellion’s prose fiction.'
 - Hollywood Reporter

'Richard Lennon, Audio Publisher at Penguin Random House, said:“This is a really exciting new partnership which helps us reach even more listeners in this hugely popular and ever-growing section of the audiobook market. We’re looking forward to helping tell some of Rebellion’s incredible stories and to creating some truly groundbreaking recordings, particularly as we explore turning some of British comic book history’s true greats – Judge Dredd, Slaine and Rogue Trooper, to name but a few – into audiobooks for the first time.”'
- 2000AD website news

[Colin YNWA]

Interesting idea. Wonder how it will work and I'm intrigued to see how they deal with such visually driven story but will be fascinating to find out.

[shaolin_monkey]

I still have the audiobook of 'The Apocalypse War' kicking about somewhere.  It was very good!!

Any guesses which ones will be adapted?

[Bad Andy]

The 2000ad audios by Big Finish were excellent. Although they were original stories rather than adaptations.

Be interesting to see how these turn out.

[The Monarch]

nikolai dante please

[dweezil2]

Really hope these will be receiving physical CD releases and not just st download, for the collectors out there!
Vinyl releases would be equally lovely for the audiophiles out there!!!

[alphadogau]

This is great news.
Fingers crossed we get a re-release of the BBC stories as well ?

[DJThunderGod]

Literally just stumbled across this one!

Hopefully this will include the Big Finish audios, since they're no longer available.  If they do more Strontium Dog, can we have Simon Pegg back as Johnny?  Wonder if Jason Haigh-Ellery and Nick Briggs have pitched for the contract as outside contractors?

[Dash Decent]

Details included in the latest thrill-mail.

The five adaptions are Brink, The Ballad of Halo Jones, Slaine - The Horned God, Judge Dredd: America* and Judge Dredd: The Pit.




* This is what the thrill-mail calls it.

[TordelBack]

Good on Tharg for grabbing those Licensing groats, but creatively I do have to ask what is the point. I love audio books, a huge addition to my life over the last 15 years, but audio comics? Never understood those, and the various dramatisations made me cringe.

[Richard]

This reminds me of when Father Ted was reading Dougal a bedtime story and it was a Superman comic, and he was describing all the pictures.

[Colin YNWA]

That list does make me wonder how these will work. 4 out of those 5 have very specific visual strengths that lend so much to the stories.

So let's take Brink as a specific. So much of Brinks success is INJ's superb ability to convey the claustrophobia of habitats, so there is an unlying tension in the atmosphere of the stories throughout. Secondly the genius of those story via conversation elements of Brink work because of the 'acting' INJ's art brings to the characters and the way words spoken are given specific meaning and intent.

Now that's not to say that smarter writers than me, used to conveying things in audio form can't work these challenges out. Or audio actors can't add the depth of meaning to conversation that INJ's art does... but why do it. Why strip out 50% of what makes those tales so good and specific? To leave you with the challenge of how you make the story as strong without them?

Still my doubts aren't important and I'm almost more interested than I was because of them. I'm interested to see if folks can manage this... but I guess colour me sceptical for now. 

[CalHab]

Good on Tharg for grabbing those Licensing groats, but creatively I do have to ask what is the point. I love audio books, a huge addition to my life over the last 15 years, but audio comics? Never understood those, and the various dramatisations made me cringe.

I've been listening to the recent Audible adaptiation of Sandman and it hasn't grabbed me. The whole way through I'm just thinking about the comics. Would it work better if I hadn't read them (many, many times) before?

[TordelBack]

A friend elsewhere just pointed out that these audio versions make great stories accessible for the visually impaired, and suddenly I felt (even more) like a right prick.

[Colin YNWA]

A friend elsewhere just pointed out that these audio versions make great stories accessible for the visually impaired, and suddenly I felt (even more) like a right prick.

Oh that's absolutely a fair point but for me the issue is make stories that are designed for that medium rather than translate stories that are designed for a different form. The only reason not to is shared experience (which I recognise, I'm fortunate enough that I'm not in this position so I no doubt lack insight), which I utterly get, but are these stories popular enough to justify a demand for that?

Mind there maybe and I there's no doubt Audible know a lot more about this than me.