Marvel Tries Hands At Audio Drama With "Daredevil"

I love audio drama and once wrote an entire article on the subject for the music magazine Mstation. Marvel is doing a Daredevil audio drama, under the appropriate pretext of marketing towards blind fans of the character (appropriate because the character of Daredevil is himself blind):

Since his inception in 1964, Daredevil has stood out as a unique figure in comic books: A blind man able to leap through the air and battle evil thanks to a special radar enhancing his other senses. The Man Without Fear has been a Marvel stalwart for nearly 50 years as well as a representative of the visually-impaired in popular fiction, but up to this point, those deprived of sight themselves have had to rely on friends reading them copies of DAREDEVIL in order to experience Matt Murdock's adventures.

About a month ago, Marvel Senior Editor Steve Wacker came up with the idea to record an audio edition of DAREDEVIL #1 so that the visually-impaired could enjoy the dawn of a new era for DD, his friends and his enemies. Additionally, this special project provides those who can see with a new take on what's already being hailed as one of the best comics of 2011.

DAREDEVIL writer Mark Waid provides full panel descriptions directly from his script on this audio edition, while Marvel editors Tom Brennan, Ellie Pyle and Jordan D. White lent their voices to Daredevil/Matt Murdock, Kirsten McDuffie and Foggy Nelson, with White and Wacker also providing additional vocals. Marvel.com Video Editor Todd Wahnish recorded the piece, Marvel.com Associate Editor Ben Morse directed and Jordan White edited the final recording.

Enjoy the audio edition of DAREDEVIL #1, and if you've got a friend who'se visually-impaired, please share this with them.

And don't forget to pick up DAREDEVIL #2, on sale this week!

DC Retroactive

Wow, so I just found out about this series of comic books from DC, called the "Retro-Active" series. Each series apparently has new writers and artists going back and revisiting an era of DC Comics full on with the given aesthetic of the period.

Marvel Comics has done some similar stuff with their First Class series and the X-Factor Forever one shot but all the same, it never really went full throttle into bringing in the old visuals as well. To be able to accurately channel an artistic style that is not practiced any longer by any of your peers and that you have never used in your regular work takes alot of skill.

Comic books are certainly passed the environment horizon in which they once had to make each adaptation effectively for an audience that studios assumed didn't like comic books aesthetically or as a creative form. The X-Men: First Class film presented the X-Men as a superhero team in a period piece, without any apologies and even with the adoption of bright blue and yellow costumes. Perhaps we'll see some similar blasts from the past from DC's studios?

Calling All True Believers!

I'm putting together the skeleton of the next Blood Is One mixtape right now. The work is going to have a loose comic book themeology to it and several skits that will bring that to life. One of the sources for this will be the Fantastic Four radio series, narrated by Stan Lee decades ago. If mentioned at all, the series (which is public domain) will only slightly be mentioned when the mixtape is released so I felt the compulsion to post the material on its own. Comic book series aren't exactly known for their run on radio, which was once one of the prime sources of American entertainment, so I want anyone interested to hear it: