DC High Volume: Batman Podcast Expands With New Companion Series

Superhero comics aren’t just inspiring movie and TV adaptations these days, but also big-budget podcasts and audio dramas. DC recently kicked off its most ambitious podcast initiative to date with the debut of DC High Volume: Batman, a series that aims to adapt some of the Dark Knight’s most iconic comic book storylines.

But if you’re only listening to DC High Volume: Batman itself, you’re not getting the full story. That’s because DC is also launching a companion show within the main DC High Volume feed. These episodes, hosted by writer and journalist Coy Jandreau, offer a look at the making of the series through interviews with the cast and crew, as well as some of the creators whose work inspired DC High Volume: Batman in the first place. The first companion episode, due out on Thursday, April 24, features interviews with Batman voice actor Jason Spisak and DC’s Creative Director, Animation & Audio Content Mike Pallotta.

IGN recently had a chance to chat with Jandreau over the phone to learn more about the series and how it acts as a companion and extension of the DC High Volume: Batman saga. Read on to learn more about how these episodes will enrich your Batman experience.

What Is DC High Volume: Batman?

To understand what DC is looking to accomplish with this companion series, it’s best to establish what DC High Volume: Batman is in the first place. Essentially, the series is a collaboration between DC and podcast giant Realm - an ongoing audio drama closely based on iconic Batman comic books like Batman: Year One. The series stars Jason Spisak as the voice of Bruce Wayne/Batman and Jay Paulson as the voice of Jim Gordon.

“DC High Volume is the first of its kind to this scale, basically one-to-one telling of classic Batman comic books but in this incredible audio long-format radio play,” Jandreau tells IGN. “It's taking Batman: Year One. It's taking Long Halloween, and it's turning them into this full, immersive audio experience with incredible production design, audio special effects, super-talented voice actors, a score where different villains and heroes/characters have their own piece, and it adds up to this incredible new way to listen to a story that, for me, I've been reading my whole life but now can hear in a new way.”

As Jandreau explains, the idea is to craft an ongoing narrative using the seminal Batman graphic novels as key chapters in Batman’s story. That’s why High Volume starts with Batman and Gordon’s shared origin story in Year One and then progresses into The Long Halloween, which is set in Year 2 of Batman’s career.

“The idea is kind of have the long-running Batman myth but in this new medium and allow the audience that either is a ride-or-die fan, like myself, that's grown up with these characters as well as brand-new audience members that might only know the character from the movies or from the animated series or just be aware of Batman to have a jumping-on point,” Jandreau says. “It is going back to the roots for a reason and playing the big moments but in this shared universe and keeping the same voice actors and making sure it is something that grows and evolves through the storytelling of these classic stories.”

As a lifelong comic book fan, Jandreau sees plenty of appeal in experiencing these iconic stories in a new way and seeing stories from an entirely visual medium translated into a purely auditory experience instead.

“Listening to this, it's crazy the emotion and the experience that comes out of these stories in a different way,” Jandreau says. “I don't personally see it as subtracting art. I see it as adding audio. And what's really great is you can listen to these by themselves and listen in a car or listen with incredible headphones or listen with tower speakers and get an experience.”

Jandreau continues, “You can also listen while you read if you want, and then you've got a full different experience than just audio. You can also do this and to have conversations around a fire in the old 1920s way. And there's so many ways to do it, but none of them are taking away from the comic. And I love that because I've listened to this by itself. I've listened to this while reading. I've listened to this while driving, and each version is different, but none of them make the comic any less interesting.”

The High Volume Companion Series

Jandreau’s companion series is just that - a companion to the ongoing DC High Volume: Batman saga that delves into the making of the show and the challenges of adapting the comics for audio. The series is being released both in audio format on the DC High Volume: Batman feed and as a separate video series. The first episode premieres on April 24, just one day after High Volume kicks off its adaptation of Batman: The Long Halloween.

“They've been developing this for a number of years before I was brought on board, but they always wanted to highlight the incredible behind-the-scenes talent,” Jandreau says. “Whether it's voice actors or the composer or people actually at DC that have been involved all the way to the writers of the original story or artists of the original story, they always felt it was important for people to get to know them as well.”

Jandreau explains that he was brought on board due to his work on the DC Studio Showcase video series, making him a natural fit to dig into the making of DC High Volume: Batman.

“I've been working at DC Studio Showcase, which is a bi-weekly show every other Friday on Max and Max's YouTube, and that is the studio side. DC Studios being the James Gunn, Peter Safran leg of this world they're building, and I'm the comic correspondent there. Once that started going well, they tapped me to do this, and I was so honored because comics are the reason I want to do any of this. I love the medium of comics, so it's really cool to have a show that's about comics and another way to adapt them.”

As mentioned, Spisak is one of the two guests in the first companion episode. Jandreau teases their discussion, saying much of the talk centered around the challenge of finding Batman’s voice in this universe and exploring the ways in which it changes depending on which characters Batman is interacting with.

“Not to give spoilers for the first episode, but talking to Jason Spisak, who is our Bruce Wayne Batman, he really found a fascinating new take on Batman in doing the role,” Jandreau says. “In Year One, as you've been hearing, it's Bruce Wayne becoming the Bat, and we've seen that in TV. We've seen that in movies. We've read that. But hearing it, it's fascinating to hear the Bat voice develop, to hear it play like an equalizer and discover levels in it and how Batman sounds with Gordon versus how Batman sounds with Alfred versus how Bruce Wayne sounds with Alfred versus, what does the voice in Bruce Wayne's head sound like, and does that change as he becomes Batman?”

We were curious about the structure of the series. Will there be one episode of the show for each chapter of DC High Volume: Batman, or is the format less rigid? Jandreau explains that it’s more the latter, with the companion show tied to key emotional beats and plot points from the main series.

“It doesn't always go this is Year One four issues, and then we have a conversation, and then it's Long Halloween,” Jandreau says. “I actually love our first one is following a huge, huge moment in the first issue of Long Halloween. We've got Year One, and then we have right from Year One a beat of Long Halloween. And then I dive in, and that way I got to discuss the evolution from Year One into Long Halloween, the character growth and all those things. It's more for me trying to hit an emotional beat that resonates with the people I'm interviewing that ties into where the audience is getting that interview, and I always want to make sure what I'm doing is additive to their experience. It's giving them context at the right time to what they just experienced.”

We were also curious if Jandreau was inspired by any particular interview shows or podcast companion series for this project. He revealed that his show draws inspiration from Inside the Actors Studio and Hot Ones, along with classic late-night talk shows.

“I went Inside the Actors Studio. James Lipton has always been a hero of mine. It was kind of a blend of how James Lipton does his interviews in long form meets how Sean Evans finds very, very nuanced ways to uncover new ideas from the talent across the table's perspective. And then old-school talk show Johnny Carson, Conan O'Brien. A blend of long-form Lipton, new wave, ‘find a question talent has never been asked’ Sean Evans. And then I want it to feel the energy of a talk show a la a Conan or a Johnny Carson. To me, I want to blend all the different forms of this.”

The Future of DC High Volume: Batman

Looking ahead, we were curious what DC creators Jandreau is hoping to interview on the series. Unsurprisingly, he’s hoping to get The Long Halloween writer Jeph Loeb on board, along with Loeb’s Batman: Hush collaborator Jim Lee.

“Jim Lee, now that he's at his position at DC, has been so inspiring because he's got so much creative oversight while also being an artist,” Jandreau says. “His own work is some of my favorite, and his insight is some of my favorite. Since he inspired so many stories I love and because of what he's doing at DC broadly, I think Jim Lee is definitely one.”

Jandreau continues, “Jeph Loeb I've actually talked to at Cons. I've hosted some of his panels, and Jeph Loeb is responsible for so many of the comics that I consider the framework for the adaptations people know. When people look at classic Batman stories, a lot of times they don't realize it's Long Halloween. A lot of the DNA of Long Halloween. It's a lot of Dark Victory, and I feel like Jeph Loeb is someone who I want to have that long-form chat with to have that insight.”

“Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee also just very conveniently are doing Batman: Hush again. Those two guys are absolutely cornerstones for me. I want to pick their brains about Batman.”

Jandreau also specifically named Tom King, who wrote a lengthy Batman run from 2016-2019 that included the controversial, failed marriage between Batman and Catwoman. It’s not clear when or if King might appear on the show, given that his Batman run is set much later in the Caped Crusader’s career, but he’s definitely on Jandreau’s bucket list nonetheless.

“He used to work for the CIA, and he literally has lived a Batman-adjacent life,” Jandreau says. “The way he sees Batman and his view of the Bat and the Cat, the way he writes love, the way he writes women, the way he writes this pathos and vengeance, and especially the way he writes Bruce's pain and learning from it has always been how I see Bruce Wayne.”

Jandreau continues, “And I've really wanted to have a conversation with him in a way that I got to share it with others. I've talked to him briefly at Comic-Cons and those places, but I think it'd be really great to talk with someone who did such a long run on Batman who is currently working on the Lantern show. He's responsible for Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow which is being adapted. He's clearly such a diversified talent in what's being adapted. It'd be really cool to talk with him about Batman while we are adapting it in an all-new way. Tom King's up there as well.”

Ultimately, Jandreau’s hope is that his companion series can be a source of positivity for Batman fandom in a time when positivity is often in short supply.

“I think the internet can be a very dangerous place,” Jandreau says. “I think it can be a place of hostility, especially in fandom, right? Genre content is very tribal because people are protective over these stories. These stories mean the world to them. There's so much passion, which is why they thrive, which is why Batman's been around for so many decades, which is why these stories can come out weekly, and we can still get excited about them, which is why you can adapt them so many times, so many ways.”

Jandreau continues, “I think it's important we find the positivity in that because there's plenty of negativity in the world. I don't see any reason to make negativity about this genre content, about this fandom. I just think any way we can make fandom more positive and we can share in the internet a little bit more in an uplifting way ... That's what I want to do with this show and any show I'm a part of. I hope it makes comic fans, especially diehards, that have wanted to share in these stories in a new way, feel like they have a new home, a new comic store, but I also hope people that have always been like, ‘Batman's so cool. I wonder what it's like to read a comic book,’ ... They get a chance to also come in and go, ‘This is something so special.’ We want this to be the least gatekeeping. The comic book store door is wide open, and that's really important to me.

For more Batman fun, check out the top 10 Batman costumes of all time and the top 27 Batman comics and graphic novels.

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on BlueSky.