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Batman

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Batman

By: Craig Gardner
Narrated by: Roddy McDowell
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About this listen

They don't know who he really is. They never know where he'll show up. But the citizens of Gotham City know they have a protector. With an arsenal of amazing weaponry and a repertoire of incredible acrobatics, he is the legend they call Batman. In a toxic brew of big-city corruption, a bone-white, green-haired, eternally grinning clown is born. His name is The Joker.

Charting the origins of the Dark Knight and early battles between the Caped Crusader and the Clown Prince of Crime, Batman depicts the timeless, violent war between criminal and crimefighter, Batman vs. The Joker.

©1989 Craig Shaw Gardner (P)1989 Phoenix Books, Inc. Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction Movie, TV & Video Game Tie-Ins Superhero Crime

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The best way I can describe this is as if Roddy had watched the film and was retelling it from memory to his grandkids as a bedtime story.

Not only a severely truncated version of the story but McDowell seemed to be in a hurry to finish his read through and it comes through in the recording; pacing is all off as if he’s just reading it for the first time. He does no justice to any of the characters and certainly isn’t embodying any version of the Joker, let alone this iconic version we know was portrayed by Jack Nicholson.

Or did the director tell him to imagine he was the Joker as he read it in the studio?

Boom shakalaka

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I am a HUGE Batman fan, and have been for over 30 years. I was skeptical when I saw the running time of this book and thought there was no way they can condense a 2 hour film into a 90 minute audiobook. I should have listened to my gut. This "novelisation" skips over any detail, description or scene setting, and cuts out some pretty big scenes from the film. Add to that the narration... Its a cross between Truman Capote and the Cheshire Cat from the animated Alice in Wonderland, with a bit of Marlon Brando's cotton wool filled mouth for good measure. The "voices" for Batman & Joker are frankly appalling, Joker sounds like a cooky scientist from a Bugs Bunny cartoon. Honestly, I wouldn't even recommend this for Batman fans, it's really not worth the credit.

Holy Disappointment Batman!

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