Atmospheric Space Odyssey

Can't say I was expecting to enjoy these as much as I did, but I really really did!

Unlike the recent Sandman adaptations, this audio adaptation of a comic book isn't filled with sound and fury and jarring soundscapes every 30 seconds. Another reviewer complained about it sounding 'thin' - I mean, what?? Have they actually read the original comics?!

The soundscaping is subtle but effective and totally captures the feeling of...well, space. This isn't a blockbuster epic! It's a police procedural, set in often crowded but even more often profoundly empty Habitats. The low hum of machinery or the subtle echoing of voices really conjures up that sense of humanity without the earth, either forced too close together or profoundly alone in the universe.

The performances are pretty much all excellent. Again subtly played, wholly believable - especially the central duo of Richard Armitage and Nina Sosanya.

Great 80's-esque soundtrack that captures the feel of the original artwork nicely.

Again, to contrast it to Sandman, there is no narration to ease you into the story or explain where you are. Frankly THANK GOD. I found all the narration cutting into the story during that production irritating and disruptive. Brink may take a little longer to get into for that reason, but it's all the better for it.

I found this an immersive, believable and faithful adaptation and I look forward to more in future.

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7 people found this helpful

LOVED IT!!

Firstly, as a fan of the comics, it's amazing how faithful this adaptation has stayed to the source material! (I could literally follow along with the originals.)

The listener is catapulted right into a near future dystopian universe (where mankind has killed the Earth and is now living in 'Habitats' in outer space) and this audio adaptation manages to set up this universe subtly but superbly, without the need for unnecessary additional narration or 'scene-setting' (really wasn't a fan of this in the 'Sandman' adaptations) The soundscaping actually reminded me of 'Alien' or 'Sunshine', with the low drone of tiny Habitat rooms or distant machinery often the only underscoring, designed to unsettle. Until of course the weirdness of 'the Sects' and their Space Gods comes around and then...hold on to your headphones.

The performances from the starry cast are all top notch, almost too many to list. But Nina Sosanya is a perfect 'Bridge' Curtis (wry, no-nonsense, yet vulnerable) and Richard Armitage is the Brinkmann of my dreams and an ideal foil to Sosanya. In fact their central relationship - so key to the series - makes certain moments in this audio drama really affecting (no spoilers for anyone who doesn't know the comics!!) I especially LOVED Indira Varma's witty take on Gibrani, William Hope as the curmudgeonly Gentry, and David Warner as a chillingly casual Joel Tillerson, and pretty much all the supporting cast is superb.

Music has an 80s-esque feel for the most part, conjuring the slightly Pop art spirit of the original novel's visuals, with hints of John Murphy. To get this high quality a soundtrack on an audiobook feels pretty special.

My one complaint...? CLIFFHANGER ENDING (but that's true to the comics too). Leaves many mysteries still unsolved, but that just keeps me wanting more. Can't wait for the next one (hopefully??)

The final thing that struck me is how different this is in feel to each of the other 2000AD comic adaptation in this series; they each seem to have their own sound, which is clever and fitting. This doesn't have the gritty doom of Dredd, or maybe the epic sweep of Slaine, but it feels the most intimate and relatable of the titles I've listened to so far.

Heartily recommend!

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2 people found this helpful

Great

I’ve been loving the 2000AD audiobooks and this one doesn’t disappoint. The parts are well acted and convincing. What’s really weird is that I started listening to this on July 21st 2023 and will finish chapter 3 by the 22nd… David Warner (one of the voice actors) died July 22nd 2022. I recognised his voice so I had to see who it was and I found out he died 1 year ago. Just one of those weird coincidences that happen in life. 1 in 365 chance of it happening

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1 person found this helpful

Top 2000 AD in another medium

Penguin have released a handful of new 2000 AD audio adaptations (the others are The Ballad of Halo Jones, Sláine: The Horned God and two Judge Dredd tales with America and The Pit), I went for Brink as it's the more recent of the stories to be adapted and I am a big fan of the dry humour in Dan Abnett's writing thus far (serialised in issues of long running brit comic 2000 AD) and was curious how this would translate without INJ Culbard's gorgeous line art. I am glad to say that this was as much as a success as you could hope for; a really good cast and excellent audio production (up there with Big Finish's expensive to obtain audio dramas) makes this an easy recommend even if you have no familiarity with Brink or 2000 AD but just like sci-fi audio drama stories.

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3 people found this helpful

Brilliant reworking of original story

Superb. Brilliant screenplay, sound engineering and acting. Absolutely conveys the feel of the original story. Somehow made me ‘see’ the original illustrations, even at their most hallucinogenic weirdness. Fantastic!

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2 people found this helpful

Super effort to compliment great printed material

Having listened to a lot of audiobooks that are based on comics recently i've found myself frustrated and excited in equal measure, because comics by their very nature tend not to lend themselves to an audio-only format. However, in this case I have to say I'm really impressed with the result. Obviously I think it'd be interesting to get the opinion of somebody who's never read the original source material however there's lots of things which really impressed me - the voice actors are really strong and the music was a really nice touch and very effective to get across the mood particularly during some of the more interesting scenes. So yeah, what a treat! Well done 2000ad.

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In need of a ‘Big Finish’

Big names don’t guarantee a big success. I’ve read ‘Brink’ in the original weekly format and collections- it’s a great story with great artwork, with just the right mix of 70s/80s grit. I was curious to see how this shaped up.
This adaptation unfortunately lets the source material down. Not because of the performances- all present do an admirable job - but the production overall is a bit...thin. All the cash seems to have gone on hiring the artists, leaving the audio mis en scene lacking depth and atmosphere. Compare this with the splendid Big Finish 2000ad stories from 15+ years ago and it is sadly lacking.
So only for the completist really. Good cast. Great story. Just let down by an unimpressive soundscape.

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Better as a comic book

This is a great comic book. It doesn't really work as an audio book. Also there is a 4th part now in the comic book work, this this ends without any chance of moving on.

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terrible listening experience

Struggled with first chapter. I hope the sample wasn't indicative of whole book but unfortunately it was. I was really looking forward to listening as lived the Warhammer series. However it is unlistenable.
1. the volumes are all over the shop. I must have had to adjust the volume 30 time in the first chapter. some voices loud others quiet. sound effect were deafeningly loud followed by quiet voices. there was no happy medium to leave the volume at meaning your ears were ringing when the quiet voices came and you missed the first few lines.
2. all the sound effect detracted from the story. their volumes were just to loud and often played whilst people were talking. Actually over the voices making them difficult to hear. At best the sound effect were nearly very very distracting.

Bad sound editing has ruined this recording.... if only it could have been the voices without all the daft sound effects..or at least the effects were lowered to background noise..

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Not what I was expecting

I returned this after 30 odd minutes. I saw 200AD and thought Audible had bought rights to the old catalogue. I loved the old audio adaptations of Judge Dredd. Unfortunately this did not live up to my expectations in the time frame I hoped for, yes it may have gotten better, but I have a lot of things I'd like to listen to so didn't bother going with this.
I should add that my expectations were probably unrealistically high, since what I was expecting was a mid-90s Dirk Maggs production...

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