Can Comics work on Radio

Can comics work on Radio. If I'm not mistaken a few attempts have been made with Batman, spiderman an by Big Finish Judge Dreadd. How well do you think this works and why?

There was a brilliant Sexton Blake radio series, once.... no! not the recenty comedy one (i was expecting it to ridicule old-fashioned Britain, so pretended i was 15 and a socialist again... however i wasn't expecting it to be just. not. funny.) but the one from the 60's, a few episodes are available to download around the net.

I think "comics" "working" "as" radio shows isn't really the right way to go about it, you can't really do a direct adaption from a visual medium to a nonvisual one, most of the radio show adaptions of comics (or TV shows or anything else) are new ones written for the radio. If you want to make adaptions they have to be heavily adapted, of course.

Well, Superman was a big radio star in the forties (and Batman frequently guest starred on his show). It kept Bud Collyer in work from 1940 to 1951, so I'd say it was a reasonable success...

Hourglass wrote:Can comics work on Radio. If I'm not mistaken a few attempts have been made with Batman, spiderman an by Big Finish Judge Dreadd. How well do you think this works and why?

Big Finish also did Dredd's 2000AD stablemate, Strontium Dog (played by Simon Pegg). I was rather impressed.

Back in the day, radio was the equivalent of TV (before there was TV). Just about anything could work as a radio program if done well. I still enjoy listening to old radio programs like The Shadow and Green Hornet.

So, yes, they could work on radio. Only problem is, would there be an audience in the present day for a show / program that's all audio and no video?

MajorHoy wrote:Back in the day, radio was the equivalent of TV (before there was TV). Just about anything could work as a radio program if done well. I still enjoy listening to old radio programs like The Shadow and Green Hornet.

So, yes, they could work on radio. Only problem is, would there be an audience in the present day for a show / program that's all audio and no video?

Radio Four's audio dramas still seem to attract an audience. Of course, they may not be quite the audience for superheroes, but then, they'll evidently listen to audio Doctor Who, so...

I liked Radio 4's audio Torchwood dramas.

Lucy McGough wrote:I liked Radio 4's audio Torchwood dramas.

A mate of mine has sent me some of those on CD, but I haven't listened to them yet.

You totally should!

Is your "Radio Four" sort of a BBC/government-sponsored thing?

Here in the U.S., a good amount of radio has been taken over by talk programs or computers playing music. (There isn't even the variety of music genres in some places that there once was.      )

MajorHoy wrote:Is your "Radio Four" sort of a BBC/government-sponsored thing?

Basically... yes.

MajorHoy wrote:Is your "Radio Four" sort of a BBC/government-sponsored thing?

Here in the U.S., a good amount of radio has been taken over by talk programs or computers playing music. (There isn't even the variety of music genres in some places that there once was.      )

Radio 4 is a BBC Radio station. The BBC have had radio stations since long before they branched out into TV. Some are national, like Radio 1, Radio 2 and Radio 4, while others are regional, like Radio Suffolk.

MajorHoy wrote:I still enjoy listening to old radio programs like The Shadow and Green Hornet.

I have a pretty large collection of old radio shows. Mostly comedy (Great Gildersleeve, for example) but as much of other kinds as I can find. And that's a lot. There is so much out there, if you have an interest. And it's fun.

MajorHoy wrote:Only problem is, would there be an audience in the present day for a show / program that's all audio and no video?

Interesting question. Kids do listen to the radio for music, but would they listen for stories? Not sure.

I did.

Lucy McGough wrote:I did.

But, are you normal / typical?  

Um... no.

Lucy McGough wrote:Um... no.

Well, you're normal for you...

Aw, shucks   

tony ingram wrote:

Lucy McGough wrote:Um... no.

Well, you're normal for you...

Besides, "normal" can sometimes be, quite frankly, boring and dull as day-old dishwater.

But it's, y'know, safe. And lucrative.

Lucy McGough wrote:But it's, y'know, safe. And lucrative.

I question the "lucrative". You need to be different and original to rake in the really big advantages.  Otherwise, you're just a bleating sheep waiting to be turned into lamb chops.

A little harsh?

Lucy McGough wrote:A little harsh?

Reality is not gentle . . . it can be as devastating as a howitzer.

I don't care. I'm going to stay in my fluffy little dream world where the sun constantly shines and there are flowers in the garden and I can spend all day reading books and playing Scrabble with my mum.

And if I have to live in the real world and it's too much for me, I can always kill myself.

Lucy McGough wrote:I don't care. I'm going to stay in my fluffy little dream world where the sun constantly shines and there are flowers in the garden and I can spend all day reading books and playing Scrabble with my mum.

And if I have to live in the real world and it's too much for me, I can always kill myself.

Well, it's nice to know you have a well thought out plan of action.

It's pretty watertight. Meanwhile, I'm going to live here on my cuddly little planet full of rainbows and unicorns, reading comics and eating mangoes. (Not simultaneously, because I'd get mango juice all over the pages.) It's a nice day. I might water the flowers later.

Lucy McGough wrote:I don't care. I'm going to stay in my fluffy little dream world where the sun constantly shines and there are flowers in the garden and I can spend all day reading books and playing Scrabble with my mum . . .

True story: my Mom and I play Scrabble every New Year's Eve while we wait for the ball to drop in Times Square. (She just turned 84 last week.)

Who wins? And what sort of scores do you get? My best one is 537.

Lucy McGough wrote:Who wins? And what sort of scores do you get? My best one is 537.

I typically win (even though I'm a terrible speller, but I blame sadistic Nazi reading experiments they performed when I was a wee small fry . . . ), but I don't recall the scores. (I don't think I make 500, though.)

It's good if you score over 300, excellent if you score over 400 and freakin' unbelievable if you score over 500.

Lucy McGough wrote:It's good if you score over 300, excellent if you score over 400 and freakin' unbelievable if you score over 500.

Of course, you people can score more points by ADDING EXTRA U's to words that we don't here in the U.S. (Which raises the question: do British Scrabble sets have more "u" tiles?)

We have four. How many do you have?

Lucy McGough wrote:We have four. How many do you have?

Our ancient set ("manufactured by Selchow & Righter Co., Bay Shore, NY") also says 4 for the letter "U".

You'd think the British version should have maybe 6, though. After all, you need one to go with the "Q" . . . and (at least in my set) there are 8 "O"'s and 9 each for "A" and "I".

Yes! Apparently my late grandmother always said there should be more Qs.