With Marvel's James Howlette aka Wolverine preparing to make his return to the publisher's printed line after a 3-year-long absence, fans of the Canadian, ill-tempered mutant will be excited to hear that Marvel's first-ever highly anticipated first-ever scripted podcast “Wolverine: The Long Night” made its exclusive Stitcher debut today. The 10-episode series will continue to air weekly as a part of the service's Premium content and then see a wide release across all podcast platforms in fall 2018.
The Wolverine: The Long Night podcast is being billed as a captivating hybrid of mystery and the larger-scale fantasy of the Marvel Universe. It follows agents Sally Pierce (Celia Keenan-Bolger) and Tad Marshall (Ato Essandoh) as they arrive in the fictional town of Burns, Alaska, to investigate a series of murders and quickly discover the town lives in fear of a serial killer. The agents team up with deputy Bobby Reid (Andrew Keenan-Bolger) to investigate their main suspect, Logan (Richard Armitage). Their search leads them on a fox hunt through the mysterious and corrupt town.
According to some early reviews of the podcast, the show delivers “shrewd sound design” and “clear and compelling” action. Vulture.com has called the program “a bold experiment for Marvel,” while Wired is also singing its praises by reporting that “sound design has never mattered more” and that the show successfully “manages to place the listener truly within the story…”
According to the official press release for the show, “This is a story about deception, unreliability, identity, atonement, and man in the wild and the wild in man,” said Ben Percy (THE WILDING, RED MOON), show writer and award-winning comic book author. “Every character has a secret. Every scene has a question mark at the end of it. And I can't wait for you to hear the phenomenal actors who have brought the story to life — and the next-level sound design that make this audio drama like nothing you've ever heard. SNIKT!”
The magic behind the making of Wolverine: The Long Night brings Marvel’s storytelling expertise into the podcasting world, breaking new ground for the medium. To provide listeners a sense of immersion into the story, outdoor scenes were recorded in realistic-sounding locations including forests and a cabin. In the studio, actors were recorded in an ambisonic — or fully surround-sound — environment, allowing them to move, interact with one another and fully inhabit their characters.
Joining the above mentioned talent on the project are Scott Adsit (30 ROCK), Bob Balaban (MOONRISE KINGDOM) and Brian Stokes Mitchell (MR. ROBOT), as well as Zoe Chao, Chaske Spencer, Jordan Bridges, David Call, Michael J. Burg and Lannon Killea. and Chris Gethard, host of the popular Beautiful Stories from Anonymous People podcast.
Wow! That's quite the pantheon of talent they've got on this show. I also like the idea of Marvel taking what sounds like such care in regard to the podcast's sound design. As someone who's been in the podcast game for over six-years-running, I can tell you first-hand that much of your show lives and dies by its sound quality. If you're thinking about creating your own show, do some research, and do not skimp out on equipment, if you have the means.
Now that a portion of Marvel's new podcast is available, will you be checking it out? Does the promise of an official Wolverine podcast make you want to go out and purchase Stitcher Premium, or will you wait until the show is available elsewhere? What other Marvel characters would you like to see get their own dedicated podcast adventure? Let us know in the comments section below.