Audiobooks
The audiobooks are a series of videos on the YouTube, juxtaposing scenes from the Sonichu comic book with audio of a dramatic reading. The audiobooks serve a valuable function, disseminating the world of Sonichu to the visually impaired, the illiterate, and people who aren't patient enough to read Sonichu for themselves. A major highlight of the audiobooks is the annotations provided by Vivian Gee commenting on the project, offering scathing criticism of the comics themselves.
Chris, in another fit of self-righteous rage, started uploading "Official Videobooks" in response to the success of the audiobooks, but, just like anything else that is produced by the man-child's hands, these OFFICIAL audiobooks are made of fail.
As of 12 May 2012, Vivian had closed her YouTube channel. Thus the Audiobooks remained unavailable for some time, but after several months the Audiobooks, complete with Vivian's annotations, resurfaced on a YouTube channel known as PatientBC. The Audiobooks were recorded with a screen capture program to preserve the commentaries since YouTube annotations are part of the Web page source.
History
The original audio for the audiobooks was created by the old narrator, which Vivian then decided to turn into videos. These initial audiobooks set the initial tone for the audiobooks, with the narrator playing it straight and allowing the absurdity of the story itself to come through without comment. The old narrator can be identified by his soft, deep, Tony Curtis-esque voice. He recorded readings of Episodes #1-9 and Sub-Episodes #1-2 (comprising most of Sonichu #0-2) before being committed to a mental asylum as a result of going mad.
Responding to demand for additional audiobooks, Vivian opened auditions and selected Dethchemist77 as the new narrator. Deth continued the tradition of a straight reading (with some exceptions), but in a tone more like that of the narration of an anime than a dramatic reading. Beginning around Sonichu #8, his narration began to show early signs of mental decay from having to describe whatever the hell Chris was trying to draw.
Sample
| Audiobook ~ Episode I | |
| Stardate | 15 September 2008 |
| Episode | 1 |
| Editor | Vivian |
| Narrator | Old Narrator |
| Vivian's Audiobooks | |
| previous n/a |
next [1] |
Special Guests
- Sonichu #8 - ShinyMarshtomp as Rosechu.
- Sonichu #8 Special Edition - Jason Kendrick Howell as himself and ShinyMarshtomp as Rosechu.
- A Jason Retrospective - Jason Kendrick Howell as himself.
- Sonichu #10 Special Edition - Jason Kendrick Howell as himself, Jack Thaddeus as himself, Clyde Cash as himself, Falsion as Beel.
The DVD
In August 2009, a DVD of the audiobooks was announced.
For only 19.99 one could purchase a DVD containing twenty episodes, with smash hits such as:
- My Two Balls
- Penis Comic
- Deep Into His Anus
Perfect for listening to whilst you drown your kids in a bathtub!
Chris at first raged hard when he learned other people were selling "his" work, leading up to various threats to Vivian and her entire family. Just to clarify, copies of the DVDs were not being sold, but were officially "gifts" that Vivian and Co. gave in gratitude for donations.
At some point Chris forgave Vivi, endorsing the audiobooks officially under the condition that she give him a percentage of all sales. Since there were, technically, no actual "sales" to be had, this was not a profitable venture for Chris.
Running gags
Vivian's commentary annotations have spawned several popular catchphrases including:
- "OH GOD, THAT FACE"
- "HONOR ROLL MY ASS"
- "Goddammit Chris"
- "LOOK AT THAT (X) GODDAMN"
A running gag involves Deth reading the censored words "d***" and "c***" (intended as "damn" and "crap") as "dick" and "cock" to add an extra layer of phallic imagery to the comics.
External links
- Current Playlist of the Audiobooks (Note: some videos are missing.)
- Archive.org's mirror (All videos included.)
- Official Website (All the files linked have been deleted.)
- Playlist of unofficial remasters of the audiobooks
See also