For comic book fans, some of the biggest news of the past year was that Ben Affleck would take up the role of Batman in the next Man Of Steel film. The news of a Superman-Batman collaboration alone was fairly explosive on its own. And following a relatively brief period of speculation on who might take up the role of the Caped Crusader, the Affleck news set the Internet ablaze for weeks.

So, what exactly has Affleck signed on for? Is it a good idea with the potential to launch a successful franchise? Is it a disaster waiting to happen and an insult to Christopher Nolan’s incredible Dark Knight trilogy? Our thoughts on these questions and more are below!

What Has Ben Affleck Agreed To?

Right now, no one is 100 percent sure what Affleck’s agreement to play Batman entails. What we know for certain is that Affleck will play the Caped Crusader—likely in a somewhat limited role—in the 2015 follow-up to Zack Snyder’s Man Of Steel film. However, the International Business Times recently speculated that Affleck’s agreement may go well beyond 2015, encompassing a fresh Batman trilogy as well as additional follow-ups and collaborations with Superman. Wow.

Is Ben Affleck The Right Man For The Job?

When Ben Affleck was announced as the next Batman—even after Argo launched him to a new career peak—most fans were immediately up in arms. But now that the dust has settled a bit, it seems as if the real outrage was in anyone playing Batman so quickly after Nolan’s franchise concluded. Affleck himself may be a pretty decent pick, though, in the end.

To begin with, he’s exactly the right physical type, and he’s also been hitting the gym even more lately to beef up. But going beyond that, Affleck has demonstrated the kind of quiet, brooding strength that defines Batman. He can also pull off the boisterous arrogance that can at times represent Bruce Wayne. For the quiet strength, check out Argo, or even The Town, both of which show Affleck in full control, but never over-the-top. For a bit of Affleck’s action chops, take a look at Smokin’ Aces. This wasn’t the most popular film, which means you may have missed it. The movie’s actually currently available at Picturebox Films, an online streaming service with a fluid selection of films, and it’s worth a watch if you want a more comic book-style look at Affleck. And for Bruce Wayne-style charisma, take a look at the (critically slammed) Runner Runner in which Affleck himself was, while nefarious, quite enjoyable. All
in all, he may not be a bad pick all things considered.

Is There Disaster Potential?

Of course there is, but it’s not Affleck’s fault. The dirty little secret in the room is that Man Of Steel was, quite simply, not a good film. Where Nolan’s Dark Knight franchise thrived on character conflicts and situational drama, Snyder’s Man Of Steel fell into mindless action for the sake of action. There’s always the chance that Affleck himself offers a fine take on Batman while films themselves simply aren’t up to snuff.

Batman Live is defiantly more Batman Forever than Batman Begins (fun fact: I stole this line from Joe Innes, don’t tell him!) so don’t go expecting any broodiness or soul searching, and no murky brown colour scheme; Batman Live is bright and loud, the stage is vibrant and full of movement, particularly helped by a large animated screen behind the performers (one of the stars of the show). The acting is completely hammy and over the top, I didn’t think anyone could ever be as plucky as the guy who played Robin is; also, look out for the faces that Batman makes in the shows final bows, looking tough dude.

Batman Live contains a vast array of entertainment from acrobatics and trapeze to dance and high flying action sequences, and although this is all very entertaining I did feel the performance was limited to just the stage and a small amount of space surrounding it, which sometimes made the action feel quite distant in such a large venue. Screens relaying the show live (like in music gigs) or bringing some of the performance out into the audience would have helped here and made some parts even more thrilling. The show has a high technical standard; all scenes ran fast one into the other, with actors appearing from behind the back curtain, up through hidden trap doors and even down from the ceiling.

Batman Live bears no resemblance to either of Christopher Nolan’s films, and I did hear some disappointed comments being thrown around as everyone left, but if the production team had gone in a ‘Nolan’ direction, half of the audience at the I attended would have been too young to even get in! It’s an awful marketing phrase, but Batman Live really is family fun, the show has some great acrobatics and lots of inventive ideas. The production has just embarked on a world tour, so go and see it when it comes to a city near you… and if you don’t have a child to take then steal one.

Will Pond.

The art is the driving force behind this adventure, dizzying and dazzling while keeping the reader fixed in another world. In fact I sometimes felt overwhelmed by some of the visual effects and distracted from a fairly simple story. If I have a problem it’s that this installment felt like Batman Inc just showing off another weapon in their arsenal.

By #6, Grant Morrison had convinced me that the operation was fully established and expanding by the second. I was impressed. But one of the biggest appeals of Morrison’s Batman has been watching the risks he is willing to take with the character. With no real challenge or depth a series can become as formulaic as a 3D CGI cartoon. However this is all very unlikely given the journey we’ve been on to get here.

I believe in Grant Morrison. You can’t argue with someone who writes villainous dialogue like, ‘Die, Batman! Die, Batman! Die, Batman! Die!’ Overall this was an enjoyable escapade, if a little light. It was fun to see Barbara and Bruce fighting side by side again and the reference to the return of an old flame was a great note to pause the series on. I might not be buzzing over the new 52 but this title will keep me coming back for many months to come.

Joe Read.

Check out the trailer below and get back to us with your thoughts…

Brian Azzarello is writing an incredibly well thought out spin on the Batman character, which is somehow incredibly subtle and monumentally different all at the same time. In normal DC continuity, Bruce Wayne fights a dark, never-ending (some would say losing) battle against crime in a bright(ish) wider world. Thomas Wayne seems to be winning his battle against crime in Gotham but within a dark and twisted wider world, I thought that was awesome.

It all comes down to the character I guess, Thomas Wayne is not only a darker version of Batman, he’s genuinely miserable. He’s doing whatever’s necessary to get the job done, and he doesn’t brood for hours on the morality of killing a criminal, who are particularly creepier than usual…

The art helps set the twisted tone, Eduardo Risso brings a Mignola-esque flavour to Gotham that really drenches the whole issue in misery, the use of greens and huge blocks of shadow help. There’s one incredibly visceral fight scene where you can feel every ache and pain in Batman’s body, who doesn’t run and jump about, and certainly doesn’t know 127 major styles of combat. He does know how to win though, and that means fighting dirty.

This issue is an incredibly disconcerting thing of beauty, and it lures me further into this temporary new world DC have created just like Alice… Because I have a friend called Alice, and she told me she was really enjoying the Flashpoint tie-ins.

Joe Innes.

As I understand it, fans had to log on to http://thedarkknightrises.warnerbros.com/ and listen to an audio clip of a large group of people chanting, if the listener imported this clip into an audio programme a code could be deciphered, which read #thefirerises. Putting this in a twitter status a number of times then led to a link to the photo being linked to the users account. Yep, even Sherlock Holmes would have had a tough time with this one (I don’t think Sherlock Holmes would ever participate in drip-feed marketing campaigns, and I feel the mere suggestion cheapens the character – ED). The photo looks pretty cool; Hardy looks moody in low light showing off the huge amount of muscle he has gained to try and match the Bane we all know.

In what looks to be a big year of blockbuster releases (The Amazing Spiderman, The Avengers… etc) Warner Bros wants to make The Dark Knight Rises the biggest of them all in 2012, and with an estimated budget of $250 million, it could just be. Keep checking back to Good Comic Books for further news on The Dark Knight Rises.

Will Pond.

Have you ever seen The Three Amigos? If you have then you’ll know how they foil a gang of Mexican dicks by dressing a whole town up in their costumes (they’re the cowboy equivalent of the Justice League) and thereby freak out the Mexican dicks because they seem to be ‘everywhere’. If you haven’t seen that movie, I suggest you do as it’s incredibly funny. What was my point? Oh yeah, Bruce Wayne goes about dressing up all these jerks as Batmen so as to freak out all the criminals of the world by the fact that he’s ‘everywhere’. It’s the same right? Anyway, this issue makes you feel like Bruce really does have something up his sleeve to fight the criminal element, which a Batman comic always should. He even visits a chatroom to throw people off the scent that he’s Batman, which is a nice little nod to us as an audience, I assume Grant Morrison just assumes I spend all my time thinking up conspiracy theories and predicting the plot details of current TV shows…

Grant Morrison actually seems to be making progress with the series, I can actually start looking forward to discovering things that I haven’t been told yet… Which is nice. It’s got creepy, brain washed kids, a villain making all sorts of outlandish but incredibly vague plans, and Bruce Wayne is stepping up his skills at appearing increasingly more unhinged in public. He looks well crazy.

Chris Burnham, who recently signed on to be a DC exclusive artist, draws really nice pictures of all sorts. I probably would’ve been well jealous of him at school. His style is in the same swimming pool as Frank Quitely, so for anyone who’s read All Star Superman (which is probably most of you) that will be sweet, sweet news. Unless you thought All Star Superman sucked, in which case you exist in the Flashpoint universe.

So, in closing; Batman Inc #6 was really good, and if you wanted to jump on to it, I suggest you do it with this issue. Because you might not get another chance…

Joe Innes.

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Batman Inc #3 is released on Wednesday 9th March, 2011.

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