A review by rbreade
Batman Vol. 5: Rules of Engagement by Tom King

Shuffled chronology, the foregrounding of character interaction and the backgrounding--even off-paneling--of action, the wry humor, all in a day's work for writer Tom King. The second part of this collection, titled "SuperFriends: Parts 1 &2--Superman," is, by itself, worth the price of the book, and not just for the cheeky nod to the 1970s-1980s cartoon of the same name. I mean, Bruce Wayne, Selina Kyle, Clark Kent, and Lois Lane go on a double date to the Gotham County Fair on Super Hero Night, where fair-goers must be in some costume? And naturally, they all just switch gear, so Bruce is Supes and Clark is Bats and Lois is Catwoman and Selina is Lois but she convinces the ticket-taker that she's Catwoman in disguise with a well-placed "meow"? And the only "villain" is a purse-snatcher who grabs the wrong person's purse (Selina's) and is taken out with a perfectly-thrown baseball a la Buddy the Elf's long-range snowball in Elf? And it's just fantastic? Yes, to all of that. And that doesn't even address the final story in the collection, "Some of These Days," that flashes back to the beginning of Bat and Cat, one of the best meet-cutes you could wish for, and flashes forward to the end, a genuinely moving story that put me in mind of that heartbreaking life-montage in Pixar's Up. Comics at their best.