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Superman Post-Crisis #28
Superman: The Trial of Superman
Featuring stunning art by top DC artists and a digest format with text and storyline adapted by regular Superman writer Louise Simonson for a younger audience, this is the only children's book version to bring kids the complete story of the life and death of Superman.
258 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
1 person is currently reading
96 people want to read
About the author
Louise Simonson
965 books101 followersLouise Simonson (born Mary Louise Alexander and formerly credited as Louise Jones, when married to artist Jeff Jones) is an American comic book writer and editor. She is best known for her work on comic book titles such as Power Pack, X-Factor, New Mutants, Superman, and Steel. She is sometimes referred to by the nickname "Weezie".
Since 1980 she is married to comic book writer and artist Walter Simonson
Since 1980 she is married to comic book writer and artist Walter Simonson
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
May 25, 2009
Not very interesting. I doubt I'll be reading anything with Superman in it again. I'm hoping that this was just a very bad example of the comics.
February 22, 2012
I have never understood this story, or why it was necessary to bore me to death with it.
December 9, 2025
What a disappointment. I’m a fan of 90s/Triangle Era Superman, but this story is the definition of “filler story”. The conflict is half-baked and hardly believable, the plot wanders and is bogged down with uninteresting supporting characters.
September 25, 2023
Part of my comic book reread project. Continued from The Death of Clark Kent.
Disclaimer: This whole review is just a buncha spoilers, so proceed at your own risk.
Now that Clark Kent/Superman is back it's business as usual for a bit with short, single-issue stories with ongoing soap opera fiddle-faddle happening in the background. First up is an extremely heavy-handed, in-your-face rant against racism involving a flashback with Perry White and his boss and old friend Franklin Stern.
They're arguing about the death penalty in the opening panel, but the story involves how they met during Civil Rights. Franklin gives us the laundry list of how horrible all white people are, Perry helps him in spite of Frank's prejudices, the Aryan Brotherhood gets involved, murders are solved in a small, rural town, Franklin and Perry become friends, etc., you know how these stories go. The tone in these comics had slowly been changing since the early 90s. They cover more left-leaning interests and really sock it to anyone who disagrees with them in the slightest. It's a miracle I came out of these unsullied and still manage to enjoy them. I'm not saying the issue above is bad, (I actually really liked it), but it's just something I noticed which caused me to roll my eyes a few times. Like I said, it's quite heavy-handed.
Single shot stuff unrelated to social justice: Superman takes on Arclight again, referees a match between both Bloodsports at the prison in which both end up dead (and good riddance, especially to the one that was in the Aryan Brotherhood), takes on Saviour, helps Aquaman, goes to Apokolips to stop Darkseid from doing something, takes on the Joker who visits Metropolis for some variety, takes down Skyhook while rescuing stupid-ass Keith again (the boy really is more trouble than he's worth), helps Green Lantern deal with Psi-Phon and Dreadnaught (two of the dumbest villains since Harry and Marv from Home Alone), and... but I'm about to get ahead of myself.
Ongoing multi-issue stuff: The Alpha Centurion arrives (turns out he's a real dude and not just an anomaly from Zero Hour which makes zero sense if you think about it. Weren't all those alternate realities wiped out in the end?) Anyway, AC takes over as Lexcorp's security chief, and Lexcorp is still being run by the Contessa. Darkseid releases the Cyborg, charging him to never come back to Apokolips, but to give Superman hell. Jimmy Olsen quits The Daily Planet (again) over the dumbest reason. He witnesses the Arclight battle and writes up a story for the Planet. He doesn't tell anyone he is doing this (he's just a photographer, not a reporter), turns in the story after the deadline when the paper is already being printed. Ron (another reporter) has already written the story and turned it in on time, and Jimmy gets pissed that Perry won't stop the presses and use his instead. Perry tells him it's a good story, but they can't use it because, well, they already have one, and the paper is already being printed. Jimmy takes this personally and quits in a huff like an idiot. He gets a job with GBS (a TV station) under Cat Grant, does good work, and eventually winds up as an anchor for them.
I think we're up to speed, and now we're ready for...
THE TRIAL OF SUPERMAN:
Lex Luthor has been granted a new lease on life due to a deal with the devil. (See Underworld Unleashed which is going on concurrently with this story.) He traps a doctor in with the Parasite as part of his payment for that deal. The Parasite absorbs the doc which makes him really smart, and they battle Superman who is weakened by the encounter. Aliens come down and kidnap Superman who can't defend himself. Alpha Centurion finishes up the Parasite, so he witnesses the abduction but can't prevent it. He later gathers Superboy, Supergirl, Steel, and the Eradicator to track down Superman.
Turns out Superman is being charged with the genocide of every Kryptonian. You see, his ancient ancestor created the Eradicator which made it so Kryptonians would die if they left the planet (there's a good reason for this, but it's waaaaaay too convoluted to explain here), and so they were forced to blow up with it. (Jor-El invented a serum for Kal-El, so he was exempt from this inconvenience.) He's being charged by what I suppose is a universal court of law? It's quite strange, and I couldn't follow how they figured their jurisdiction. There are three judges: Pollux, Ternion, and Tribunal Prime.
There was an extra level of awesomeness applied to Tribunal Prime for me personally: his voice in my head sounded exactly like that of the judge in the old Disney short Pluto's Judgement Day where Pluto goes to hell.
"Shut up!"
Well fine, be that way. Anyway, Tribunal Prime is inflexible in his interpretation of Justice, and the crimes of the ancestor are visited upon the descendants ad infinitum. Supes is sentenced to death, and he witnesses Massacre's execution. Supes gets his powers back when he gets close to the sun, he escapes with three other prisoners chained to him, they get to a safe place, one of the other prisoners starts some shit but he's shut down. The other three leave him behind, another one gets left with a pirate, and then it's just Supes and Mope for a bit.
Mope is a well-meaning but useless fellow that needs protection all the time (one of his skills is getting stronger people to help him out). You know S-Man; he's always willing to fill that role, and they have a couple of adventures.
(Insert some Underworld Unleashed stuff here occurring back on Earth such as Lex Luthor and Joker escaping their snow globe.)
Meanwhile, the other super team begins to suspect that Alpha Centurion might actually be the Cyborg. Cyborg shows up while AC is absent, cleans everyone's clocks, takes them to the Tribunal, then takes off to find Superman. They battle and Cyborg captures Supes because Supes is a total tool.
***We interrupt this review for a GIF. Is the shark pit in place? Good. Okay, take it away Fonzie.***
Everybody strapped in for the finish? Okay, here we go.
Back on the Tribunal planet, Tribunal Prime, never having had setbacks like this, orders Superman's death sentence to be carried out immediately. Supes is launched to the ruins of Krypton which is nothing but a radioactive cloud which would kill anybody, but he escapes again by slightly "disrupting the trajectory (of the rocket) right at the split-second the full warp-field generates" which, heh, obviously blows the rocket to Kingdom Come.
Me too, but I'm not a scientist, so what do I know? There was a chance Superman could've been destroyed and all his atoms sucked into hyperspace, but of course he survives. Cyborg merges with the planet to create a new War World, but while he's doing that the rest of the Supersquad, including Alpha Centurion who isn't the Cyborg after all, escape. Cyborg tears down on everyone everywhere while he tries to take over the planet. Superman takes him out, but do you think Prime is going to show any gratitude to Superman for saving everyone's bacon? Nope, Supes is still condemned to death, but he gives a speech, and he decides to take his ball and glove and go home with the Super Squad in tow. It's only after they get off planet that they realize they left Mope behind.
Superman also wants to take Cyborg back to Earth so they can try him there. Alpha Centurion, Eradicator, and Steel go to get AC's ship which I guess he left parked several planets away, and the others go back to get Mope and Cy. While they're dicking around with that plan, Tribunal Prime possesses the Cyborg with his magic amulet.
I'm just telling you what happened. Don't blame me for these unnecessary last-second inanities; I didn't write the thing. Prime-Possessed-Cyborg beats Supes using the same techniques Superman overcame several times earlier in this story, but whatcha gonna do? A severely weakened Superman is chained AGAIN, put on a rocket AGAIN, and launched to Krypton AGAIN, (since it worked so well last time), but the joke is on the Tribunal. Mope, who can bulk himself up to make himself look scarier (kind of like a puffer fish), somehow managed to free Superman and take his place before the launch, so all the scanners see is someone Superman's size on the rocket. The Supersquad goes after the rocket, but they're passed by something even faster. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's the real Superman, but alas, they're all too late. Mope flies into the radioactive cloud, blows up, and expires.
Back on the Tribunal planet, Prime is having the Cyborg tortured to get a confession for his crimes on Earth so he can be judged and sentenced to death. Even Pollux and Ternion think this is a bit extreme and doesn't follow their rules, but Prime seems to have gone insane, and smacks them. The Super Squad shows up, surprising everyone since they thought Supes was dead. Prime shows them evidence holo THX 1138 (I love subtle nods to other franchises) which proves Mope was guilty of killing thousands of people by not delivering a serum that would've saved them because it was worth bookoo bucks, and he wanted to retire with his brother who died at the beginning of this story. So, the correct death sentence was carried out on Mope, and now that just leaves Superman since "no one is above the law."
Pollux and Ternion agree, and have the Tribunal Prime arrested. A scuffle ensues, Prime tries to escape the planet, and since attempted escape is punishable by death even if you haven't been tried yet, the guards reluctantly kill him. Pollux and Ternion still find Superman guilty, but they reduce his sentence to life, "a life of atoning for (his) ancestor's sins by fighting what (Superman) calls 'the neverending battle.' Should (he) give up that fight, (the) court will be forced to take action once again."
Relax, we're almost done. The Cyborg is still sentenced to death and is teleported away. Since he's a being of energy, Superman points out in a panic that he can't really be killed, but the Tribunal has sent him to a black hole where he can't escape (though we all know better. This is comic book land, after all.) Regardless, he's trapped for now. The heroes go home, and that's the end of that.
I enjoyed this in spite of the silliness in the last few issues, but it could definitely have been better. Fantastical occurrences are fine in comic books, expected and appreciated even, but everything should still be logical unless there's a good reason for it not to be. The characters should behave the way they're supposed to behave. That didn't always happen here.
Do we have anything from the advertisers?
It seems pickings are getting slim for amusing ads, and I already covered the other good ones in these books in other Superman and Batman reviews. I'm afraid Street Fighter II on the Gameboy is the best I can do, but I already gushed over Street Fighter II in a Batman review though that was related to an ad for the movie.
Next checkpoint: The Bottle City.
Disclaimer: This whole review is just a buncha spoilers, so proceed at your own risk.
Now that Clark Kent/Superman is back it's business as usual for a bit with short, single-issue stories with ongoing soap opera fiddle-faddle happening in the background. First up is an extremely heavy-handed, in-your-face rant against racism involving a flashback with Perry White and his boss and old friend Franklin Stern.
They're arguing about the death penalty in the opening panel, but the story involves how they met during Civil Rights. Franklin gives us the laundry list of how horrible all white people are, Perry helps him in spite of Frank's prejudices, the Aryan Brotherhood gets involved, murders are solved in a small, rural town, Franklin and Perry become friends, etc., you know how these stories go. The tone in these comics had slowly been changing since the early 90s. They cover more left-leaning interests and really sock it to anyone who disagrees with them in the slightest. It's a miracle I came out of these unsullied and still manage to enjoy them. I'm not saying the issue above is bad, (I actually really liked it), but it's just something I noticed which caused me to roll my eyes a few times. Like I said, it's quite heavy-handed.
Single shot stuff unrelated to social justice: Superman takes on Arclight again, referees a match between both Bloodsports at the prison in which both end up dead (and good riddance, especially to the one that was in the Aryan Brotherhood), takes on Saviour, helps Aquaman, goes to Apokolips to stop Darkseid from doing something, takes on the Joker who visits Metropolis for some variety, takes down Skyhook while rescuing stupid-ass Keith again (the boy really is more trouble than he's worth), helps Green Lantern deal with Psi-Phon and Dreadnaught (two of the dumbest villains since Harry and Marv from Home Alone), and... but I'm about to get ahead of myself.
Ongoing multi-issue stuff: The Alpha Centurion arrives (turns out he's a real dude and not just an anomaly from Zero Hour which makes zero sense if you think about it. Weren't all those alternate realities wiped out in the end?) Anyway, AC takes over as Lexcorp's security chief, and Lexcorp is still being run by the Contessa. Darkseid releases the Cyborg, charging him to never come back to Apokolips, but to give Superman hell. Jimmy Olsen quits The Daily Planet (again) over the dumbest reason. He witnesses the Arclight battle and writes up a story for the Planet. He doesn't tell anyone he is doing this (he's just a photographer, not a reporter), turns in the story after the deadline when the paper is already being printed. Ron (another reporter) has already written the story and turned it in on time, and Jimmy gets pissed that Perry won't stop the presses and use his instead. Perry tells him it's a good story, but they can't use it because, well, they already have one, and the paper is already being printed. Jimmy takes this personally and quits in a huff like an idiot. He gets a job with GBS (a TV station) under Cat Grant, does good work, and eventually winds up as an anchor for them.
I think we're up to speed, and now we're ready for...
THE TRIAL OF SUPERMAN:
Lex Luthor has been granted a new lease on life due to a deal with the devil. (See Underworld Unleashed which is going on concurrently with this story.) He traps a doctor in with the Parasite as part of his payment for that deal. The Parasite absorbs the doc which makes him really smart, and they battle Superman who is weakened by the encounter. Aliens come down and kidnap Superman who can't defend himself. Alpha Centurion finishes up the Parasite, so he witnesses the abduction but can't prevent it. He later gathers Superboy, Supergirl, Steel, and the Eradicator to track down Superman.
Turns out Superman is being charged with the genocide of every Kryptonian. You see, his ancient ancestor created the Eradicator which made it so Kryptonians would die if they left the planet (there's a good reason for this, but it's waaaaaay too convoluted to explain here), and so they were forced to blow up with it. (Jor-El invented a serum for Kal-El, so he was exempt from this inconvenience.) He's being charged by what I suppose is a universal court of law? It's quite strange, and I couldn't follow how they figured their jurisdiction. There are three judges: Pollux, Ternion, and Tribunal Prime.
There was an extra level of awesomeness applied to Tribunal Prime for me personally: his voice in my head sounded exactly like that of the judge in the old Disney short Pluto's Judgement Day where Pluto goes to hell.
"Shut up!"
Well fine, be that way. Anyway, Tribunal Prime is inflexible in his interpretation of Justice, and the crimes of the ancestor are visited upon the descendants ad infinitum. Supes is sentenced to death, and he witnesses Massacre's execution. Supes gets his powers back when he gets close to the sun, he escapes with three other prisoners chained to him, they get to a safe place, one of the other prisoners starts some shit but he's shut down. The other three leave him behind, another one gets left with a pirate, and then it's just Supes and Mope for a bit.
Mope is a well-meaning but useless fellow that needs protection all the time (one of his skills is getting stronger people to help him out). You know S-Man; he's always willing to fill that role, and they have a couple of adventures.
(Insert some Underworld Unleashed stuff here occurring back on Earth such as Lex Luthor and Joker escaping their snow globe.)
Meanwhile, the other super team begins to suspect that Alpha Centurion might actually be the Cyborg. Cyborg shows up while AC is absent, cleans everyone's clocks, takes them to the Tribunal, then takes off to find Superman. They battle and Cyborg captures Supes because Supes is a total tool.
***We interrupt this review for a GIF. Is the shark pit in place? Good. Okay, take it away Fonzie.***
Everybody strapped in for the finish? Okay, here we go.
Back on the Tribunal planet, Tribunal Prime, never having had setbacks like this, orders Superman's death sentence to be carried out immediately. Supes is launched to the ruins of Krypton which is nothing but a radioactive cloud which would kill anybody, but he escapes again by slightly "disrupting the trajectory (of the rocket) right at the split-second the full warp-field generates" which, heh, obviously blows the rocket to Kingdom Come.
Me too, but I'm not a scientist, so what do I know? There was a chance Superman could've been destroyed and all his atoms sucked into hyperspace, but of course he survives. Cyborg merges with the planet to create a new War World, but while he's doing that the rest of the Supersquad, including Alpha Centurion who isn't the Cyborg after all, escape. Cyborg tears down on everyone everywhere while he tries to take over the planet. Superman takes him out, but do you think Prime is going to show any gratitude to Superman for saving everyone's bacon? Nope, Supes is still condemned to death, but he gives a speech, and he decides to take his ball and glove and go home with the Super Squad in tow. It's only after they get off planet that they realize they left Mope behind.
Superman also wants to take Cyborg back to Earth so they can try him there. Alpha Centurion, Eradicator, and Steel go to get AC's ship which I guess he left parked several planets away, and the others go back to get Mope and Cy. While they're dicking around with that plan, Tribunal Prime possesses the Cyborg with his magic amulet.
I'm just telling you what happened. Don't blame me for these unnecessary last-second inanities; I didn't write the thing. Prime-Possessed-Cyborg beats Supes using the same techniques Superman overcame several times earlier in this story, but whatcha gonna do? A severely weakened Superman is chained AGAIN, put on a rocket AGAIN, and launched to Krypton AGAIN, (since it worked so well last time), but the joke is on the Tribunal. Mope, who can bulk himself up to make himself look scarier (kind of like a puffer fish), somehow managed to free Superman and take his place before the launch, so all the scanners see is someone Superman's size on the rocket. The Supersquad goes after the rocket, but they're passed by something even faster. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's the real Superman, but alas, they're all too late. Mope flies into the radioactive cloud, blows up, and expires.
Back on the Tribunal planet, Prime is having the Cyborg tortured to get a confession for his crimes on Earth so he can be judged and sentenced to death. Even Pollux and Ternion think this is a bit extreme and doesn't follow their rules, but Prime seems to have gone insane, and smacks them. The Super Squad shows up, surprising everyone since they thought Supes was dead. Prime shows them evidence holo THX 1138 (I love subtle nods to other franchises) which proves Mope was guilty of killing thousands of people by not delivering a serum that would've saved them because it was worth bookoo bucks, and he wanted to retire with his brother who died at the beginning of this story. So, the correct death sentence was carried out on Mope, and now that just leaves Superman since "no one is above the law."
Pollux and Ternion agree, and have the Tribunal Prime arrested. A scuffle ensues, Prime tries to escape the planet, and since attempted escape is punishable by death even if you haven't been tried yet, the guards reluctantly kill him. Pollux and Ternion still find Superman guilty, but they reduce his sentence to life, "a life of atoning for (his) ancestor's sins by fighting what (Superman) calls 'the neverending battle.' Should (he) give up that fight, (the) court will be forced to take action once again."
Relax, we're almost done. The Cyborg is still sentenced to death and is teleported away. Since he's a being of energy, Superman points out in a panic that he can't really be killed, but the Tribunal has sent him to a black hole where he can't escape (though we all know better. This is comic book land, after all.) Regardless, he's trapped for now. The heroes go home, and that's the end of that.
I enjoyed this in spite of the silliness in the last few issues, but it could definitely have been better. Fantastical occurrences are fine in comic books, expected and appreciated even, but everything should still be logical unless there's a good reason for it not to be. The characters should behave the way they're supposed to behave. That didn't always happen here.
Do we have anything from the advertisers?
It seems pickings are getting slim for amusing ads, and I already covered the other good ones in these books in other Superman and Batman reviews. I'm afraid Street Fighter II on the Gameboy is the best I can do, but I already gushed over Street Fighter II in a Batman review though that was related to an ad for the movie.
Next checkpoint: The Bottle City.
May 9, 2022
If there is one thing that 90s era Superman writers love its random aliens that will show up only once. Here, Superman is charged for murder for his ancestor's role in Krypton's destruction. Decent idea. Terrible execution. We're introduced to a handful of characters that will never be seen again, for good reason. Added to that is a rescue squad of some seriously heavy hitters who don't help at all. Then you just get a complete redundancy loop as the story is over extended by half. The art was a mixed bag. There was some classic Dan Jurgens stuff and some really nice work by Stuart Immonen. Overall, this boils down to bad writing and explains why Marvel dominated this era head to head.
January 28, 2018
A pesar de que la premisa suene interesante y que nos quieren entregar como mensaje la lucha sin pausa que tiene Superman por las causas justas, defendiendo al oprimido y buscando la verdad y, más encima, teniendo al mejor staff de guionistas y dibujantes de la era post "Muerte" del personaje (sí, aquella donde llevaba el cabello largo), la encontré muy extensa lo que la hace perder fuerza en momentos y, además, no llega a ser algo trascendente en la vida de Superman. Es un evento pasajero que tiene muy pocas repercusiones o que ellas no llegan a tener la importancia que sus autores esperaban.
November 17, 2024
There are a lot of fun bits in this story, Superman is a fugitive from a Space Tribunal that has found him guilty by ancestry for the death of all the Kryptonians. The 3 aliens that he escapes with are all interesting in their own ways. Just a solid 90s Superman story.
March 11, 2017
A pretty fun read. This book has a great premise and some cool moments, while also having a few flaws. A snap shot of Superman cannon at the time, I found myself looking up characters and events in the book. When did Parasite absorb a scientist? When did Eradicator show up? Why do a few of The New Gods show up? To some people it may throw you off until you know and for others it may just be a slight change. We see a few different plot threads that lead into stories contained enough that they fit perfectly within and others that branch far out enough that you wonder what you missed. The dialog can be corney, dated and at times cringe inducing. The plot seems to jump around at times but, by the end of the book I walked away happy with the experience. If you do not mind comics of this era and can follow without getting too deep in details. It is a fun run through space with Superman and a interesting supporting cast.
April 30, 2013
I borrowed this from the library. It was a pretty interesting premise - an alien court called the Tribunal sentence Superman for the crimes of his ancestor, who caused the destruction of Krypton. The story took some unexpected turns. My favourite parts were the glimpses of alien cultures and the crimes they were accused of, especially Smitty and Leeya's races. I thought Haven was a good concept too.
Overall it was a satisfying read, although I think sometimes there were too many elements for its own good and a more stripped down approach would have been favourable.
Overall it was a satisfying read, although I think sometimes there were too many elements for its own good and a more stripped down approach would have been favourable.
June 9, 2012
Not the best Superman story. Superman is kidnapped by a tribunal of aliens who wish to execute him for the death of Krypton. After multiple escape/re-capture subplots, it ends with a long-winded argument about justice. The art is sufficient, and the story is not very meaty. Only for die hard Superman fans.
July 29, 2016
Dan Jurgens has written a lot of great Superman comics. This story arc was not one. This story is a muddled mess and while he often writes large casts of characters and multiple plot threads well, this one seemed to busy.
January 19, 2013
Some interesting and entertaining sequences are overshadowed by a convoluted story premise.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews