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"Superman and Superboy: "Judge, Jury...And No Justice!"": Clark Kent and Lois Lane are at the Metropolis Court House where the Sidecar Bandits, captured months earlier by Superman, stand trial. As they are about to leave the court room for lunch, Clark is suddenly attacked by what appears to be

Quote1 Your sins have come back to haunt you, Superman-- And this is the jury that's going to condemn you to die! Your closest friends: Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Perry White, Lana Lang-- Even Steve Lombard! They'll make me your executioner! Quote2
"Superboy"

DC Comics Presents #14 is an issue of the series DC Comics Presents (Volume 1) with a cover date of October, 1979.

Synopsis for Superman and Superboy: "Judge, Jury...And No Justice!"

Clark Kent and Lois Lane are at the Metropolis Court House where the Sidecar Bandits, captured months earlier by Superman, stand trial. As they are about to leave the court room for lunch, Clark is suddenly attacked by what appears to be Superboy. Shocked at seeing his younger self in the present with him[1], Clark is knocked into a wall and buried in rubble. Taking this as a cover to change into Superman, the Man of Steel attempts to battle his past self. As the two battle each other, Superboy tells his older counterpart that he has come to seal his doom. When Lois tries to come to Superman's aid from the jury box, this inspires Superboy to try another approach and flies away. Superman, in order to cover for his double identity, appears to go after his younger self but quickly switches back to his Clark Kent identity.

Later, resuming his guise of Superman, the Man of Steel searches around Metropolis for his younger self, wondering how he could possible exist in the same time period. After preventing some disasters he suddenly hears the super-sonic signal of Jimmy Olsen's signal watch and follows it out to the Grand Canyon. There, Superman is struck with a Kryptonite missile that knocks him out. When he revives he finds himself shackled to the canyon with Kryptonite shackles and before his younger self. This Superboy tells Superman that he is going to stand trial for his crimes and reveals a ship containing Perry White, Lois Lane, Lana Lang, Steve Lombard, and Jimmy Olsen to stand as the "jury" for his trial.

Realizing that this person is not his younger self, Superman is surprised that the body of his younger self is possessed by none other than Pete Ross. Ross explains that he wanted to come up with the ultimate revenge against Superman for leaving his son on some alien world and used his contacts to find one of Lex Luthor's old lairs. There he found a device that could not only transport someone out of the past, but allow him to swamp minds with them. Pulling Superboy out of the past and switching minds seemed to be sufficient enough to keep Superboy's body in the present and be used as the ultimate tool of revenge to use against the Man of Steel. However, when "Superboy" orders his captives to judge Superman, he is angered to find that they all find him innocent of any wrong doing. Furious, Pete orders them to change their decision otherwise he will kill them as well.

While at Luthor's old laid, Superboy -- in Pete's body -- manages to break free of his bonds and escape the lair. There he finds that the hideout is located in Smallville and goes looking for the old Kent house. Although it's boarded up and all of his old trophies have been removed, he does find a whistle left on his old dresser that could be useful. While back at he Grand Canyon, Pete becomes angry and decides to eliminate Superman with a Kryptonite missile anyway. With the last of his strength, Superman manages to pull the chains free from the mountain side and fall to safety.

Furious at being denied killing Superman, Pete flies off into space to knock Kryptonite meteors down around the Man of Steel. Superman is unable to break himself free from the Kryptonite bonds to be able to stop him. However, Pete does find opposition in the form of Krypto, who attacks him. Knocked back down to Earth, Pete is shocked to find that Superboy had escaped and freed the others. Now forced to face both a revived Superman and Krypto, Pete tearfully surrenders. Later, back at Luthor's old lab, Superboy explains that the whistle he found was the old super-sonic whistle he used to use to call Krypto when he was a boy. With everything straightened out, Superman uses the device to restore Superboy's mind to his body and return him home to his own era.

While Superboy flies through Smallville in his own era looking to reward Krypto for a job he will do in the future, Superman is grimly determined to help out Pete Ross no matter what.

Appearing in Superman and Superboy: "Judge, Jury...And No Justice!"

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  • Flying saucer prison capsule

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Recommended Reading

Links and References

  1. It's kind of a wishy-washy rule in the Pre-Crisis DC Universe that one could not occupy the same time period as a past or future version of yourself
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