Famous Comic Book Trials - I need help!

Torchsong · September 2015

It will probably surprise (and scare) some of you to find out my day job involves working with our Court system, helping train court staff and judges. :)

There's some interest in a proposal I made to create a training about Comics and the Law. Given the popularity of comics right now, they've said an ethical examination of how the profession is portrayed in the funnybooks would probably go over well and be something "different" for our required training (we're required to get about 10-20 hours of training every year).

So I'm turning to my comic-reading brethren for some help!

After a brief bit on the importance and significance of comics in our current culture, I've got a section devoted to vigilante justice, featuring Batman (civilian as vigilante), Daredevil (Lawyer as vigilante), and Vigilante (Judge as Vigilante). From there Judge Dredd's getting his own chapter as we look at situations that would have someone be judge, jury and executioner.

Here's where you guys come in: I'd like to have a section where there are actual court cases from the comics. I'm already thinking Trial of the Flash, but I know there have to be others. I could probably pull something from Daredevil easily enough. Can you guys think of some good examples of comic book trials - preferably with links or something so I can research further? Once I have a good batch I'm planning on looking for real-world parallels (example. Flash kills Reverse Flash but it's revealed RF killed his fiance so I think that's actually what moves for acquittal (correct me if I'm wrong here)).

Still debating a Seduction of the Innocent chapter. This is more of an ethics-based training so it might not be applicable.

Thanks in advance for any input or ideas you guys have. I think it'll be a fun training, but I want it to be informative as well.

nweathington · September 2015

There's a comic called Mr. District Attorney, based on the radio program of the same name, which ran from 1948 into the early ’50s. I have a couple of issues, and while it doesn't have superheroes, you can probably get some good stuff out of it if you can find any.

Also, besides the obvious DD and She-Hulk stories, the Hulk went on trial in Incredible Hulk #151–153 (original run). And there’s “The Trial of Reed Richards” in FF #262. For something a little more obscure, there’s “Savage Dragon on Trial” which ran in Savage Dragon #181-186. And, of course, there’s “The Trial of Yellowjacket” from Avengers which has been collected.