If you’re trying to read all these wonderful comics I’m going to explore and you want options beyond “Track down a decade and a half of back issues,” this is the guide for you.
First, you can find almost all of these comics on DC INFINITE. But if you actually want to own these issues rather than subscribe, let’s talk hardcovers!
If it helps, I’ve created a Community List for Post-Crisis /Triangle Era Superman Hardcovers on League of Comic Geeks.
John Byrne’s run on SUPERMAN, ACTION and multiple miniseries is collected (along with concurrent issues of Marv Wolfman and Jerry Ordway’s ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN) in a four-volume set called SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF STEEL. Most of these are out of print, but they all have Kindle options.
Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
Volume 4
These lead right to the ongoing Omnibus collections and they’re all still in print as of this writing. These don’t have Kindle options, however.
Superman: Exile and Other Stories
Superman: Brainiac Reborn
Superman: The Triangle Era Vol. 1
Superman: The Triangle Era Vol. 2
Superman: The Triangle Era. Vol 3
Those collections take you right up to early 1994. In case you’re curious, The Triangle Era Vol. 2 contains The Death of Superman and Funeral for a Friend, while Vol. 3 contains The Reign of the Supermen (also often referred to as The Return of Superman.)
That makes The Death and Return of Superman Omnibus something of a redundant collection, but I’m listing it here for completeness.
There is also Superman & Lois Lane: The 25th Wedding Anniversary, which collects – you guessed it – the wedding. The Omnibus series won’t catch up to this until somewhere around Vol. 6.
But what if you had a hankering to hunt down a LOT of out of print trade paperbacks? I don’t know why you would, but below is a list of every Post-Crisis Superman trade. You can also check out the Community List I made of these on Comic Geeks.
Not all of these are out of print, but many of them are and can only be found on the secondary market. Several of them also have Kindle options. Some of them are redundant with each other and I’ll note those cases as they arise.
The same material in those 4 MAN OF STEEL hardcovers is collected in a 9-volume trade series.
Vol. 1
Vol. 2
Vol. 3
Vol. 4
Vol. 5
Vol. 6
Vol. 7
Vol. 8
Vol. 9
If you’re a fan of Curt Swan, his art on the two-page Superman feature from ACTION COMICS WEEKLY is collected with his work on THE SINBAD CONTRACT in The Power Within.
From here on out, the trades are mostly based on story arc, so there are gaps between them and it’s not as complete a reading experience as the Omnibus Editions.
Superman: Exile
Superman: Eradication
Superman: Dark Knight Over Metropolis
World’s Finest
Superman: Krisis of the Krimson Kryptonite
Superman: Time and Time Again
The recent DC Finest: Superman: Time and Time Again is a trade that covers the entire first half of The Triangle Era Vol 1. This includes the material found in Krisis of the Krimson Kryptonite and Time and Time Again.
Superman: Panic in the Sky
Superman: They Saved Luthor’s Brain
This brings us to The Death and Return era of Superman. Those storylines have been collected a number of times so I’m going to list all the editions chronologically.
The Death of Superman
World Without a Superman
The Return of Superman
Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey
Superman/ Doomsday Omnibus (collects Hunter/Prey, The Doomsday Wars and Doomsday Annual 1.)
This next 2016 series of trades is the most complete version in that format, as they collects every issue in the storylines (including some missing in the trades) and has both Doomsday minis and the Doomsday Annual.
The Death of Superman
Funeral For a Friend
Reign of the Supermen
The Return of Superman
Doomsday
There is also The Death and Return of Superman Compendium, which is the contents of the Omnibus, but in trade format. This is the material in the first four of those five trades listed above.
Bizarro’s World
Superman: Zero Hour
The Death of Clark Kent
Superman vs. Aliens
Dark Horse Comics/DC Comics: Superman (Contains BOTH Superman/Aliens miniseries)
The Trial of Superman
The Wedding & Beyond
Superman vs. The Revenge Squad
Superman: Transformed
Superman: Blue Vol 1
That last one was intended to be the first of four trades collecting the Electro-Superman storyline but the other three were never published. Also everything in the Transformed trade is also found in the Blue trade.
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