Sometimes the best of comic book story ideas have already been done, but why let that stop a new version of the old?

Case in point: the retelling of a classic Superman tale begins next month with the new "Superman Red/Superman Blue."The one-shot, 640-page issue will be available in December and was inspired by an imaginary Superman story first printed more than 34 years ago.

Last March, Superman got a new costume and powers. Now he splits into two different men in a retelling of a 1960s Man of Steel tale. The two Supermen are identical - except for their color - and both believe they are the genuine article.

The story won't end in the single December issue but will continue in the regular weekly Superman titles. The original "Red/Blue" tale was a "What If?" Superman story that ended with a "They lived happily ever after," but this one isn't expected to fit that mold.

The original "Superman Red/ Superman Blue" story was printed July of 1963 in "Superman No. 162." The story was then reprinted a decade later in a July 1973 "Super Spectacular."

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- OTHER COMIC BOOK NEWS - November is "Legion of Super-Heroes" month and a host of special stories are planned. The storyline climaxes on Nov. 26 with "Action" No. 741, when Superman helps the teenage super-heroes against Computo - another 1960s plot revisited in the 1990s. Also on that date, "Legion" No. 100 arrives to unite the entire group in their own 30th century time period . . . The new Superman movie, starring Nicolas Cage, has been delayed and won't be in the theaters earlier than the summer of 1999.

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