SUPERMAN BACK; SCENARIO HITS STREETS WEDNESDAY

Superman is back!

The new Superman of D.C. Comics is really the old Superman, back from the dead.

The once-in-a-lifetime comeback of the slain superhero will put to rest the "other guys" who have served as Superman pretenders after showing up in recent issues of D.C. Comics.

"This (Superman's resurrection) has to be a one-time thing only," said Larry Ward of B & L Comics, 85 S. Plaza Way. "Superman will not be able to die and come back again."

As to those four Superman imposters who showed up after the original Man of Steel met his match against his most lethal opponent ever the big, bad "Doomsday" they're just that, imposters.

The scenario of Superman's return is the subject of a special Superman resurrection issue which will hit newsstands Wednesday.

"We should have several of the latest issues Wednesday," said Ward.

An ad-free collectors' edition will sell for $3.50, while the standard edition will go for $2.50.

Hopes are high for the special issue, noted Ward.

"Superman will be brought back to life by the Eradicator, whose jobs is protecting the last surviving Kryptonian," he said.

Superman followers will recall that the Eradicator was one of the four pseudo Supes a cold-blooded super being who has his own strict code of conduct.

In Superman Number 82, Superman hears how he was saved by the healing baths of the matrix chamber, a device similar to the capsule his father, Jor-El, used to send his infant son (who became Superman) to Earth.

Fans also will recall that Metropolis' main man supposedly went to the great beyond after saving the city from the intergalactic bad guy Doomsday, who also died in an epic battle.

With Superman dead, four impostor Supermen appeared in his place.

One was the Eradicator. Another was an evil cyborg with a history of battling Superman. Next was steelworker John Henry Iron, who was buried alive in the Doomsday brawl, and the fourth was a high-spirited teen Superman.

The final resolution by D.C. Comics, however, has the old Superman revived by the Eradicator, who comes back to destroy the cyborg. John Henry and the super-youth survive and will get their own comics, say D.C. officials.

Superman, by the end of #82, is feeling better than ever.

"I'm rejuvenated in a way I never thought possible," he says in the final panel. "Something tells me I'll be able to handle anything better than ever."

There will be some problems ahead a reunion with his fiancee Louis Lane, and explaining where Clark Kent has been lately. But, you can't blame the Man of Steel for his optimism.

The people of Metropolis, Ill., located along Interstate 24 in Southern Illinois, were not even considering the four imposters says Dan Milam of the Weekly Planet newspaper. People around here felt that the `real' Superman would eventually return."

Milam, who serves as publicity chairman for the annual Superman Celebration at Metropolis, said little concern has been expressed over Superman's demise last November.

"We expected him to return in the future," said Milam.

The superhero's demise had little effect on the Superman Celebration held in June. Thousands of people turned out for the annual observance.

The death of Superman in the November issue of Superman, Number 75, is the best-selling D.C. comic ever, and the second best-selling comic of all time more than three million copies. An X-Men special by Marvel Co., in 1991, is still the all-time best selling comic.