Tuesday, August 05, 2008

The 13th Fortress of Solitude

Mark Engblom did a terrific series of posts back in March on the Fortress of Solitude, pointing out that there had been twelve different versions of the Fortress. I have to admit, I was amazed at how much information he was able to compile on the Fortress.

But I discovered tonight that he did miss one little fortress. In Action #271, Supergirl longs for a home of her own, but as Superman's secret weapon she could not run the risk of being adopted. So she hits on the idea of creating her own Fortress, hidden beneath the sands of the Arabian Desert (infidel!).



Like Superman, she has this bizarre need to have statues around of herself, with labels that make it transparent who she really is, just in case any archaeologists should happen upon the site:



The leader of the expedition turns out to be one of those ruthless archaeologists. He hypnotizes the rest of the team into forgetting about Supergirl and her real identity. Then he and his wife arrange to adopt Linda Lee. He starts moaning about the lack of money, so Supergirl creates a bunch of diamonds out of coal and leaves them on the doorstep anonymously. But eventually his greed becomes too great and he admits that he's blackmailing her:



Fortunately Streaky the Supercat accidentally causes convenient amnesia in her new foster parents, so Linda is able to get out of the adoption. But she decides not to take another chance: