Two More Fortresses Found!

Mark Engblom did a terrific series back in 2008 on Superman's Fortress of Solitude, concluding with a look at 12 different Fortresses he'd had (in comics and in film), including two that didn't belong to Superman. One belonged to Bizarro, and the other to Krypto. I found a few months later that Supergirl briefly had her own Fortress, but she destroyed it after it was accidentally discovered by an unscrupulous archaeologist.

Here are two more that I've come across recently. Superboy's "Secret Cache 3" is somewhat similar to the Outer Space Fortress over there, but note that that's described as being disguised as a meteor, while this is inside a crater on a barren world:


In World's Finest #156, Bizarro visits Earth and creates the Fortress of Crowds as an answer to Superman:


Update: I should have given Blog Into Mystery a hat-tip on the Secret Cache 3 part of the post; while reading his blog, I noticed a post about the cover to Superboy #109 which encouraged me to read the issue.

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:

The Silver Age Superman: The Fortress

Mark Engblom did a terrific series on the Fortress of Solitude last month so it's not my intention to cover that ground again. One thing I noticed when looking at the Fortress stories was that it's not a place of solitude at all. In fact, very quickly it became almost Grand Central Station, as Supes gave everybody the guided and unguided tour. In its first appearance, Batman slipped in:



In the next issue, it became home to millions of people, as Krypton's capital city was added (note however that the concept of this being an indoor place still hadn't been explained to Al Plastino, the artist):



Of course, Kandor had a huge role to play in the Silver Age Superman.

Lois gets a trip to the Fortress in Action #245:



In Action #247, a fake Ma and Pa Kent receive the red-carpet treatment:



Jimmy Olsen got his first visit to the Fortress in Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #30 (August 1958):



In Action #261, everybody in Metropolis got to see the Fortress:



In a way, this seems to be the real purpose of the Fortress; not so much for Superman to get away from the pressures of the outside world, but a place for him to entertain visitors and guests.

The Fortress of Stalkertude

Mark Engblom has been covering Superman's rather creepy Fortress of Solitude in a series of entertaining (and revealing) posts. Highly recommended!