Back before there were comic books, a young reader's imagination was captured by pulp magazines. Within the painted covers of escapism were the daring dos of various Heroes looking to vanquish the villain of month and restore order to the world once again...
All for the price of ten cents.
But what did these Heroes do in the off time? Where did they hang while awaiting the next adventure?
My all time favorite of these Pre-Super Heroes was a man called Doc Savage.
Now Doc wasn't a very deep character. He could do no wrong and make very little mistakes. He had five guys who did all that to keep things interesting. But he solved the problems and saved world in 181 sagas.
But the coolest thing I found about Doc is he had a secret place in the north artic. A place where he could do experiments and think and rest. A place where no one could find him. A place that was his and his alone.
His Fortress of Solitude.
When sales for Doc's mag dropped off and things moved on, an editor for Simon & Shuster moved over to what is now DC Comics. With him, this editor brought a good deal of ideas with him and intergraded into the Superman lore.
Including the Fortress of Solitude
But it works. Clark now had a place where he could rest and relax and do things to get himself centered back again and again. Because even a Superman gets tired.
So what does this brief history lesson mean?
Because I think we all have a Fortress of Solitude somewhere.
For some, it is a physical place and others, it is a place within.
Some of us admit where it is, for myself, it is never mentioned because to do so would no longer make it mine.
I hope you all know where your Fortress is and get to use it when you need it.
(Thank you to the girl with the eyes of shining crystal for this idea blog post)
