This just kind of seems like a bad idea from the get-go.

30 thoughts on “This just kind of seems like a bad idea from the get-go.”

1. Indeed. Is Superman’s memory so poor that he needs his own little Madame Toussaud’s to keep all those identities of his friends straight?

2. Dick Grayson is looking sharp.

3. The thing that creeps me out is, why does he need this display in the first place? I value my friends, and all, but I don’t keep wax statues of them in my living room (or in any other room, for that matter). I have to wonder what THEY would think if they saw this.

   “Oh… hey… wow… that’s… yeah. Right. So you have a… okay. See… here’s the thing, Supes… and I’m not trying to tell you how to decorate… um, or anything, but, well… I’m not so sure I liked the idea of… um… well… that. Seems kind of a… security risk, don’t it? You know–the whole ‘secret identity’ thing. It’s supposed to be… well… um, secret. You know what I mean?”

4. Geeze, Superman is stupid. No wonder Batman beats the crap out of him everytime they fight.

5. Why… does Superman require a mannequin of himself and his own secret identity?

6. Is Superman his own costumed friend?

7. Who’s that to Barry Allan’s left? Captain Marvel?

   I bet Superman is just setting up this hyperspace thing since it’s exploded seven times already this month.

8. This is really his blackmail device. Batman pisses him off too badly, he disables the safety device and invites a camera crew in to film it.

9. You know, I’m sure Brad Meltzer is looking at this panel and doing a Homer Simpson-esque “D’Oh!”

10. I was just reading that comic yesterday: “Superman and his Fortress of Solitude.” Fun stuff from 1981.

11. Wow, Superman really is a dick to immortalize Bruce Wayne in that ugly brown suit.

12. Captain Marvel doesn’t make much sense for the guy beside Flash. The Marvel Family didn’t exist on Earth-1 at the time, so Superman met them only a handful of times. Not sure who else it could be. Cape, no mask, not bald, doesn’t leave a lot of options from the time. Also, who else didn’t make the cut? There’s one spot next to Supergirl, so only one among Green Arrow, Aquaman, Green Lantern, the Atom, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, J’onn J’onzz, Black Canary and several others made the cut.

    Was this exploding statue something that came from an actual story, or something that Thomas made up for this story?

13. Kara:”Hey, where’s Krypto?”
    Kal: “Oh, he was standing near the statue display when Batman came in. He was sucked accidentally into hyperspace along with the display”.
    Kara: “Can he survive there?”
    Kal: “…”

14. “Hey, Wonder Woman, I’m making a life-size vibrating replica of you for the place where I like to be alone, can I have one of your old costumes?”

15. I love it. It’s the nerdy kind of thing I would have wanted as a kid (though it does give one the impression that Superman, for his scientific genius, might be a little lacking in social skills). And it meets two of my top criteria for comic-book conceits, it’s totally unnecessary and needlessly complicated.

16. Superman totally spends his boring afternoons posing these mannequins so that they’re making out…

17. Why does he seem to be checking out his cousin’s Zettai Ryouiki?

18. If Superman really is so dumb he can’t remember these secret identities, wouldn’t it have been a whole lot easier just to, I don’t know, write them down on a piece of paper?

19. That is definitely Captain Marvel. Why should this even be a point of debate? It looks like Captain Marvel, it does not like anyone else–those considerations should outweigh the fact that Superman had at this point met Captain Marvel only a few times.

    And if you HAVE to fit this within the continuity of the time, just assume that Superman and Captain Marvel actually hung out together a lot between issues.

20. Man, I remember this book. He morbidly tours the fortress because he got a glimpse of Earth’s imminent destruction, instead of actually doing something to prevent it.

21. No, we can see the head of the mystery figure’s secret identity, and Billy Batson would be too short for that.

    Clearly, it has to be Triumph.

22. Actually, I checked my copy and on the page before he’s checking his other exhibits, and when he’s passing by the Batman room he thinks “Maybe tomorrow I ought to build an exhibit to my new friend Captain Marvel, as well… if there is a tomorrow”. So I guess if he’s thinking of building a Captain Marvel room, it’s reasonable to think that he might already have a Captain Marvel / Billy Batson set in the group exhibit.

23. Why does he have “exhibits”? Does he give tours of the Fortress of Solitude? I guess photo albums are just passe.

24. Exactly, bigmountain. What’s the point of an exhibit… at a fortress devoted to a person’s solitude?

25. …maybe it was meant to be Captain Thunder, from that classic issue from the time before they had the rights to SHAZAM. Only, the artist says, Hey, that’s Captain Marvel, and draws the thunderbolt on his chest instead of that splotchy, rashy, sun spotty thing that Thunder had.

    I’m just sayin’….

26. You know what? I can’t think of a single exhibit or item from the fortress that hasn’t tried to take over the world or otherwise endangered the planet at some point, save the always-present statue of his parents.

    The entire place is a huge liability.

27. @Tom K Mason – I just laughed lemonade all over my keyboard.

28. ….? Just throw them into the sun Supe’s, save yourself a shitload of time and effort.

29. Oh… I shoulda read that better. They’re not ABOUT to explode. They were SET to explode…

    Still. Why bother with that much complexity?

    Sometimes the silver age is just… strange

30. Leave it to Superman to be the biggest fan-boy of them all with a collection of super-sized action figures.

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